Thanks Nami! Well, I knew the quality would be limited because of the price. While searching for a buffet I saw that a very well constructed piece would be over $1000 at least. A ver nice one might be $3000 or more. This was $399 plus shipping. The online site had it listed for $499 but because I mentioned my catalog customer number the price was matched to the sale in the catalog. That was awesome plus I think the shipping surcharge was dropped as well. Cool. So far, so good. Now, if I decide to stay here a 3rd year ( I will decide this fall or perhaps even much sooner) what color would you paint this room and the kitchen because they share a common wall? I am think EK taupe; would that work? Kitchen:

MOve the dining set to the end of the room, down by the windows, where the seating area is now. It looks like an island in the middle of nowhere. Use the plain rug under the table. I need to ask why she has so many dining chairs with such a small table? Now you can use the entry and the middle of the space as one large seating area, and the foyer won't seem so pointless. I would keep the mirrored chest in the entry, but put the two small upholstered chairs from the living room area on either side of it, keep the lamp, and the artwork (tho she may need to re-hang it. I would try the tall cabinet and two extra chairs now by the stairs, down on the wall near what will be the dining area, where the little tables are lined up right now. Try the bombe cabinet from the current LR area with the tall vase and twigs on the small wall by the staircase. Let the two couches define the seating in the middle of the room. I would put the blue couch with its back to the dining area, given it is a relatively low back which gives an open sight line all the way through the space. I would put the leather couch with its back to the bar stools. Use the mirrored cocktail table and the rug that is currently under the dining room in that seating area.

Amysrq, I've only seen the Philipsburg Blue on-line where it reads dark gray on my monitor. I'm anxious to get to the BM store tomorrow while my little ones are in day camp to check out a swatch. I am planning on keeping the trim off-white as I will DIY this painting project myself. I don't want to tackle painting the triple window in this room. Thanks parma42 for the reassurance that dark blue won't swallow up my furniture as I thought it would. I think I'll have to paint a test board to get comfortable with dark blue. And threegrad, I have to give the green/blue combo some thought. My initial feeling is that this is just too much color for me, although this morning I was contemplating red for the upper and off white for the lower portion. Red is my favorite color. In my photo, the rug appears to have a lot of hot pink, but in person it's a bright red.

Thank you everyone and yes, I am grinning from ear-to-ear. Even though I did one new kitchen and two baths, somehow this does it for me in a way they never did. My 14-year-old DS who helped us pick it up and load it, got it right away. This set has HISTORY. It will definitely be an heirloom set. Sad part was that it belonged to a woman with early onset Alzeheimers and her daughter who is only 24 and doesn't have room for it, sold it. Wanted to get rid of it quick and because I had been looking at antique stores I recognized right away this was a find. I even offered her extra to hold it for me, but she declined as it was taking space in her dad's house where she was to move back (mom and dad divorced). Lucky, my DH also knew it was a find after seeing the stuff in the antique stores and was able to take off work and treak up 70 mins. to check it out. So, last night I said a prayer for the previous owner and her daughter. As for the chair, I will look into having it professionally restored. Until then, it's on the side and we won't use it. The only reason I was debating refinishing it, is because I do want to reupholster/recover the chairs. I much prefer to keep the finish as is as we have kids and so I know anything I get will develop it's own patina. However, I've made a note of all the products johnmari and jejvtr have suggested and will work on that after the holidays. I want to take my time and not do anything rushed. In the meantime, I'll just polish it woth the Guardman. jejvtr, yes I would like the detailed instructions. There is a small gouge on the table (maybe 1/20" deep)--would probably need to be filled, but I'm OK leaving it, it shows it's an antique as my DS said. One more item is the leaves are all darker because they were stored away which I understand is common. One also looks to have some water damage to it--though I don't even have room to extend to it's full length so not too concerned. I was wondering if I were to put the leaves in the sun, would they lighten (like reverse of cherry)? I am also in need of advice on how to do the chairs. Is this a DIY job or should I also have it done professionally? The chairs don't have too much padding in the seats. Is it possible to make them thicker or would that interfere with the backs? I like all the ideals for the sideboard. I'm wondering if a nice large antique china tureen wouldn't look good there in the center since it curves out slightly. Still not sure about what to put on the wall, but I am going to take my time and let the room evolve piece by piece now that the bones are there--perhaps look for some more vintage items--like old botanical prints? Most pressing will be the floor rug since my flooring is new and don't want the chairs to scratch. I was thinking of some type of Oriental rug similar to the rug posted by jejvtr--though will see what the Ethan Allan designer comes up with. I do want to pull in some color here in there--bronze and accents of burgundy. I haven't told her about the dining set yet, but she did tell me most likely she would not be able to get me my wood items by Christmas, though I could get the sofa/chairs/drapes so hopefully she'll still help me out. With all the money I've saved here, I feel like I can splurge on the drapes as I like the ones I saw in the Ethan Allan store better than JCP. The drapes will match the living room and what she suggested is to do silk roman shades (3 in the bay window, 3 for 8' wide window in living room). Then tall silk panels 96" long) hung on rods to either side that would "kiss the floor". We were thinking of doing the roman shades in a solid and the panels in a stripe. If I were to go custom, the panels could be hung with rosettes; but due to budgetary reasons, other option she recommended was a reverse pinch pleat which I could buy in stock. She recommending doing a long rod across the width of the window, but I'm leaning towards two narrow rods to frame the windows since the panels will be decorative. Or is that look too "trendy"? I did like the rosettes, though, will see what she quotes me; but seems excessive to do custom just to hang with rosettes.