In some ways that could be true, on the surface some of these plants in Mexico are quiet modern, and more so along the border. In the interior is a bit different. just ask Broyhill and all the problems they had with their Mexico cut & sew contractor. Mexico doenst have the history of making quality furniture as many of our factories have here. Plus they just seem to not understand as well how to know or judge good quality from bad quality. Its not so much the individual worker on the production floor, more so the management and QC department more specifically.

Blonde, I think you and I must be furniture sisters LOL I can't imagine building a house, how wonderful! That's a lot of work so my hat is off to both of you! We bought our home as a foreclosure in need of some loving and loving is what it's gotten. :c) With the exception of our master bath remodel, we've done all the work ourselves; including the installation of our floors. After all we've put into it I wish I could say it's our forever house, but I don't really think so. That's another story though. LOL Thanks so much for your feedback on the table/chairs/server. I was wondering if it worked with the cabinets and flooring, so your opinion is really appreciated. I'm pretty happy with it. Yes, the furniture saga continues but I'm sure it will work out, things always do, don't they? And yes, 3rd time is the charm. Now I have to find curtain fabric for that big window next to the new table. Always projects. LOL Don't feel too bad about the furniture options in your area, we're in a similar boat it just takes some tenacity to stick with it until you find what you want. We live in Michigan about an hour or so north of Detroit. Furniture options here are barren at best. As a matter of fact, we had to drive over 50 miles away just to see the couch we got. I love to research though and would be happy to help you to find out what other options are available in your area. Sorry you're having problems with the upload. Tinypic.com allows you to upload pics to for the HTML code without an account. Just go to tinypic.com, upload the pic, change "RESIZE" to Message Board (640x480), hit upload now, it will make you type some cryptic words to keep spammers out, then it will upload the photo. Copy the HTML code and place it in the Message window of your Forum message. Hit preview and your photos will be there. :c) 50.00 is cheap delivery considering fuel prices. The store we bought the table at has now charged us 79.00 x2 plus that freaking restock fee for the sofa's which was 350.00. That's over 500.00 in fees. Ouch. I could have bought tv stand with that! I've never paid a restocking fee before in my life and can promise you I never will again. I think it's ridiculous. As far as black goes, the only experience I've had with black is that I recently painted the cabinet in our spare bathroom black and love it. It is sort of a dust magnet though. I love both black and white painted furniture and don't think you can go wrong with either. My last kitchen table was white and I had for 20 years; it showed dirt that I don't think the black would show, however black would show any paint chipping that I don't believe the white would show as badly. Finger prints are another animal however and I can't say, you may want to post a thread and see what kind of response you get. One thing I do wonder about is if the black would have a stronger presence in a room as opposed to the white, I know it does in our bathroom. Do you know what I mean? How big is your space? Would the black swallow it up? Is this what your other table looked like? I love those chairs. They carry them at Pottery Barn Outlet which luckily is 50 miles north of us, they are very french country. Why is everything 50 miles away? LOL Here is a link that might be useful: link to table & chairs in photo

Just to update, we finally ordered a sectional from Century. It is L shaped with a loveseat on one wall and a sofa length on the other. The good thing is that it is 43" deep so it should be very comfortable to lay on. We chose a chenille type fabric in a greenish tone. We started the room's decor off by picking 2 oriental rugs and pulling colors from that. The sofa comes with 7 throw pillows, so I chose 2 different fabrics for 4 of those. We'll see if it works or not when it comes in! On another note, once we started to choose decor, we realized the color on the walls was pukey and we had to get the painters back to change from blue to brown. I'm so glad we did that. It really warms up a basement room with no windows. The lighting is what made color selection so tricky. Also in there, we got a leather recliner from Hancock & Moore. And the really neat looking Wisteria Barn door coffee table. Funny thing is that when it arrived, it really did smell like a...barn door! Fortunately that smell has disapated.

Leather/vinyl will defiantly wear different than genuine leather. Vinyl will not only look different but it will feel different. Manufactures are pretty good at getting the two colors matched close but over time you will eventually begin to see the difference in the wear and color. But that being said if the backs and sides are not floating in the room perhaps you don’t need to spend the additional money on all leather everywhere. It depends on how long you want this too last. Genuine leather will get you the longest life. It is a natural product unlike vinyl that is actually a man made plastic product. Leather will remain soft and supple and take on its own characteristic through the years while the vinyl will only fade. There are a few other options you may want to look at before you decide. Omnia Leather Furniture offers leather everywhere with the recliner pieces and cup holders. They offer manual or power options and if you shop at a discount retailer vs a retail store you can get a great price for the quality and they are American made. Another company you may want to look into is Palliser. They offer all leather or the leather/vinyl option. Their product line also offers the pieces you are going for but it is not made in China.