Thanks for the quick response guys! It sounds like you're both confirming what I had feared -- I'll have to take matters into my own (not so handy) hands. It had crossed my mind to look for a commercial fridge -- part of why I want to make this case is to grow Masdevallias and Draculas (they just disintegrate here in L.A's dry heat). I'll try looking one up. I've also thought about building one myself, but my handicap on both alternatives is that I'm somewhat do-it-yourself challenged. I'd be afraid to renovate the fridge (I don't want my own ozone layer hole named after me!) and I can't for the life of me figure out what to do with a 4x5 foot piece of plexi or glass that has to open so I can get at the insides of the box. I've looked a a couple of aquarium/terrarium websites that describe the process of building wood/acrylic cases. However, I'd really be more comfortable finding some good plans that describe how to make a sliding or hinged front panel, and how to measure whatever materials you need. Again, not having much experience beyond changing the odd washer or connecting a wire here and there, I'd be afraid I'd spend a couple hundred bucks on materials and then find everything was 3/16 of an inch off. Thanks again for your help, and be assured I am not yet ready to admit defeat on this!

Thanks for all your great suggestions! Maddya: I've actually been using covered boxes! Great minds, eh? I just want something that would show them off a little better. As for putting them in a laundry room, our laundry room is pretty nice and the room we go through to get to the garage, so we're in and out of it every day a lot. I totally know what you mean, though . . . if it were in the basement or garage, it would not be a good place for them. Lydia, that's a good idea, although I don't think I'd be up for putting pompoms on them. Still, it sounds like a cool idea to display a number of different things. I love Mary Engelbreit's ideas, and am off to check out her online site. Thanks for that idea! Carol: I took your advice and bought some glasses and a couple different sizes of plates. Haven't put them together yet, though. Thanks! Lucy, good point! When I went looking for plates, glasses, etc., I stayed with white. Thanks! Luna: I did the same thing above my kitchen cabs, with the decs out there. It works out great for big items. As for cake stands being too high, I think It'll be ok, but I won't put them all on stands. NMgirl: It's great to hear from someone close to home! Good point about the expiration dates . . . thank you! I'm going to look up all the thrift stores in the Albuquqerque area and start hitting them. You're right, I'll bet if I take my time, I can find some cute ones to replace some of the white ones I'm making. Thanks again for all your ideas. . . they helped me a lot! I'll post some pics when I finish for you all to see.

My3dogs, thank you, thank you, for all your help so far! The fabric's been ordered, corbels located and repainted, (I had some from another room that I took down last year), and paint samples went are on the walls waiting for daylight to show their true color! Everyone's advice gave me just the inspiration I needed, now all I need is the right color for the paint. Sadly, BM's Rich Cream didn't work, it came out too peachy cream in our light, so I'm struggling with other yellow tones to find something, because I do want a true yellow tint to really highlight the flo blue. BM Yellow Lotus may be too strong - but I did like it enough to try that, along with Butter. Your valence instructions look great, and just so simple - yet they have such a lovely effect on the windows! You're so clever! I can't wait for the fabric order to get here, I ordered the coordinating Waverly stripe to recover the chair cushions, too. This will be sew fun!!! Heidi

