treasure...thank you for posting the pics! I agree, the metropolitan mirror is heavy, but it would work with my vanity (which is big...10' long with an Espresso-stained Alder wood cabinet...3cm granite. Having said that, the Daphne mirror from Ballard Designs doesn't have that heavy look... I will try to post a picture of the vanity/bathroom tomorrow. In the move, I lost my uploading device for my camera :o), among other things. thanks again capegirl

I love old houses - the quality, the history (I was THRILLED when I saw the names of the owners of our then under 5 year old house on the 1930 census), and the style. If I don't win the lottery, I will never live in another "new" build (80's and up) because the vast majority of non custom built homes are just not up to my standards. Of the 4 new builds I lived in in my life, only two were decent. The last decent one had been built by a guy who had previously done commercial building. It was built to last and I have no doubt that one would still stand after a tornado. Because of the commercial background, the finish "prettyness" wasn't there, but those details were added later, by us. The last new build was a nightmare. The "quality" semi custom build was so lacking that I can't even imagine how much worse some of the mass produced really poor quality houses will last. Within the first 5 years the deck was partially rotting (no flashing between the house and it), the roof leaked at the chimney, many of the windows wouldn't work well and/or leaked at the top, lots of the trim wood was rotting out and the floors of both 1st and 2nd floor creaked in almost every spot as did the entire staircase. And then of course you had the "minor" issues like one couldn't use a hairdryer in the master bath before resetting the outlet in the upstairs bath if someone had used a hairdryer in it before the master bath. And the defective shingles requiring a complete reroof at 3 years is hard to forget. My brother has a friend who last year moved into a house in one of those new mass built neighbourhoods in South Carolina. Brand new. 6 months after moving in, a water pipe junction burst (iirc, they thought it hadn't been correctly connected or something) in the attic while they were on vacation and ruined most of the house and their items. The builder denied responsibility and the insurance company was blaming it on the builder since the house was still under "warranty" and it was turning into a huge mess, to say the least. New does not equal free of work and I'd rather strip wallpaper than deal with finding out what corners were cut.

The interior reminds me of my MIL's home (altho outside hers was a different architectural style). We had a stager do the house, and it was interesting what they did: - Removed ALL window treatments: curtains, blinds, shutters. The house was dark and this made a huge difference. - Removed wallpaper, painted all the walls and ceilings (which needed to be done in painted rooms anyway; it had been a while) a nice warm white. - Woodwork that had been painted, such as the beautiful stenciled ceiling beams my FIL had painted over decades ago, remained painted. But NO unpainted woodwork was painted. - Wood floors were refinished. But the 1930's now-retro tile colors of pink and green in the bathroom were retained. - All her furnishings were removed. Rooms were all staged with simple, upholstered pieces (matched the traditional style of the home). - The only rugs were a 5x7 under the LR coffeetable and an 8x10 under the DR table. No runners in the hallway. Sheet linoleum in the finished basement rec room (which had been my DH's bedroom/bath while growing up) was covered with neutral Berber-style W2W carpet. - All rooms had one art piece on the wall, no more than that, and most had a flowering orchid. We gave my family a "peek" at the finished staged product. They knew what it had looked like before, and their comments were unanimous: "Wow! There's so much more room and light!" In a declining market the house sold for 98% of asking, within less than one month of listing. Three homes in similar styles, but not staged, for sale at the same time in the surrounding neighborhood, remained on the market for several months afterwards. We felt the RE agent and stagers had done a very good job for us, and were worth the $$ we spent. I was frankly surprised how good the home did look, even knowing the "bones" of it were still fine. I have to say that having seen her home in all stages: her stuff, emptied completely, staged - I would never try to sell a home with empty rooms. Once staged it really looked like a million dollars...and since that was the asking price, it needed to, LOL.

They'll get a lot of wear and tear and are probably just veneer, so they won't last well as kitchen pieces. I know because I have a mahogany buffet in my kitchen. It needs refinishing. If you do incorporate them, give them a protective coat of poly.