I think if I re-work the room this way it might fit better. I'm not sure abut a chaise-sectional because I worry it won't be comfortable to sit on the chaise side and look at the fire: This room is used the most in the fall & winter. I was thinking sectional sofa because it would give space for laying down and sitting. When we have people over, it's nice to have a conversation grouping but when it's just us and the dog a sectional seems like it allows for more lazy lounging. I like the look of this, it just needs to swap which side gets the long versus short piece: So it would be a corner + 1 arm chair piece + 1 loveseat piece. I need to find out if these pieces can fit into the dimensions on the plan (sectional on the floor plan is 6' by 7'8", or 72" x 92"). I like the corner piece on this style because it has a teeny bit of leg room. I don't think it's enough leg room that someone would sit there and hang their legs down, but if you are sitting on either side of the corner you aren't fighting for foot space as much. I think/hope it works out that way, at least.

Hold the phone!! I GOT MAIL!! Yipee!!!!! It's from Savvychick (ya know, crafty lady's youngin') I ripped open that box soooo fast I totally destroyed the beautiful wrapping paper she used! (sorry). But da-hannnng, Holy dawg snot and everything else! It's beautiful! It's done in shades of blue glass, some of it's irredescent. And to top it all off, She done put a picture of my fur babies in it. Yep, that's Beans and Taters in that there frame!! I LOVE IT!!!!! BTW: She also sent a bag of Almond M&M's!!!

doonie, you have one of my top choices for your counters! I love that stone, and it looks beautiful in your kitchen. Congratulations! motleydog, I hate to scare anyone off from granite. One thing I didn't mention was that it was in the corner and it may not have cracked if it was on a straightaway. Not that I'm going to experiment to find out. I hope the trivets take care of the problem, and otherwise it's bulletproof. I understand your hesitation after hearing my experience, but I'd ask lots of questions and get a sample to abuse before ruling it out. Overall, I'd much rather have the granite (that does not mean I'd rather have granite that cracks) than clean grout on a counter, or have the other issues that go with other surfaces. I'd choose it again in a moment, even knowing what happened to mine. lisacan, I can set a piece of paper on the counter with nothing under it and write as smoothly as on any surface. I know the Antique Brown has a very smooth texture as well. (Mine are Impala Black... don't think I mentioned that before.)

Sorry, I haven't checked back here for awhile and just saw the latest messages. I haven't done much big cooking for awhile, do to current life demands, and still haven't had a chance to try the new dicing sets. I probably should, just to say I did, but for a single vegetable, I just grab a knife. I really like the dicing (original set) when I'm cooking for the crowd. I wish it worked better with raw hard roots, but I understand why there are issues. I hypothesize that the fresher and damper the roots are, the better they'll dice. Still, there are peppers and onions and squash and all kinds of softer things I chop regularly. I should make some gazpacho and play. :) OTOH, I have a highly rated manual hinged lid dicer which I can't even get an onion through, so whatever help I get, is good help. What the W-S staff were doing wrong is focusing on french fries. Most of the people I know offline don't make french fries at home. They're a drive thru thing. :) The peeler was designed for potatoes, though I've used it on apples and other things. It looks like it's taking a lot of good product, but it's really not more than most veg peelers do. The result gets beat up, though, so not for pretty work. The peeler, however, is best on smaller potatoes. I just cut mine and don't worry about loosing a little more on the cut edges. If peeling potatoes is a big enough task to even think of going to the machine (like for latkes for the multitudes), it's good. But then if you take what you've peeled and put it through the dicer, you aren't going to get much in the way of lovely long fries. I haven't tried, since I don't make french fries, but I'm guessing the demo didn't use the narrow feed tude, either, and if you're doing something vertical, you need to, or it'll fall over and give you the wrong shape. But I wasn't there and can't be sure of what they did or what you saw, Loves. I'll put it on my list of things to try just for trying. I can always cube them up after. While I do love the chopping element, the FP as a whole is just amazingly beautifully designed, and I still adore it. I never much liked my Cuisinart. It was a bother to use. The other day I was making ... fangipane, I think ... the directions called for the food processor, which is common with almond flour so you don't have to sift it. I wasn't thinking and just put my ingredients in the main bowl, rather than the small one. I was worried because it was a thin layer on the bottom of the bowl. It worked fine! I was amazed. This thing is so easy to use and clean! LOVE still blooms!