Stinky, Layla Grayce is an online shop out of southern California. Bham Wholesale is and has been in Bham for a loooong time, but was purchased by two men from Lafayette, La in 2008. Honestly, I had a bad experience there last year and will no longer step foot in the store. Also, Kyser Furniture in Montgomery carries the same lines and has better sales during the year (if in the market for sofas, which is about the only furniture I do not buy vintage/antique). Tina, I've seen The Old Painted Cottage but only recently. Found it via Fifi (who I read now and then). Have never heard of the Pink Roses blog - there are SO many blogs out there! lol I've seen Southern Lady once or twice, but don't purchase. Newdawn, she lives south/southwest of Bham. LOL Just read your last line, Newdawn - that's the truth! Like I said Kyser in Montgomery! My parents furnished their entire lakehouse there and when we built a summer home in CO we ordered it all from them too. They received, then shipped all at once. Still less... then we added pieces and accessories from CO.

Doodle....I am so happy for you and your family. It is so nice that the girls were there when your little tomato made her entrance into the world. I am glad that everything went well for you. You do look absolutely lovely. So very peaceful, almost angelic. It shows that you know what a blessing you hold in your arms. I had such complications with my first that I looked liked death warmed over for weeks. With my second it was a breeze. Why I didn't have an epidural the first time I will never know. I watched my soap in between pushes with the second. The nurse had just finished checking me and asked if I wanted a mirror so that I could watch. When she stepped away from me I could sse EVERYTHING reflected in the glass from the picture that was hanging on wall in front of me. YIKES! I laughed so hard but thought...."they really should move that picture!" Blessings to you and your family. Especially little Layla. She truly is a beauty! Thank God that you are both healthy and doing so well.

Caramia, I'm so sorry that you've had such a stressful year. I do think that a renovation of your kitchen and dining area will help keep your mind focused on more positive and exciting transformations, which could be a great tonic for you. Your ideas so far are great, and I think you should go with them. We have white cabinets and new white bead board in our kitchen and dining area, as well as the lovely dark wood floors, and I never tire of looking at it. So I think you'll be pleased with this combination, too. I recently helped my DIL paint and update all of her maple colored kitchen cabinets and repainted some furniture in our house, using the techniques from Layla, of "The Lettered Cottage" blog, and was delighted with her advice and the way the cabinets and furniture turned out. I'm providing a link to her kitchen transformation that has the painting instructions, which I followed to the letter, and had great success with. The only difference with what you'll be doing is that she painted her cabinets black, while you'll be doing yours in that creamy white shade that you select. Take a look at what she's done and you'll see how nice it all turned out. Unfortunately, I don't have any photos of my DIL's kitchen, or I'd show those, too. It turned out lovely and looks more professional that it ever did as builder-grade! Here is a link that might be useful: scroll down to painting technique at

Oh, dear! I thought you might like that console...and unfortunately it is no longer available, which is why I didn't send the link. It is the Bailey Console Table by Pottery Barn. It's a great look and I am sure that you can find something similar. Take a look at the Layla Grayce link below. Their inventory is a bit pricey, but the furniture and rugs on the site are wonderful and may provide some inspiration. RE: the rug size As a rule, choosing the correct size area rug depends on the dimensions of the room or space you are trying to cover. To determine what size rug will best suit your needs: 1. Measure the size of your room. 2. Measure the space you want covered. 3. Now place a piece of paper where each of the corners will fall; adjust the "corners" as needed to make the space larger or smaller and then re-measure the area. Most people feel that room will look better proportioned if there is at least 18-24" of bare floor space around the area rug. Try to leave an equal amount of flooring exposed as a border on all sides. If that is not possible, try to ensure that the borders on parallel sides of the rug are equal. All legs of the furniture should be on the rug for a classic look, and at the very least, have the front legs of the furniture on the rug and the back legs off the rug (a more casual look). The reference below is helpful if you want to follow the 18" to 24" of bare floor showing around a room sized rug "rule of thumb". 8' 0" x 10' 0"-Size Area Rug - for Room Size: 9' 6" x 11' 6" to 10' 0" x 12' 0" & larger 9' 0" x 12' 0" -Size Area Rug - for Room Size: 10' 6" x 13' 6" to 11' 0" x 14' 0"" & larger 10' 0" x 15' 0 -Size Area Rug - for Room Size: 11' 6" x 16' 6" to 12' 0" x 17' 0" & larger It is generally considered awkward for a heavily traffic area to be half rug, and half "no rug". You do not want one foot on a rug and one foot off as you are walking through an area constantly.