If you do choose to paint it make sure you sand well then use a stain blocker, followed by an undercoat then the top coats (best spray painted)......a bit of hard work and may not be successful. If all your other furniture is white then you can use this piece as a focal point and dress it up with a large white vase or white framed pictures of varying sizes, you can include a splash of colour with the white to lift the look. You could also buy a piece of white 4-6mm Perspex with beveled edge for the top leaving all other edges as is.

Hey Dounia The colour and the way it has been painted is very much what we saw in the late 90's and early 2000's when we all went through the textured paint feature wall craze. But, saying that Paint and design technology have come a long way since then and I would encourage you not to give up on the copper idea and use a modern approach and product. Dulux have recently added their new range of Design Effects, Here's the copper and concrete look. There's also other options available at www.dulux.com.au. You can email them for a copy of their brochure or they are readily available at Bunnings in the paint section. Thanks Paul

Hi Louise, I did a little mock up for you. I would look at using some more greys and whites and brightening up the room. I mimicked your lamp and just "sprayed it gold" and changed the shade colours to draw your eye up to the artwork. I liked the bedding so played off that a little and added more textures and I love black, white, grey together, super chic and glam. It's amazing what a lick of paint can do. You would need to get permission to do anything to the woodwork, if you're a tenant its maybe best to leave it as is. I dont know what colours the other walls are but if theyre neutral enough you could leave them as is. Hope you like my attempt and happy to answer any q's. You're welcome to follow me too, more projects coming up soon! Amy

Hi MaxCC, Your 'artwork' is called a wall niche. As far as I know, they were originally used to display religious icons, such as The Virgin Mary. I'm not religious but I do admit that I have a special love for wall niches. I have used them twice in homes that I've built as a place to display my 'Lamplighter' Lladro, so that he is on display to guest. The niches were always placed just inside the front entrance as yours is. Sadly I don't have any photos to show you, as we have just moved house and everything is still in storage. My suggestion, to help you with how to display the object that you will put into your niche, would be to keep the wall itself neutral but paint the niche in a metallic paint. Your want the object on display to be the item of greatest interest and the metallic paint [Resene have some wonderful colours to chose from] will help to draw your eye to that space.