I have an armoire that holds my TV from JCP, it has tin panels so that it looks like a pie safe. It is very heavy and looks pretty good, for the (sale) price I paid for it. The back of the piece is a flimsy piece of wood that needs to be re-nailed. If you are willing to assemble it yourself, and don't need heirloom quality furniture, I think you'll be satisfied with their quality. BTW we bought an end table from Target, from their Woolrich collection, had to assemble it ourselves. What a beautiful piece of furniture! It has wrought iron legs, and is very sturdy, extremely good quality for the price. I do prefer quality wood pieces that will last a lifetime, if I can find them, afford them, and they suit the space. But sometimes you have to balance that with other concerns.

val - i like the look of the windows in that thread. i definitely want a twisted wood rod. you're saying to install the rod wider. you mean so that the entire window shows and the curtains are at the edges? i have those two smaller window panels on each side. isn't that going to look huge.? the sheers i have right now are not operable. holdbacks sound like a good idea. the only thing with those is i've noticed you end up with wrinkles. so you think i should permanently keep the rod at the height it is. not raise it? or just for now? i really need to make a decision on that. higher rod means longer drapes with means more money for drapes. i couldn't keep the ones i have right now because they'd be too short. which i'll probably end up getting new ones but i need to paint first. the other issue i'm having is the allen + roth rods and also the ones at linen and things only are 8' 2" or 8' my window (with trim) is 8' 3"/100". i thought they had longer ones at lowes but now i'm starting to second guess myself. i can't find them online. what do people do about this?? i can't imagine i'm the only person with a window this wide. i did see on the linens n things site it mentions "Use wood pole connector for wider windows" what's this? nothing showed up when i searched. i only need inches not 6' or anything crazy. (look in the scroll down description) http://www.lnt.com/product/index.jsp?productId=1364039&cp=2167013.1331965.1334498&parentPage=family i could just buy an adjustable rod but if i'm going to buy another rod i want to buy one i really like. and i really like the wood ones. i'll need to keep it for a looong time. mitchdesj - thanks. i really was amazed at how squatty my window looked before. i also can see that i need a bigger rod. i tried to go cheap but as people say, window treatments are one thing you shouldn't skimp on. *sigh* hilltop - i never heard of that site. thanks!! looks like they have some nice curtains. We were originally going to put the thick, twisted wood rod in our bedroom but decided we're the only ones to see it. we installed another small one. i kick myself for not buying the bigger one AND for not installing the rod higher. It really looks funny to me in the bedroom. I always thought that was and looked the norm until i found this site. haha

Firt off, how wide is your window? I have an 8' wide window in my LR that I had custom drapes made by Calico Corners and a custom measure--paid way too much for them, but learned a lot in the process. They stack back fully on each side. I just measured and the stack is about 22" per side which I think looks about right, though at the base they fan out a bit since they are really full. They are fully operable, pinch pleats. Here they are just after installation: As you can see they are designed to stack back to the sides of the window--even behind the window trim, though in my dining room there was less room on the sides to accomodate the rod, so the stack only cleared the sides of the window (not the trim): Note they are also installed closer to the ceiling as they ceilings are 8' and I wanted to raise the eye. See the little silver things on the rod? Those are supports which I still need to paint the covers. Mine are that way as it's a traverse rod that I can fully open/close contrasting with fivefootzero's wooden supports (she has two). With the wooden ones you cannot pull the drape beyond the support, hence you have very important decision to make do you want privacy or not? You can still get privacy without going custom, but your response will help me better frame what to say next. Stationary panels are just that--they are dressed in attractive folds and left that way. You may be able to ope/close them, but they don't have that same look you see in the pics unless you "dress" them. Pinch pleated drapery are meant to open/close and the folds fall naturally withoout any "dressing." If you just want to do stationary panels with a really wide window some elect to install two shorter rods to either side of the window (there is an example above) instead of seeing the really long rod dividing the space. If you opt for stationary panels, I think this could be a good look for you. HTH

I bought 2 beds from Jcpenney for my boys (the Canyon) but they are out of stock until 11/30 so I can't speak for the quality. However, this bed is the clone of PB's Sumatra and cost 279 vs 1500. For children's bed I would go cheap (especially w/ girls) because once they hit their teens they surely want something else. I have a lot of furniture from PB and not all of them are good quality. For example, I have the large ARIS desk (retail 1200) and last night, the keyboard broke off when my DS leaned on it. The wood piece that held up the bracket is actually made of very soft wood and splintered to pieces. I am surely glad I only paid 100$ for that desk (via Craiglist)otherwise I would cry! :-) My friends all have PB's beds for their kids (it's a yuppy thing) and they told me PB doesn't hold up very well for the price. If you want heirloom quality furniture, I would just get it custom made. I got the price quoted and it's about 600-800 for a full size bed (also depend on the wood species but if you are getting painted it would be cheaper). Sorry for a long post. For me, PB is not worth the price. I either go really cheap or just go custom (if you want to keep the piece for future grand kids). My DD has a handcrafted 2ndhanded bed and it's still going strong at 20+ years. I bought it from a lady whose DD was going for college and doesn't need the bed anymore. Have you checked out this site? http://www.laylagrayce.com/searchresulthome.aspx?CategoryID=45 They sell beds by this company -- bradshaw kirchofer which I totally love. The price is in line w/ PB but you can also get your carpenter do it for cheaper, or if you have a designer friend, I think they give designer discount. http://www.bradshawkirchofer.com/500CAN.htm good luck and sorry for the long post. ;-)