I go to a place like that once in a blue moon, and like Meldy says, for the experience of being totally and unabashedly pampered. When I went to conference for my business, I once took a gal who was apprenticing with me. She had never been to a place like that, even though she was nearly my age. I told her when we went there for three days to pack one good outfit, and when she suggested a pizza, I took her to the fanciest restaurant in the city and told her not to even look at the prices and treated her to the fanciest meal of her life. It was a blast and I'd do something like that again just for the fun of it. She was so nervous about which utensils to use or protocol, and I told her to look around her at the rich people who were having fun and see how much they were worried about what was proper NOT! .......like who is looking at us? LOL. Spent more on the tip to two waiters than I normally spend on a meal for two. BTW, the food was just wonderful, but that's not why we went there. This was the night I once recounted on the GP where I wore a fancy trouser outfit and told I couldn't go into the main dining room that casual, and I went back to the hotel room and put on my nightgown and went in that. Yes, I pulled it off and my partner nearly died when I told her after the fact I wore a nightgown, and pulled the label out to show her it came from a sleep shop. roflmao. It's how you carry yourself. Always has been, always will be.

Our plan has a dining room and a keeping room. The way it is designed the keeping room could be a large eating nook and the dining room a formal dining space so it will work for resale if that is ever an issue. We are using the keeping room area for a family sitting area with a built in desk, sofa and chair, and the dining room will be our main eating area other than the island. The plan we started with is the 'Dogwood Ridge' by Don Gardner. It had alot of features we liked so we used it as a starting point and worked up our own custom plan. Our plan is a hillside walkout with about 3500 sf with master on the main and a rec room and 3 kids bedrooms downstairs. We are also adding a bonus room over the garage to finish later. I seem to recall other plans of his that would be flexible as far as Dining space as we did not want a 'formal' dining room - just a nice large space for everyday and entertaining. You might check out the Don Gardner website. With your bedroom size requirements you may have to consider a custom design. I have not seen too many plans that have the secondary bedrooms that large in that square footage range. Good Luck!

Thanks for that link, mtn, although I wasn't surprised at the two lists and mostly already follow that guideline for what I buy organic. Years ago I read an article by someone who had visited a strawberry farm and was aghast at the protective suits the farmers wore due to the pesticides they were using. Ever since then I've made sure never to buy berries that aren't organic but it's not always easy to find them here. Whole Foods is hit or miss - some days they have them, some not. Even most of the local,produce stands aren't organic! I want to support my local growers but often can't. We had a great butcher that carried grass fed meats but sadly he closed. I think his high prices prevented him from getting the number of customers necessary to stay open. The area I need most improvement is our meats, eggs and dairy. I don't buy processed foods (rarely ever even go to the regular grocery store), and do well with produce, it's being able to find reasonably priced "healthy" meats, poultry and fish that kills me. Funny conversation at the dinner table last night. Somehow we started talking about tv dinners that were so popular in the 70s. Dh and I were trying to describe them to the kids when one of my kids chimed in, "so kinda like lunchables for adults?". Lol - exactly! Years ago my kids would ask why I never bought lunchables, and of course I explained why. Then one of my kids had the chance to taste one while at a friend's house and said it was awful and was thankful for my homemade lunches!

Someone re-upholstered my parents’ old set, and the loss of the caning is what was heart-breaking. is it the color, seat condition, back shape you don’t like? If it’s the caning, the back frame is glued together, and can come off, if you want to put an upholstered back in (see my photo of the purple beast). I’ve seen a painted version of the same set that looked very nice, too. in my case, I want to sand out the heavy rounded edges on the table & china cabinet at some point.