Beekeeper-When my kids were little I was so lax about them walking around with food and crayons. Now I am a drill sergeant. "Let me see your hands" is what I say after they've eaten and are about to sit on the couch. I make them wash their hands even if I don't see anything. I will definitely go with slipcovers, being that I'm as strict as I am. Thank you! I will try and find a code or ask someone. Polly929 on a previous post, and who has the penney's slipcovered sofa, mentioned she cleans the cushion covers in the wash. I think the company posts "dry clean" as a precaution but that's just my guess. Macy's now has the Lucie slipcovered line in stores. Unfortunately at this point the company doesn't make extra slipcovers. This collection looks just like the one at Penney's but they are just ever so slightly different. Thanks for the info! Here is a link that might be useful: Lucie slipcovered line

Thanks, Tina!! The seat is 17" x 17".. and it has that little hump in the front. I haven't found cushions that size.. some are 17" x 15"... 18"x 19" and plenty that are 20" x 20". I am thinking it's worse to have a short cushion than a generous one.. true? I am leaning towards either a solid.. or a geometric design vs a print (I haven't found a print I like yet)... I saw striped cushions that might work but I am thinking stripes would be too much with the chair backs. Really, I want something that adds to the look without costing me a bunch (you'd think they'd be on clearance now but I havent seen any great discounts).

NS is a very vigorous species. What you're seeing is one years (the current year) growth increment of the main leader. That's a good thing, and indicates the plants are doing well. Now if you will, imagine that wherever that new leader's growth stops, a new tier of side branches will grow next year. These branches will get very large and very heavy. Now it doesn't look like too much space between tiers I'll bet, does it? Completely normal and desirable. BTW, the white pine shoot tip moth Dax refers to is really doing a number on a bunch of NS I've got growing up on my land. One of my favorite trees, it is most bothersome to see these great new growth extensions, only to see them flat-topped after the larvae gets through with them. The good news? NS readily forms a new main leader from a side shoot. Only time is wasted, I guess you could say. +oM

The best way to deal with deep stains is to remove the finish and recoat with new finish. There really is no good, long lasting repair for those kinds of problems. You might be able to hide many of those stains by adding a coat or two of shellac, darker than the current finish, after hand sanding. However, to get a good coverage of shellac, you need to use fresh shellac. That means getting shellac flakes(easy online ordering) in the right color(clear to quite dark), mixing denatured alcohol with the flakes in the correct ratio(called 0ne/two/three pound cuts, mixing instructions also easily found online) and applying at least two coats. Hand applying shellac is a learned task, it dries very quickly and is difficult to apply evenly on large areas. The longer lasting repair is to strip the old finish(you can have that professionally done) and refinish with a non poly varnish(from a real paint store). Reason? Poly urethane is a form of plastic. It chips and is very difficult to spot repair. Non poly varnish is not a plastic and is easier to spot repair, even as DIY. It resists staining better than shellac or lacquer because it cures with a harder , more impervious finish than wither lacquer or shellac. Both lacquer and shellac do not harden and become impervious to more applications of the same finish---lacquer or shellac can be decades old and still be partially dissolved by an application of the same finish. Nice for slightly damaged finishes, but not good long term use finishes. That means there is really no quick fix that won't cause problems later.