jejvtr: Thanks for the complements on my bedroom, though it's still in the "getting the bones right" stage--as is the rest of my house. This forum has been so helpful--you cannot imagine! I can see a rug working in this room as well. I remember your lovely dining room drapes and I also like pinch pleats on a decorative rod. For so long I was thinking I had to use a double rod and I did not want 2 rows of rings--plus I do not like clips. However, a salesperson told me at RH that I can use loop rings (or simply remove the clips and use them as loop rings)--which then got me rethinking the rod setup. Then today I was looking at a website that mentioned a layered treatment with a traverse rod below and a decorative above--which again got me thinking as that way I won't have 2 layers of rings and I have much more choice of rods! Regarding the mirror, I don't think I will have room for both it and the TV, plus we also put in 2 mirrored closet doors in the room (not in the pics). What do you think of Les' suggestions for a vase and table lamp? I'm really not sure what would be better--center or off to the side. Hope some others chime in on that one--or perhaps squirrel will kindly do a few mock ups for me--pretty please.

After hearing all the history of this piece, I am even move excited to get it :-) You guys have described the desk perfectly. It sounds like it is made of a good solid wood, too. The owner told me last night she had her sewing machine sitting on it and really had a hard time deciding whether to sell it or not. I've arranged to go look at it Friday evening. It is about a 2 hour drive each way, and it will be a nice drive if my kids don't fight in the car too much, LOL!. If the ochre color doesn't work out, I'm warming up to the idea of a red. I had a lot of brown's and wood tones already going on in that area. In the kitchen (which is right next to this area) my back splash is a terracotta color, so a blue red won't work, but something more on the orange side, might. I won't be in a big hurry to change the color, but I'll be back to let you guys tell me what you think. I do want to thank newhomebuilder for all her great CL finds. It is her area CL that I found this piece. The owner of the desk lives in a very historic part of the state and I wish I had time to spend in her town. She described a lot of fun things to see and plenty of antique stores to visit, too. Nothing is ever good on my area CL listings.

Lyfia, all great points you brought up, it really helps me plan and think. Honestly we have no set time frame for having this project done, since we have an up and running kitchen in the other part of the house and we are working on the new kitchen as time allows. I spent part of this week filling every little brad hole with putty and sanding everything. This weekend we should get a primer on and if dry time allows the walls and ceilings painted. I think we are at the point we are going to put in the cabinet order too. We still have the floor to put down, sand and seal. Tile the whole range wall, put up shelves. The wiring is done, we still need to run plumbing .. which means going under the house in the Summer .. YIKES! We live in copperhead country, not a fun prospect. Last year my DH got bit, we were very fortunate it was a 'dry bite' though! Valinsv, thanks for the help and suggestions, they are very helpful! Les, I love those 50's dinette chairs and if I was going to do a booth, I'd be all over them. I honestly don't think with a very rustic table I'd be happy with them ... even though they look super cushy to sit on. :) If I do go with these chairs I'd have seat pads made for them. I still haven't put my chair order in, I was all ready to go, now I'm hemming and hawing over details again. Part of me wants to go this way, part can really see everyone sacked out in a comfy booth and chairs playing board games and drinking coco. I know that everyone brought up very valid reasons to stay away from a booth, like people being inconvenienced by having to move to let the inside people out, etc. The thing is though we don't have those types of sit down and eat parties where I see it being a problem. When we entertain adults it's normally in a relaxed, casual setting outside on the deck or around the pool area, where we have large tables in each area. When it's just the five of us here, there would be plenty of seating that we could all spread out. I'm lucky that my girls really do get along, there is not alot of she's looking at me, touching me, breathing my air problems. *LOL* I grew up with 3 siblings, I know how that goes, we spent a lot of time bickering. ;) When it's the kids and their friends having snacks, I don't see it being a problem where the kids would feel inconvenienced. So in short I'm still stuck, I think! *LOL* Sometimes I can see right away the path I want to follow, sometimes I start second guessing myself. *sigh* Normally my Husband will chime in with his feeling on the matter and we'll work it out in a way that we are both relatively happy .. this time he really doesn't seem to care, well other than wanting me to make a plan so we know how to finish the room. ;)

Yeah, menopause (and periomenopause...and post-menopause...) are really rough. I encourage you to check with your doctor, though, and make sure you don't have another issue like a thyroid imbalance.