You folks are almost making me cry! I just brought up my office spring/summer window treatments to press and put up, and these sweet comments will get me through the task of ironing the 10 panels! Of course, Riley, Rooney and Ginger are right here to help me. :-)

Occasional visitor to this forum--AND, I can't write a short post! This one is VERY long!: As work-in-progress asked: Where do you usually put your tree? If you use one, that item needs attention first. Where does it go? What do you move/get rid of to set up your tree? I agree w/ everyone: lose/move the Armoire. It could go in the basement or upstairs, either forever, or at least til after the holidays. Hire some local high school boys to move it for you, and you'll have that chore done pronto. Or else, re-sell it on Craig's list and let someone else worry about it. Craigslist and regular retailers are full of alternate (and possibly cheaper) storage pieces. If you move it upstairs or down, you haven't lost the piece or the storage, you've just moved it elsewhere! Something I don't think anyone's mentioned yet is putting the sofa on the Armoire wall, (w/o the Armoire, of course), and putting the yet-to-be-bought table-top flat screen tv on one of the low double shelving units I've seen at Pottery Barn or Restoration Hardware, IN FRONT OF the Windows. Glare aside, it at least gives you a different option. When my kids were small, I once moved our round kitchen table OUT of the breakfast nook, and into the immediately adjacent living room. My toddler twins could better play w/ legos/building blocks on the flat kitchen carpet (egads, but eventually removed), and I could SEE them from my work area in the kitchen. The table ended up just a few feet away from the nook area, in front of the sliding glass doors, and w/ visibility to the TV. Soooo, you may want to do something WAY out of the box, somewhat like one of Mile's drawings: put your dining table INTO the living room!!! Move the sofa into your (former) breakfast area, facing the kitchen bar area. (It looks like there's enough room). Let the kids have some of their toys in the breakfast/kitchen area, (but like someone above mentioned, put/keep most of the toys in their rooms, or give some to charity). I've seen homes (much bigger, but still) w/ sofas in their kitchen/eating areas and it is SO coooool! Guests and family can sit in comfort and watch you cook/serve. (or panic, depending on your cooking/hostessing skills & prep!) I was even able to do that in my previous home. Looked great. Put the (hopefully small) Christmas tree in front of your living room windows. (if you haven't put the tv there.) Center your table in the living room space, and place it perpendicular to the Fire Place wall. (short end of table parallel w/ FP wall.) Starting at your window wall and coming into the room, it would be set up as: Window, then tree, then narrow walkway between tree and DR chair, then DR table, then DR chairs on the opposite side of the table (aprox where Armoire is now), then narrow to slightly wider walkway behind those chairs. Once Christmas is over, you could push the table towards the solid wall. For daily or Christmas meal eating & floor protection, throw down some shower curtain liners under the kid's area! (Not pretty of course, but WAY practical!) I do understand that putting the table AND tree in the living room might create narrow walkways, but for Christmas, at least, it's not permanent. I've been to or seen countless Christmas/Easter functions in TINY dining rooms w/ very narrow walkways, and the guests & family all do fine. If you've bought and installed an over-the-fireplace tv by Christmas, then guests can sit at the DR table & watch the TV from there. Clean off the dishes and they can have coffee (or other beverages) on the table. Those that don't want to watch tv can come help you in the kitchen or sit on the sofa in the nook and visit while you clean. If you have counter space, (and budget) buy an inexpensive counter-top TV, so the ones in the kitchen can watch the same or different from the other tv fans, but in the semi-privacy of the kitchen. If there's a cable/antenna hookup in the basement, let the tv watchers go down there w/ folding chairs to watch games. You could even move one or more of the recliners down there. Football fans won't care if there's clutter and limited seating, as long as there's a working TV! And, for REALLY OUTSIDE the box thinking: consider buying one of the outdoor propane heaters and putting it on-in what looks like your deck. Make that deck be a part of the Christmas entertaining areas, too. Add a tree, some lights, some folding chairs, and the heater, and then there's at least a few minutes worth of alternate space to use for you and your guests. In general: Until you can move or enlarge your home, you can't afford the space-taking-up-ness of large furniture (and big toys for the kids). Just because you bought it (even at a bargain, or at full price luxury retail) doesn't mean you have to keep it. Ikea was mentioned as a place to get smaller furniture, and stagers/designers for small size show-homes get their small furniture from somewhere, so start asking around for ideas. Think in terms of the Japanese or Shaker ethic. NOTHING in the home, (it seems!) and work up from there! (Says one of the original clutter queens!). Imagine what you'd toss if you had to move to an even smaller place, and get rid of those things. Inspiration and "Ah HA's!" will strike at the most unexpected moment (hopefully well before Christmas!), and you'll have the perfect answer for your situation. Good luck and HAVE FUN! Unless your family includes Martha Stewart or people like her in your family, then I'm guessing most families will be thrilled w/ paper plates and an empty spot of floor. susiq

Just log on to www.craigslist.org and click on your state. Then, scroll through the cities listed and see if your town or one near enough to drive to is listed. Then, you can check out job listings, autos for sale, or even furniture. If there's an active CL in your area, you might even click on garage sales near the weekend. Some people put their garage sales on CL that are not advertised elsewhere. Now, if you are looking for furniture, maybe a dresser, you can either click on Furniture and scroll through the ads, or you can type "dresser" in the search box and just pull up ads that have "dresser" in the message. Hopefully, there will be good pictures and a good contact number for the seller. There's usually a contact email at the top of the ad. Sometimes there's a phone number too. I prefer the ads with phone numbers, since I don't want to wait to have someone contact me by email. Now, if you want to go see the dresser, you just contact the seller and tell them you are interested. Pretty much the same as replying to a newspaper ad. Except the paper doesn't have a picture. You don't pay anything to use Craigslist to buy. And the seller can upload their ad along with up to 4 pictures, also for free. Selling is almost as easy as buying. Once you register with CL, you can post your ad. You need a good tag line........Antique wardrobe with Mirrored Doors $300 for example. Then, write your ad. Make sure you put all kinds of details, measurements, and your price. Think hard about including your phone number. Why not? You WANT people to get in touch with you, you WANT people to come over to see your Antique wardrobe, you WANT to sell it. And if you only have your craigslist email contact number, you could miss that buyer who had to go on to work after emailing you, but is hoping you will contact him to make an appointment. If you sell your wardrobe, be sure to use your email contact with craigslist to delete the ad. You don't want the ad to keep generating calls. And if you can, list your item on a Friday or a Saturday. People are really looking for things on a weekend, so that gives you the most exposure. Your ad will fall off eventually, but it may take a month. Red

Scooby-- I like how you think LOL. The difference IS a table! Or another chair! Or a bench and a weekend getaway! LOL lkplatow- hmm. I did not get your email-- and you didnt get mine. WHat's up with that? Maybe your spam filter? I did check mine though and there is nothing in it. I'll try one more time. Powermuffin and Laura (and all others from yesterday), thank you so much for your feedback. I am convinced it is a great chair for me-- now I just need to decide if it is the best of all she has to offer. I have seen more of her pieces now and love them all. She has also offered to do a custom piece for me. Decisions, Decisions!