As chookchook said in her recommendation about painting, put a drop cloth on the floor. Get a very safe ladder. remove the lightbulbs, and cover the outlets. Turn off the electricity to the chandelier. Then spray it with a mild cleaner (I use one I found at Target that's basically water with vinegar, until it's dripping wet. Start at the bottom and work your way up, so you don't have dirty spray dripping on the bottom of the chandelier.Work your way up and down until the dripping spray is clean. The chandelier may be gorgeous and expensive, but it seems totally out of place in the architecture of the room--more at home in a chalet than a sunny room with a window wall. I would probably try to find a way to get it removed, and sell it to someone who appreciated it better than I.

~$400 including expedited shipping. My GC just had his regular countertop guy do them, which wasn't great.... he had trouble making clean cuts. If I were going to do it again I would have pressed for someone with expertise to cut them. You can see in the image that the facing is not made of the stone peak, because too much was broken during the cutting to make the mitered edge. I'm a little bummed, but mostly pleased with the surface (which is the important part) thus far.

Sorry I am so late coming to your site - you are an inspiration to all, homeowners and advisers alike. For your planting advice, I suggest you call Merrifield Garden Center to see if they will come out your way. They currently have wonderful garden centers in Merrifield and Fairfax (both in Fairfax County) and a new one in Gainesville, but they may come further south to wherever you reside. (www.MerrifieldGardenCenter.com) Even if they don't send designers to your area, they are worth a trip to see their huge selection for a day of pleasure and inspiration, or to pick up some plants. Most of my clients are in the Fairfax and greater Washington area, but I am currently living out west below Front Royal, VA on the Shenandoah mountainside - wonderful views. cascio.offsite@gmail.com

Hi Jess, Unfortunately it probably wont stop doing this, as the timber join is butted together that join will always move given the nature of timber. A solution but might not be a cost effective solution would be to router the underneath of the join out with timber and glue in some more timber to help hold the join (a patch kinda thing) this will make the join stronger (assuming this hasn't already been done) Then we only recommend either a oil or wax finish if you want it to be left with a natural look or we apply a clear epoxy resin finish, this is a very good product (about 2-3 mm thick) and it lets the timber move a little and the product moves with the timber rather than crack like the lacquer seems to do. We pretty much always have the same result with kitchen benches when it comes to the sink area and joins. The main cause I see happening is that the timber moves (and it will never stop moving) and then if the lacquer is not flexible it will split open causing a spot for moisture to get in and under the lacquer making it go all funky like that A easier option would be to sand the tops and apply a oil and keep maintaining it, then you will never get the funky cloudy stuff happening, but you will need to do some research on what product are best and available where you are Good luck :-)