Hi nebgranny,
thank you so much for your kind words!!!
You did a very good job with your restoration!
...other small tips ....
When changing background:
1) careful that the 'transition' edges (the contour of the original picture pasted on the new background) aren't too hard/clean (another dead giveaway the picture has been tampered with)
2) generally speaking (and you did that very well!!!) try to stay as close as possible to the original colour to avoid the headache of 'bleedings' and 'haloes' etc.
3) try to match sharpness and 'grain' of the original background ... a noisy and faded 'subject' pasted on a perfectly smooth and/or crisp background tends to look fake ... (if necessary, it's ok for the background to be slightly more faded than the subject .... never the contrary!!)
P.S. My tips do not necessarily mean you have made one or more 'mistakes' ... they are simply pointers to what to be careful of when following particular procedures ...