I frequently see cover plates that have been decorated with wall paper. Only problem I ever saw was the guy that used Mylar" paper. It is the shiny / silver stuff they use for ballons.
It conducts electricity !!!
Lit up the entire wall in a fast food resturant where they hung a neon sign that didn't have a ground.
One note: A GFI receptacle without a ground will NOT provide surge protection for your computer. Even if you have a surge protector plugged into it. No ground, No protection.
Copper might be expensive but, $1,500 will buy a lot of wire. The ground can be run seperate from the rest of the circuit to any available part of the G.E.system.
Alan--
