Hi Tom

Many thanks for the compliments Tom. I thought of the stainless rack as well but, as you rightly say, height is a factor. I do have a stainless rack with a lot of pans hanging on it (you can just see it in the top left of the picture) the advertising board is top of my list but my style consultant thinks an old clock would look good, I'm not going to argue with her, yet.....

By the time I read through this topic to see what you were all on about, the two items on ebay had finished and what came up on the links were pictures of smocked dresses and skirts(I kid you not!) so I was very confused!

Re what should be on the wall, maybe it's stating the obvious but as it's above the cooker, wouldn't and exttractor hood be the  most pratical thing, i know it might spoil the aesthetics but anything else you put there, if you do any amount of cooking at all , is just going to get the continual updraft of cooking steam!

BK, in support of your argument against a clock....would the steam, heat and grease that is in the air in a kitchen make a clock stop working quite quickly

I thought the cooker looked like it's sunk into the wall with a hood built in behind the bit where the clock/picture will go?

I've made a tray for the lathe and it's sitting in its permanent position now.  To make it a bit lighter I took the overhead gear off and while it was in bits I polished the shafting in the lathe and cleaned everything up.  The tray is just sat on the sideboard located by some blocks underneath so no screw holes in the daughters' legacy.  I did this pic at lunchtime and this afternoon I fitted the motor so theoretically I could start turning on it but I shall postpone that pleasure until tomorrow.  I know it's a bit eccentric to have a working lathe in the front room for an ornament but it's the best way to make sure it is kept in proper working order.