Thanks for the replies. I wonder if other people have problems similar to mine with their new sofas? To answer some of your questions: The sofa is only two weeks old, and the cushion I've been sitting on is showing a little more compression and the fabric doesn't look quite tight against the top of the cushion...all of this makes the cushion not look so new. Besides looks, comfort is important, and the cushion doesn't offer enough support. Gosh, two weeks is such a short time for a cushion to show this type of compression. My seat cushions are definitely spring-down and I'm 99% sure that the cushions on the model in the store are spring-down because that model comes standard with SD, but I can ask that the repair man bring one of the cushions from the showroom model for comparison, as I'm not sure if I will be able to make the drive back to that showroom. I'd like to go back to the store to figure out why their sofa fits me, but mine seems too deep. Maybe they had the back cushions at an angle when I sat in it. It's a Stickley sofa, and I believe Stickly stands by their products, so I'm hoping the issue can be resolved to my satisfaction. The other problem with the sofa is that some of the 8-way hand-tied springs in the sofa make noises...I don't know how this can be fixed. Thanks again.

Hi again, and thanks! Yes, one of our 'maybes' is to do a sort of Edwardian type thing and do the chair rail about 30-32 inches down from the ceiling, which we've done in four other rooms in the house, one my office, one the grandbabys' nursery upstairs, one our breakfast room, and one another upstairs guest room, with the contrasting paint below/paper above. In the nursery, my husband did a treatment with 1 x 4's and inner moldings under the chair-rail that went up about 5.5 feet, that so mimics the look of Victorian/Edwardian nice paneled wainscoting (complete with tall baseboards) that you have to look CLOSELY to see the inner panels are sanded down drywall under the paint. (You gotta love HGTV). Plus we did paint that whole lower wall with a paint you'd use over wood, a nice semi-gloss. Back to this 1970s paneled room....so currently, I'm leaning towards taking the 'recipe' that someone gave me earlier in this post for the glaze/paint/water, test the matching bathroom paneling till I get the color that works, then do the lower 2/3 of the walls in the big room, and then on the top -- either texturize and paint or do wallpaper liner plus a nice 'Edwardian' looking wallpaper. Whatever we do, I will post a pic when done! You all are a great source of ideas and help - thank you! Keep those ideas coming! We aren't going to start this till we complete our master bed/bath, so we're a month or so off!

Julie, I had the same NFMart experience you did. I was completely overwhelmed by the store and DH ended up talking me into a soft Broyhill. DH..."Why are we here if were not going to buy anything?" After 4yrs the wood frame squeaks and it's so uncomfortable I'm always changing sitting positions. Have you been to Crowley Furniture in OP? I think they carry mid-line sofas but their service is excellent. The two sales people that helped me were decorators. It was great to bounce ideas off them, as well as get help with the multitude of fabric choices. If you're adventurous you could try T. Ormans. They advertise high end furniture at wholesale prices. Another overwhelming place for me. Tons of furniture spread out over a 70,000 sq ft building. I think you really have to know what you want before you go. They're only open Thursdays, Fridays & Saturdays. I do think I'll visit NFM again. Next time I'll go during the week and be armed with a list of brands worthy to look at. I remember the back of the store had an area of higher quality furniture that wasn't prowled by hungry salespeople. Also, every time I try to find a dealer for one of the above mentioned brands it comes back as being carried by NFM. Jennifer

This was one of the first 7 varieties of dahlias I bought from Swan Island in 2011. The area where I grew them in southeastern Pa was only moderately sunny then, but MacAllisters Pride tubers came up from 6" under ground in 12 days and began blooming in 72 days. I topped them at the 3rd leaf level, and the plant grew 6 full sized laterals after topping. I did almost no disbudding, so with 6 laterals there were a lot of flowers. Nonetheless, they averaged between 4 to 4.5 inches in diameter, and were advertised to produce 5" flowers at maximum with disbudding, so size was good even though it was very prolific. The colors of that variety were great and most flowers looked fantastic. So I overwintered tubers and I've grown them each year since then. However, even though they are in a new spot with much better sunlight, the flowers now look bad. They are much smaller than before. They've been in the ground nearly 4 months now but have only produced 2 flowers so far. Now there are more buds showing, but like last year, they are small. The plant is also thin. It's kinda yellow-green in color, even though I just gave it some 2-7-4 organic fertilizer 2.5 weeks ago and a month earlier. We've had a mix of wet, then dry weather, but last year's plant looked like this too. Soon it'll start blooming more, but I predict most will be small and the colors will not be nearly as bright as the first year I grew them in 2011. I am am also growing Citron De Cap that I ordered that same year, and I've overwintered those tubers together with MacAllisters pride, but Citrin De Cap looks fine even though it's only 10 feet away from that plant. I dont get it....