We are empty nesters who built a lake cottage last year that will be our retirement home. We did put a counter height set in our dining area, which is open to the kitchen, and we love it. We built this house for the way that we enjoyed living, and that meant more casual gatherings than formal meals. We have an island (counter height) with a second level for bar height seating. It is adjacent to the counter height table and most often I set food and appetizers on the bar level for people to serve themselves and sit down with their plates at the table. We find most people, especially the older ones, find it easier to get up and down from the counter height chairs than regular height ones. I will grant you that it's a little jump to get up and down from BAR height chairs, but counter height, for most folks, means just sliding their butts on or off, as opposed to raising yourself (like doing squats)from seated to standing in a regular chair. I'm only 5'2" so my feet sometimes dangle from even regular height deep seated dining chairs! We chose chairs that have a rung on which you can rest your feet when seated and I find them really comfortable. It comes down to a matter of personal choice and lifestyle, but I am really happy to have gone with the counter height dining set.

There are a couple of ways to handle your situation. You can place the candles by the guest book at the reception, if you take it there, or on a table near the entry door so that everyone can take one when they arrive. Another option is to place the candles in a basket and ask a couple of children to distribute them during the reception after the meal. Kids love to do this and guests are always willing to take something from a child. You will have enough to do without you handing out the favors.

Well, even if revived by a spammer, it's still a useful topic. I find I'm incapable of making that "multiple designer pillows" look work. I've tried, but just can't pull it off. But we have multiple pillows because we actually use them. We read in bed and/or watch TV together, almost every night, in our MBR. When we decided to redo the MBR, one of the most expensive things we put in was a built-in storage headboard between the custom bookcases. After 25 yrs of stacking pillows on a bench I was tired of it. I wanted a slanted front where we could stack pillows 3-deep in comfort! This is the headboard unit right after it was installed (I replaced the crappy window blinds with a beautiful plantation shutter unit that I'm soooo happy with). It is sized for a CA King bed: The two storage compartments are identical, just reversed. The wider compartment fits a king-size pillow perfectly. Each will hold 2 fat pillows plus 1 smaller bedroll pillow. The smaller compartment is a great little cubbyhole for keeping little-used stuff accessible but out of sight:

I also love bowls, especially ceramic, pottery, and brass ones. I use a variety of handmade pottery ones in a stand I have in my kitchen - a smaller one holds garlic, another holds shallots, another brims with onions, and another for potatoes. A couple shallow bowls hold my kitchen towels and cloth napkins. Next to the sink there is a tiny bowl where I can place my rings while I do dishes. On top of the fridge is a nice silver bowl where all the loose change goes. The cat eats and drinks out of old pottery bowls that are more shallow. In my studio, I have several large brass basins and bowls that hold my brushes and other supplies. A brass bowl on the entryway console table is where my keys go, and a larger ceramic basin is where I toss the mail as I come in. In my bathroom, I have a long shelf and I have several bowls there - they are great to hold hairbrushes and makeup brushes, Bobby pins, etc. In the bedroom, there is a small bowl or tray on each nightstand - great place for watches, hair pins, rings. I rarely use bowls as merely beautiful objects, because there are so often a utility to them so they can both be serving a purpose as well as being beautiful - for organization like I do in the kitchen and bathroom, managing loose odds and ends such as hair pins, loose change and mail, and even easily-dismissed functions like as pet dishes.