Thanks everyone. I'm glad we were all ok. Still people without electric N Of chicago. I have to ask, the next day my INDOOR masde's in bloom blasted and my phal blooms are dying. Now a couple of kids set of some big fireworks across the street, maybe sulfur smoke maybe not. Do you think it has to do with the god awful stench in here? I checked them before I went to bed, when I got up their heads were on the ground. 7 hours? It is the strangest thing I've ever seen. I can say I got so desperate I crushed up charcol and dumped it down the sink, baking soda and bleach. I'm lucky I didn't have a chemical reaction and explode the house. Charcol works pretty good beter with baking soda thanks! . Does anyone have an opinion on waterlogged orchids having a charcol/ baking soda powder spa for an hour? anyone ever try it? My pharmacist's BLC is bad. I'm scared Jane Help! Got the fans going, doors open and today its dry as a bone and 76º put some out again. (You think I'd learn!) But its ~30% RH WC you are too funny, I tried the drinking last night. I ended up watering my carnivours with bloom booster and cut a good spike off a Twinkle. I'll try to get it right tonight! Green stays, brown gets cut.... I did manage to build an orchid condo. Vanda baskets stacked up. Put bricks on the lower level. Hope it holds for those who can't come in. If you can believe during this disaster I found 4 more little orphans on my doorstep. Its a miracle they didn't blow away. 2 little tropical trees, a phal and a very sick, rootless floppy, paph... The phal is in really good shape. Someone is watching or has very good timing. How can they sneak up on me like that? The plot thickens. There's always room for more I suppose. I ended up putting a laminated sign up on the door thanking the person for dropping them off; they will be loved. Also wrote, that the mystery person(s) can have them back when they rebloom or recover. The next day 2 more babies appeared and really nice pot. The sign was gone. Kinda spooky... and kinda fun Clara Living in Rehab City

I know that this tread is a bit old, but thought I would toss in some input. Simplyjeff is right on. Sinuous is NOT a quality compromise. My family has been in the furniture business for over 40 years and we have had major accounts with all types of suppliers especially those in foam and coils. I have actually toured a coil factory in NC that makes a "fake" 8 way hand tie coil simply because people ask for it, but the truth is that coils are good enough now that they don't need to be tied. Here is the long and short of it. Some people only carry lines with 8 way hand ties, that is fine, but they will only promote that as "The" way to make furniture. It is like using a rotary telephone when you have a cell phone in your pocket. It will work, won't drop a call, but when it comes down to it, it basically does the same thing. The major issue with sinuous is how it is installed. If it is installed correctly, i.e. the number of coils per sq in, the gauge and secured then it will not fail. There is a reason that some call it "No Sag." Because it will not sag. When it comes down to comfort a lot of that has to do with the density and IFD of the foam that you are selecting for your core/wrap of your cushions. One person stated above that quality=weight, but then mentioned MDF wood. Quality and MDF should never be in the same sentence when it comes to furniture. Whether it be kiln dried or air dried woods, hardwood is the best way to go when constructing a frame. Some companies use pressed wood to cut cost and still charge you 3k for a chair because they have a brand name and sell through retailers who all need to make a markup on each piece to make it worth their time. We use sinuous in almost all of our seating applications, so I may be the other side of the bias, however the in 40 years we have been in business, the number of issues we have with seat failures is basically less than 1%. Tankertoad, I saw that you were talking about foam density, 2.0 is a great density, but also check the IFD which is the amount of weight it takes to compress typically 25% of the capacity of the foam, sometimes they give you the 75% number as well. The quality of foam is just as more important as deciding whether 8 way or sinuous is the way to go. General rule of thumb 1.8 and above on density in sufficient and over 30 IFD is typical for residential use. 10/90 down is great if down is your thing, 5/95 down is also fine if that is what you are looking for. Down cushions and back pillows are what they are. They are going to be soft and have a great feel, but they will need fluffing from time to time. You will lose fill capacity much quicker with down than you will with a softer density foam wrap over time but this is really a preference thing. We can achieve the same crowing and appearance with foam as with down, and it will last longer. Typically high end foam only will shrink less than 5% over 10 years. Overview, you asked the right questions. There is no sense covering a "bad" frame in expensive fabric. It is like putting lipstick on a pig. Still a pig. But as far as Sinuous vs 8 Way, both work, it is more of a feel thing and honestly if you are feeling those coils then the foam selection is incorrect. Either way you should never "bottom out" in either. You should never feel the bottom of your seat. Coils will wear out faster than sinuous. It is a spring and springs wear. That is a fact! When it comes to selecting down, again a preference thing, just make sure that you realize that it will need some routine upkeep, but that in a standard 3 cushion maybe 86" length sofa with typical seat depths you are looking at a 1k to 1500 upgrade at retail costs. But if you like chardonnay then drink chardonnay. This is your choice. The main reason that we choose to use sinuous is because of consistency. You get a much more consistent seat surface over the span of your sofa, especially if you are looking at a matching loveseat or chair. If you use the same gauge and same number over same area you get the same seat. This may be harder to achieve with 8 way as the number of coils may need to be reduce or a smaller gauge may need to be used in order to "fit" the drop in unit in the seat deck. I hope that this information helps, maybe for future furniture selection. Remember the questions you asked are the right ones and need to be answered when you are looking at selecting your furniture. When it comes to warranties, I always remember "Tommy Boy" the movie. "Hey, if you want me to take a dump in a box and mark it guaranteed, I will. I got spare time. But for now, for your customer's sake, for your daughter's sake, ya might wanna think about buying a quality product from me." My Best