I found this older article by Joanne Furio for the San Francisco Chronical. It sums up my feelings pretty well with regard to photos as decor. I couldn't abide every surface (or just too many surfaces) in a home being dedicated to family photographs. People will argue with this view and many more couldn't imagine not being surrounding by pictures of those they love..... but here are some other thoughts. "As a powerful purveyor of middle-class style, Pottery Barn is a formidable player in the development of trends, and a savvy observer. That's why I took notice at an unusual spread in the company's spring catalog. In a dining-room vignette, hanging on the walls and propped against a sideboard and leaning wall shelves, were gigantic photos of children and their parents, the occupants of this imaginary family's home. The largest was a poster-size image of a cherubic boy. Another, maybe 2 feet square, was of two young children. All of the images were in black frames that matched the sideboard and shelves. To me, this seemingly innocuous decor represented the height of narcissism, the self-absorption of a generation more interested in turning the camera on themselves than outward. Picking up on what's already happening in homes across America, Pottery Barn seemed to confirm that the traditional ways of displaying family photos -- once relegated to the hallway or the mantel -- are no longer enough for the modern family. We must be surrounded by darling -- and colossal -- images of ourselves. Family photos have taken center stage, taken on a more important role in decorating and, perhaps, taken over. Not so, say Bay Area decorators, who consider over-the-top displays to be offensive and to actually detract from the decor. Exhibiting family shots in an artful manner requires the right place, creative framing and, just as important, discretion. "Narcissism can go to the extreme," says Greenbrae interior designer Jean Larette, who once visited a Malibu hairdresser whose home was adorned with life-size images of his former Playmate wife. That experience led her to one of her decorating no-nos: Don't display images of your ex in your home. "It makes people uncomfortable," she says. "Family photographs are wonderful," Larette adds, "if they are carefully chosen and beautifully displayed." Here, local designers offer suggestions on what, where and how to display or hang your family photos with finesse. Edit carefully: "Don't fill every corner of your house with family photos," says Jan York of Jan York & Associates Interior Design in San Francisco. Because framed photos will be displayed for quite some time, choosing a complementary selection is vital. Maybe it's important to represent both sides of the family in an intergenerational assemblage. Sheila Gleeson of San Francisco, one of York's clients, narrowed her selection to her immediate family, which includes her husband and two sons. From there, they selected "only fun pictures that represent special times and places they have been as a family," Gleeson says. York likes creating sepia-toned photographs from color images, which have "a warm look and feel." Both she and Larette expressed a penchant for black-and-whites, which have a graphic quality. Gleeson chose to use color shots in her arrangement because they made up the majority of her family shots. Be sensitive to subject matter: Although it may seem obvious, Larette advises against placing naked pictures of yourself in the powder room (a phenomenon she has also seen) "unless you look like Elle Macpherson." And, if you are or were a model or actress, your framed head shot should not be on display. "People may wonder if perhaps you may be soliciting work from your dinner guests," Larette says. Larette also frowns upon pasting photos of yourself in thinner days on the refrigerator door for inspiration. That's a case of making a highly personal subject -- your weight -- public. Choose an appropriate spot: As for displaying large images of yourself and your children (a la Pottery Barn), San Francisco designer Shelly Amoroso of Amoroso Design says it's all right as long as "you're a great photographer and you've taken great shots of your kids." The dining room, however, is not the right place. Amoroso also cautions: "A shot of you and your college buddies at a kegger party is not appropriate for the dining room." Such a room is more formal and demands more serious subject matter. Ditto for the living room, says Haruko Yoshida, the interior designer behind Integrafika Design Studio of San Francisco and Tokyo. She doesn't believe photos of family or friends should be there. "They're too personal," she says. What areas did the designers agree were appropriate for a more casual approach to photographic displays? The family room, den, home theater or playroom. They also like hallways and stairways, traditionally the spot for a family gallery, because they are intermediary spaces that "don't interfere with the decor," explains York. She and Gleeson ultimately chose the stairway to the second floor as the place to hang Gleeson's family photographs. If you have a large assortment of snapshots, Amoroso recommends displaying an edited selection on the back wall of a built-in desk, or on a framed corkboard above a desk. She also likes displaying snapshots on a kitchen wall covered with cork, where invitations and other family papers can hang. For a teen's bedroom, she recently created a prettier alternative by upholstering closet doors with fabric and crisscrossed ribbon, where snapshots are tucked in. In general, avoid overkill and underkill. Larette frowns upon covering a grand piano with photos; Amoroso doesn't like a lone photo on the mantel. Instead, photos should be clustered into small groups, whether they are on the mantel, piano, tabletop or wall. Framing and matting: These materials tie together the disparate images. Keeping the style of the house and the decor in mind, the designers recommend that frames be related, though not necessarily identical. "You need to have some continuity," York says. For a "crisp and elegant look," Larette suggests silver frames of various sizes grouped together. York likes to mix up finishes within a category, such as an antique silver frame with one that's more modern. Not recommended: mixing metal and wood frames. As for mats, the designers suggest using the same color or same size around each photo. For Lis and Misha Petkevich, Larette used black frames with ivory mats to finish off photos of the couple and their three children. Larette then evenly spaced them on a wall in their Presidio Terrace family room. Because displays of family photographs are subject to change, the design experts recommend using frames or mats that are readily available. If you've created a wall, leave room so you can expand in the future, York says. Or replace older shots with newer ones."