Henkel Harris is pretty good stuff! I love both finishes! It comes down to the look you want to achieve. The darker finish has a more elegant and formal look. The other finish, a tad less formal. However, that feel is from comparing the two finishes side by side. Pull the darker finish out of the equation, and the other finish holds it own in both elegances and formality. HHs factory authorized sell is July  Sept-- so that is why the salesperson said he could do better...don't let him BS you with that crap of, "Oh, you're a former customer, let me take care of you." Their cost from HH is set in stone. The storeÂs markup is set, unless they decide to have a sale. But they donÂt have sales unless the factory has a sale. Some stores will initially quote you a price 10% above their actual mark-up to see if you bite. If you hesitate and they are convinced that you are a serious shopper, they will tell you that they will talk to the manager about getting you a better price. Then they come back with the "deal" which is their actual mark up. Ignore MSRP--NO ONE EVER PAYS MSRP! Retailers just use it to make you think you are getting a great deal. The manufacturer uses MSRP to keep the value of their products up. Ignore it. Instead, shop around. I buy a lot of my stuff from Boyles in Hickory NC. I have never had a bad experience with themÂever. I always use the same sales person, Brenda Hawkes 828 304-6861. In the past five years, I bought a Kindel dinning room set & sideboard, 2 Hickory Chair nightstands, a Baker bed, 2 Wildwood lamps, a Century sofa, a Bernhardt bed, a Kingsdown mattress set, a Hickory Chair center table, a Heckman coffee table, an Hooker or Heckman entertainment center. Where my local stores are concerned, Brenda has given me a substantially lower price 100% of the time. Where other discount stores are concerned, only once has her price come in higher than another store discount store. The other discount store was Lexington Furniture in Lexington KY. The H&M sofa, chair and ottoman were $955 less! That really surprised me! So I went to Lexington. I have not received it yet, but I am concerned about LexingtonÂs delivery service. I have heard horror stories about their D&D Delivery company. So, I am paying $100 more to use Sun Delivery. WeÂll see if they measure up to Boyles Classic Delivery company. Watch out for Rose and Blacks in NCÂthey are real hit and miss. Especially when it comes to delivering damaged goods. Boyles inspects everything before it is loaded on the truck. Rose and Blacks are known to deliver a lot of damaged furniture. Then they give the customer a hard time in resolving the problem. Nonetheless, whomever you buy from, make sure you ask a few questions: 1. Deposit and final paymentÂhow much down and when is the final payment due. What type of payment do they take? Many places take a credit card for deposit, but want a check for the balance. 2. Return Policy  can you return it? If so, for exchange only or can you get a refund? Under what conditions can you get a refund. If a piece is inferior in quality from that of the floor sample or has major structural problems are you expected to just live with it? 3. Shipping/delivery  who handles their shipping/delivery? Is it a 3rd party company or actual employees of the store? Who handles any problems if it is a 3rd party delivery company--you or them? When do you take "possession" of the furniture? Is it at the loading dock, or when it is placed in your house? If it is at the loading dock, then most likely any damage in transit is your problem to resolve with the shipping/delivery company. 4. Damage resolution- if it arrives damaged, what is their policy on resolving it? If the damage was caused in transit, and it is a 3rd party deliver service, do you have to file the claim, or do they handle it? If they handle it, do you have to wait for the claim to be resolved before your furniture is replaced? 5. If the furniture is repairable, do they repair it and give it back to youÂor do you get a brand new piece? 6. What are shipping and delivery charges? Some places charge hourly rates (usually local stores) and give estimates. At what point does the clock start to run? If they donÂt charge an hourly rate, will they give you an exact charge, in writing, prior to delivery? (They should also provide an estimate when you make your purchase.) When they call for delivery, the size and weight of the pieces are known to the delivery service, so they should have an exact charge. If you do not get an exact amount, the delivery guys will pull up in front of your house and most likely demand more money than the estimate. Boyles always gives me an exact figure on delivery when they call for delivery. And the check that I give them is for the exact amountÂnot a penny more. However, I do tip the guys separately from the delivery. 7. Find out the procedure for taking delivery!!! This is so important! If you do not follow the delivery procedures, then they will not stand behind you in the event of damage. Deliver is not opening your front door. Delivery is having the pieces unloaded and unwrapped. Do not let them bring the furniture into the house! In fact, when they come to the front door, tell them where to unload so you can inspect. Thoroughly inspect each and every piece outside of the house. No matter how much the deliver men try to push to hurry upÂtake you time and inspect each piece. Any and all nicks, scratches, and damage must be noted by you on the delivery slip. If you do not note it, it does not existÂas far as the store is concerned, the furniture was delivered in perfect condition. The rule on damage is reject delivery of the piece. Find out their procedure for minor nicks and scratches. However, if they are deep and/or excessiveÂdown to the wood and a lot of them, reject delivery. 8. What type of delivery do you getÂcurbside or white-glove? Curbside is just thatÂto the curb. Some will bring it inside, but no further. White-glove means they bring it in the house and put it where you want it. Boyles places it where you want it, wipes the piece down to remove any fingerprints; they also take away any packaging. Some delivery services will not take the packagingÂthey claim trucking laws wonÂt allow the to take it. Head to one of the reputable stores and look through the HH sample wood finishes and check out those you would like to take home to evaluate in your dinning room. Ditto for fabric samples. If they tell you that they cannot let you take the samples, move on down the road to the next store. All reputable stores allow clients to take home fabric and finish samples. I have a bag of them sitting in my bedroom at this very moment. A Note on Wood Samples: Wood samples will not be 100% accurate as each piece of wood has it own characteristics and will take the finish a bit differently. However, the wood samples will give you a very good idea of the finish. Seeing the samples in the dinning room will best guide you on finish and fabric selection. Hope to see pics when you get it!

I've already posted the coral fabric a couple of days ago; see above. It won't look any different with the fringe applied. I cannot believe no one has commented on my white (but not antique white) windows (or mantel). I have to paint those still. I've been waiting to paint them until I removed the old drapery rod. Now I can do it. Good news today: Calico Corners extended its 25% off fabric sale through 1/26, so I have time to wait for my samples to arrive before committing to the RL Foxberry plaid. I would get it somewhere else and feel less pressured, but CC's price is more than $20 less than even places in fabric row here in the city because I've been told that CC has special RL pricing (on top of which I can get the 25% off). I ordered a bunch of memos of the discontinued fabric from Robert Allen today. They have to be sent from SC, so it'll probably take a few business days.

Pics of the chairs would be fun to see. I couldn't find any tweed, but came across this red & black Greek Key Pattern that looks interesting. If you could post this question on the Home Decor & Design Site , I imagine you will receive several responses (especially if you post pics of the chairs). There are many people on that site who have great fabric searching abilities.

I think it is Decor-Rest. We hope this company will do the right thing and give us our deposit back. If not, we will absolutely write lots of negative reviews. My guess, is they will at best give us a credit to be used in their store for the amount of the deposit. I would love to walk away with my deposit. I did find on the Decor-Rest website fabric that looks similar to the couches we ordered, but not identical. The furniture store we ordered from does not have that sample in their store. However, we are going to drive to another store in a nearby city to see the Stella Sky sample (top row, middle colour below). We don't need to match these couches with an existing piece of furniture, so if the Stella Sky is pleasing to us, it won't matter if it came from a different bolt than the sample we looked at in their store. Too much time has passed for small claims court (over 2 years ago). We have a great deal of hearsay evidence of their multiple screw ups including not only the fabric error, but also the fact that we did not give the final go ahead on the project (which was why they agreed to store it for us for the extended period of time).