There is a Travertino Porcilian tile that looks like the natural stone that my be more suited for that use but HD uses the same SKU 858-571 for all Travitino tile and there are a numerous amount of shades. If you go this way make sure that you verify that you have enough of the same shade to complete your project. In general; Their tile folk don't seem to know a lot about the subject.

"I shopped four counties for my stone. What would be the charge for a fabricator to tag along?" we do it no charge but we do tell the homeowner which slab suppliers consistently have good quality stone and which ones do not. even a 1st rate supplier occasionally has crap stone but a good supplier will make good (provide extra slab(s)) free of charge if stone problems result in the need for additional slab(s). a good supplier also does not argue (and doesn't charge a restock fee) if slabs are rejected by the fabricator for issues like too much fill, slabs too thin, cracks, and scratches. most of these defects are not noticed by the typical homeowner who is usually at least slightly overwhelmed by the beauty of the stone. Note the willingness of the slab supplier to work with the fabricator when there are stone issues is highly dependent on the business relationship between the fabricator and the slab supplier. This is less obvious way that a 1st rate fabricator that has a well run business offers additional value to the customer since the slab supplier will go the extra mile with a good fabricator.

Brent, I'm not offended at all. It's just everybody keeps stating this and it's become urban legend. It's true we have stricter regulations. CV is formulated differently for California, actually not all of California, in some counties you can still use the 550 VOC version instead of 275 VOC. I've asked the chemist at Valspar(one of the the biggest coatings manufacturers in the world) here in LA many times what the difference is. The 275 VOC has a little less solids and some different solvents but it is still CV and has all the same properties. There are more that twenty suppliers within miles of where I am that sell CV so they are probably hundreds of shops using it, big and small. With the green movement on the rise I'm sure it won't be long before the rest of the country is held to the same standards. I'm going to be trying out Valspar's water based CV which has been in use for several years by some of the larger O.E.M's and is just becoming available to smaller shops here. It suppose to be just as good as solvent based. If you've ever sprayed CV you know how nasty it can be. I think people are more aware of toxic off-gassing issues today and the safety hazards this presents to their families and would be open to this. Especially if it provides the same protective finish.

Thanks everyone for the comments and advice. I have been out shopping this morning at 3 different furniture stores. One was a chain type store, Levin...junk, junk and more junk (and thanks to all the info I am gleaning from here I could tell the junk), another mid-grade local place (think Broyhill, Flexsteel and Lane)...a lot of junk and a few decent pieces and then a more high end, family owned and ran local store. That place had a couple options that were within budget and were better quality than the other places. One piece in particular had all hardwood frame, 8-way hand tied coils, top grain leather, nail head trim and nice simple but classic rolled arms...I can't stand these awful poofy pillowed arms that so much furniture has now. The salesman said it was from the "South Pacific" but wasn't sure which country that meant...maybe Malaysia, maybe Indonesia. I will never get my DH to agree to used furniture...it's a losing battle that I'm not willing to take on. He has issues with other people's "garbage" so I know that's not gonna happen. Thanks again for all your advice and suggestions. Hopefully your collective knowledge will help me select something that will last longer than our current piece of crap!!! Just for reference, this is sort of the style I'm going for And this is what I hate... So if anyone knows of something in particular that you think is a good quality choice within my budge, please let me know!!! Thanks again!