red: Believe it or not after over a year with the same layout I just changed it after taking down the Christmas decorations. This is before: Xmas: This is how it looks right now: jejvtr: So glad you give it the thumbs up! For sure I'll be posting for more help with DD's tiny room. I'm hoping to get some PS help in a few days with the paint/rug selections. DD would prefer the furniture all white, perhaps darker aqua walls; everyone here thinks we should keep it the seafoam color (which has more green in it than the aqua we were invisioning when we started this room). I also prefer the seafoam as it has that element of funkiness I think she'll appreciate heading into her tweens and teens whereas white she may outgrow. Her older sister would love it if I gave her the green light to paint her furniture, but no-deal there as it's nice, solid natural maple stuff. Having some visuals I think will help her decide. Luckily, she's agreed to the pale aqua walls as I've told her we'll have some punches of color--just not all over the whole walls. cooperbailey: yes, lots of fun and so is my DD. She asks me everyday when I pick her up from school what progress I've made on her room. dilly_dally: I agree about mixing painted and unpainted furniture and in fact could see either of these pieces at home in my LR quite easily, but not for this space--which is quite small and gets busy looking very easily with all her stuff. The mahogany will just have to be painted. I know it'll look nice when it's done as does the highboy--though I don't think I could've been the one to paint that piece. bungalow_house: You know how CL is, you have to sift through a lot of lemons sometimes... Not only that, but it was only 4 miles from my house and guy took off work for lunch to meet me... It was total luck as it was part of a set that belonged to his great aunt and for some reason he is keeping part of the pieces and selling the rest. I'd think he'd want to keep it as a set as I think it has more value that way. justgotabeme: I think it's similar in style, but seems to be newer and (we hope) of better quality. I actually think the old wrought iron ones are probably better quality than the new stuff. Since orig. price is $400, we're hoping it's decent quality. I'll need to check the weight tho. DH is weird that way in that if something is very cheap, he thinks it's because it's poor quality. We'll see tho as seller has not called me back yet on the bolt. If they cannot find a replacement then DH says we won't buy. We shouldn't have to pay that money and then scrounge around for spare parts.... sheesharee: I think so to!

Nicole, Thanks...I'd been looking for months, in furniture stores, craigslist, everywhere and nothing really wowed me that didn't cost a fortune! Liz, It's a very deep cherry...sorta like brazillian cherry...has sorta a zebra effect dark brown/black hue then the deep red. It's VERY heavy, took 3 of us to move. I think the top has a thin layer of veneer on it though from everything I could find on the FFDM site, but it's in great condition, one tiny bruise less than the size of a dime right near the corner, I touched it up with a furniture marker and now it's not noticeable at all and i'm very picky! Any idea on wall color? i'm sorta a matchy matchy person and this DEF is out of the ordinary for me, I usually lean towards very dark espresso furniture. I love color though.. My kitchen is louisburg green by BM with red accents -Valspar red , (have the color name somewhere) but it's a deep red inside very upper cabs, with glass fronts and lights..the rest of the cabs are white (wanted to make the kitchen very bright since it's gallery style and long!) The kitchen leads right into this dining room, and then into our living room which is a light taupe (prob change in the future so that color isn't important). Any ideas on what will fit with the louisburg green? I'm not a fan of just beige/offwhite, and I do love color in my life, esp greens, blues, greys, etc. (I hate purple hues or anything with a purple hint)

This was really, really good. I will definitely be making it again. Two suggestions...Allow plenty of time for peeling and cutting all those onions. And, to help with that, I saw a post (after I'd done mine) that gave a tip for peeling pearl onions. Give them a quick dip in boiling water first which will not cook them, but will help release the skins. I used Gruyere in mine and found that the cheese did seize up somewhat when the dish cooled. Not as bad as mustang's, but I would suggest trying to time things so that you can serve it close to when it comes out of the oven. It took time to collect and prep the onions, to roast them, cut up the bread, toast that, shred the cheese, layer & bake....but I think the results were well worth the time/effort spent making this one.

arizonarose - Not a roll-top, just a drop down top. The top would pull down and be used as a desk top. auntjen - Restore-A-Finish...a type of cleaner/stain/sealer in one. oceanna - No, the piece will not be painted. The finish will remain the same, with a little sprucing up. The red unit is an old Hoosier cabinet that I bought years ago for my sons nursery. It has had several homes in our houses. With this last move, it found the garage, but we plan to move it upstairs eventually. The wall color in the garage is Traditional Tan. I guess it looks peach with the red cabinet and the flash. dilettante - You have some good points, but as I recall, there were some signs of hinges on the sides. Holes, too! I cannot take another look, because my daughter took it to her house. I don't see how a roll-top would work. I took a look at a desk of my grandmothers. (see desk in below photo) The drop-down top has different hinges than those in the GW link. Also, the top doesn't rest on pull-out arms. It is pretty much supported by the hinges, or can be supported by the top drawer. The cubby insert is also has the upper gap. The whole unit is removable. I don't think that the GW desk has the pull out supports. Can't see any sign of them in the photos. My parents have the same exact desk and I don't recall theirs has the arms, either. I don't know, but you could be right. :)