OA, are you trying to put me back to work already? And I was just learning to enjoy being retired! LOL Guess you could tell my ears perked up when all of you mentioned wood placemats because I've actually thought of cutting some to paint--didn't even know there were already some out there! (See I never have an "original" idea!) As Karen knows, I'm the queen of procrastination, so doubt my painting production would be fast enough, you might want to enlist Punk's help--she's a "speedy" painter! I really do like the idea of using something solid as a divider between sets of placemats to make it easier to pull out the ones you need. The ideal storage for placemats would be something like the storage racks the stores have for scrapbooking papers, don't you think? I think Kathleen's friend has a good idea with the lunch trays too--wonder what those cost? Maybe find them at a restaurant supply place???? However, I really like the idea of reuse/recycle something--that way it's less expensive too. The idea of using wood scraps and building some stacked shelving to fit on some shelves in my hall/linen closet has popped in my head a few times too--mainly for separating the sets of dishes, but sure would work for placemats too. Now that would be neat! Luvs P.S. OMG! I just realized that just a board across a couple of wood blocks, or bricks even, would work for adding extra shelves to my linen closet shelves! The existing shelves allow me to stack plates fairly high, but then it's difficult to get to the ones on the bottom of the stack. So neat that this post has sparked some ideas for better storage of things including placemats! Thanks.

At our "regular" house we have a kitchen table with a cherry top with poly on it, and with regular, somewhat careful use (no placemats or coasters, and kids do their homework there...and eat there...but I'm always telling them to put a book or something under their paper if they're writing), it looks pretty good but after a year, there are some scratches and a ding or two. In our beach cottage, we have a pine farmhouse type table from LL Bean that we bought about 10 years ago. It's our only spot for eating, art projects, etc., so it gets a lot of abuse. Any patina from the abuse just looks natural on this table, and in fact hardly noticeable. I don't think LL Bean sells our table any more, but something similar might work for you.

I think it's cool that this thread started in 2007 and still lives, and thanks to all for keeping it alive, it is very inspirational. This is going to be a long post, so sorry about that. I'm sick, so lots of couch time yesterday, and I finally caught up on a few decorating mags. April's Elle Decor has several homes that sort of qualify as coastal, breezy, etc., though with more of a multi-cultural flare than the strict British Colonial. There is one beach house in Brazil that is nicely done; casual, quirky and fun. Even though we live at the 44th parallel, and as I write have ice on the pond and snow on the ground, I love the styles posted in this tread and the combo of having some time to think and seeing this thread again has given me an idea for our screened porch. We built this house 5 years ago, and 3 years ago finally screened in the porch (on the east side, we have a SW exposure and get hot afternoon sun, even up here in NNY, the porch is respite from that). The flooring and ceiling are lyptus, and we have wicker furniture, some white, some dark green with white and green striped cushions. Classic, yes, but we already have a lot of green, house exterior, LR, entry way, MBR, and while they are all different greens, I wanted something different. So, I sprayed the wicker dining table base a tomato red, sprayed the dining chairs purple and had new cushions made for the dining chairs in some Sunbrella fabric I have toted around for umpteen years. It's a very crisp stripe; yellow, green, purple, red, aqua, blue and white, and since I'm not a crisp gal, it was bold move for me. In the porch seating area I sprayed the white chairs a deep, glossy brown and painted the desperately faded cushions an ivory color. And while it looked OK, I could not put my finger on why it didn't feel right. Seeing this thread again has helped me to diagnose the problem, the look, while cute, is too cottagey, and the porch is more coastal. Aha! So, once the weather breaks, I'm going to spray the dining table base and chairs a deep blue (pulled from the stripe in the cushion) and probably paint the green wicker the deep glossy brown. Then I'll bring in some white and a lighter, but still strong, blue (sort of the colors Target is featuring in their latest collection of melamine plates, navy, white and indigo, I think, I'm not sure what color the lighter blue is called). I would also paint the currently green house walls that are the back of the porch the color of the trim out there now (BM Sailcloth) and maybe get a sisal rug. The wicker couch has been moved out, it wasn't working in the space, and in its place we brought in 2 smaller, vintage chairs, one wicker, one sort of 1950's porch furniture, with wide arms and a wooden frame. I'll need new cushions made for the wicker, not sure of the print, will paint first, make cushions later (I paint and paint is cheap, I don't sew and cushions are $$$). Here are a few pics of the porch, what do you think? Would that work or am I kidding myself that a porch in this style would work in the far north? I should add that we are on the water, so that does add some legitimacy (she says hopefully) to the "coastal" thing. The pics are 3 years old, and don't reflect the brown painted furniture, but hopefully it gives you an idea of the space. Dining area: LR area: Thank you for listening to my ramble, hope I haven't bored anyone to tears- sandyponder

My camera is broken, but I may take pics with my sister's tomorrow. I'll let you all weigh in :> A couple things I didn't mention in my first post is the issue we have with our floor underlayment. To tile it the right way, we have to rip all our particle board out and replace it with plywood, and it is a messy and costly process. On top of that, DH's income is HALF of what it was a year ago because he is in sales and directly tied into the economy. Also, he suffered a head injury a few months ago which he is still having problems with which is adding stress to this whole process. So unfortunately, we are doing this at a bad time for us and really had bigger plans. So I'm trying to save money where I can, and I don't have a problem with that. Okay. I think I just talked myself into the vinyl! I'll start a new thread with pictures. Thanks again everybody, and sorry for whining. I know these problems are miniscule compared to what many others have to deal with. (everybody here is so sick of me and all my indecision. It's nice to be able to come to this forum for objective opinions and support :)