Nifty! For some reason, I also think this would be great in a child's room (I have kids on the mind... Hm!!! *alert*)! Teach them how to count using an abacus... Heh! At school, for a short-lived period, they wanted to teach us how to use an abacus... God those things were confusing!

I think it's really pretty, but if I were to do this I would use tension wire things to keep the line from sagging in the middle.  A brace would interrupt good abacus flow, though.