Please rethink a combination of yellow and dark brown, especially with white. There's only one thing I can think about when I see that color combination and it's definitely NOT something I'd want to see in a kitchen (and it's a VERY popular exterior color combination around here, ugh). Very high contrast can be tough to work with. Try getting your colors a bit closer together in value - since you're going for a white on your cabinets and a pale yellow wall (BTW, BM Rich Cream is a very popular light yellow, although it doesn't look very yellow on the chip it goes quite yellow on the wall; BM Windham Cream is a nice soft yellow that has absolutely NO business being called cream), think about lightening up the color of the trim and wainscot to a midtone at the darkest. If you drop down to a semigloss on the wainscot and trim the "bashed-up-ness" ;-) should not show as glaringly with lighter colors as they do with a high-gloss finish; with such a reflective surface the light "catches" in the dings. It doesn't need to match the other rooms, and trim in a color-color is quite period appropriate for the 1880s - the Victorians were MAD for color. It's just not seen that much nowadays because white/off-white trim is more "in". What about a just-slightly-lighter-than-midtone green that picks up the soapstone's green for the trim/wainscot (a somewhat clearer green than the muddy tealish green that's there now)? Say third or fourth down on a BM strip? Green and yellow is a lovely pairing and will be cheerful and happy with the white. We have the same orangy old pine boards in our ca.1900 "Victorian Lite" (a very plain millworker's cottage, makes your farmhouse look elaborate!), although ours are random-width and mostly nicely wide, and it goes swimmingly with almost any green. I'm having a very hard time resisting using green in every room. :-) Blue is a color to consider, too, since it also goes marvelously with yellow and white. Classic combination. There's a gorgeous upscaled-old-fashioned kitchen in the kitchens thread in the Gallery area of this forum decorated in yellow and slate blue (photo #9). #22 uses a pale, pale yellow on the walls with white trim and a pale blue on the cabinet, there's no reason why you couldn't have the cabs white and the trim blue, especially if the kitchen is bright (IME light colors work best in bright rooms, they tend to go drab in darker ones). It's impossible to tell because these pictures were taken at night! :-) #25 is a great example of the green/yellow/white combination in a traditional country kitchen setting. Just wondering - won't it be a bit crowded up by the ceiling with the plate shelf AND crown molding? I'm puzzled. Love your island, the t&g doors, the transom... beautiful.

Although I didn't have any luck with their sheets, I got one of my comforter sets at Target and I looooove it. It's this one (well, here's the sham anyway): I use it on the bed along with a slightly darker jade set, trying to evoke the look of sea glass. Well, here ... HERE's my bed. Forgot I had this photo! I'll just fold the purple blanket at the foot of the bed and fold the jade comforter over it, then pull it all up when nighttime comes and Molly Protection is required! I think the sheets that I've ordered (pictured below) will coordinate well here. They are a dusky shade, possibly more so than is coming across in this photo.