Oh I love art nouveau. The period in it's poster art and graphic work greatly inspires my own painting/drawing/desing today.
We must be kindred art spirits, because I have some of those shades of teal/aqua/blue spread around my living room and kitchen right now. I have always been drawn to this shade family enough that family members will by me a thing, a pot or vase or journal or kitchen pot in that shade of blue and it is called 'my signature colour' in my family, because of my obsession with it.
I love pairing it with terra cotta orange , obviously blues and oranges go wonderfully together, and last year I took one of my long 20 gallon aquariums and paninted the back and side glass (on the outside of course) and the trim in 'my signature blue' and filled it with taupe and white sands some faux coarl in that same shade and filled it with goldfish. I loved it! I even force my colour schemes on my animals.
You are also inspiring me to have a go at ceramic mosaic. I keep toying with doing something in the bathroom or maybe outside to start. Not sure yet. I might have to pick your brain for questions if I attempt something and I'll post about it with progress and you can give me your opinion.
I'm hoping if you truly move out to New England that we do get to have real life 'artists chats'.
And finally, in this long comment, it is very kind and loving of you to work with a budget to get something for someone. I have done so as well with art and when I owned my flower shop, I would sometimes do 'weddings on the cheap' for a kind bride. They would be fun as they were less demanding and it was fun to see what you could come up with in their budget.
Ok, I have rambled on long enough. Back to the studio and the potting shed for this wordy artist ;)
Give mosaic a "go"! It's not for everyone but if it indeed IS enjoyable for you, then it's completely addictive :-). And yes we can do the real life artists' chat!