Shee, that is too funny. I can relate to the reactions of some family members who are not obsessed with decorating the dining table. Last Christmas when DB & DSIL arrived, they took one look at my table and started calling me "Aunt Sandy", a reference to Sandra Lee, a food channel show host who includes tablescape ideas as part and parcel of her cooking show. I think there was a compliment in the comment as I've since caught a couple of her episodes. Yes, some are a bit over the top even for me, but she seems very handy and gives ideas as well reasonable and practical sources so that viewers can get a similar "look". I've always used my wedding china, over the years have collected 14 placesettings of Lenox holiday china and the happy recipient of Chalfonte "Indian Summer" china pattern, all remaining placesettings together with serving pieces -a gift from my DM. "Indian Summer" was her wedding china. I was amazed at how many pieces were intact as the china is over 50 years old. I really have no memory of seeing the china growing up which may explain why there is so much of it left. Seems as though back in the day one didn't use their china but for very special occasions. Your family is definitely going to be impressed when they see your beautiful hurricanes. I've seen your kitchen space on the decorating forum and I think you will have lot's of "wow" compliments. I do think they will look great lit on your tables for Thanksgiving dinner!

Kathleen, Your tables always amaze me. Where do find all your energy????? If I do a nice tablesetting a month I'm feeling pretty "Martha Stewarty" I look forward to all your Holiday 2008 tablesettings. Each one I see with the pumpkin bowls just makes me more jealous that we don't have CTS on the west coast.

Ack, I think I may have made it worse. lol I added some more leaves and made some adjustments. It's hard to add stems etc because there's nothing to stick them into (like the basket I used last year..) The pedestal fits in that basket but then there's no room for anything else around it. I tried to make it look flowing from the cornucopia but I think the whole arrangement is starting to look just stuffed with stuff! The flash photos aren't helping any. I have white candles too but I thought they stuck out like a sore thumb. Here's a shot of the glass pumpkin thing beside the candle holders just to give you an idea of height. I'm 5'1" and my eyes clear the tallest candle by a good 6". Here's the new arrangement.

Robo -- inspired by your suggestion, I did a minor rearrangement in the space. I tried our sofa across the main entry but it pretty much closes off the room. It's too wide, a shorter sofa would work better. So I utilized the chair instead. I had to angle it, though, as that is DH's tv-viewing chair so it has to face the tv. The slipper chairs are so cute, I really like those! This is what I've currently accomplished, a partial division via that big chair. I like it better than what was there before, it feels a bit more private and everything isn't just lined up against the wall. Of course, after these changes the boys both were on the piano last night AND this morning, and they both asked me to do a lesson after school today. :-/ Moving the furniture around made the whole space more exciting to them for some reason. Also I have better access for opening and closing the corner windows now, so that's pretty nice. You asked about the piano height -- it's too tall to be a sofa console unfortunately. The old black piano was shorter, but also too tall. Pal -- I've thought about somehow putting a divider in the entry before, but we don't want to spend any more dollars on unnecessary construction since we are planning to move. DH could build a wall divider relatively inexpensively, and we've talked about it in past years but he didn't agree that we should divide the space like that so I know he won't want to do it, especially since he knows I want to move he thinks it's dumb to do any more changes. The flooring does need to be addressed, it's not good and I think if we try to sell it will be a major deterrent. So right now I'm looking for "decor-only" solutions. With that in mind, what if I moved the tall bookshelf out of the living room and used it as a divider in the entry? Here are the issues with that shelf: - may not be very stable as a stand-alone piece (right now it's secured to the wall) - the back is not finished - it's actually pretty unattractive, it's a "white stain" Hemnes shelf fom Ikea that I painted white; the paint didn't adhere well at all. I painted it because it looked greyish-pink next to the fireplace and we thought it would be a great idea to make it match...it was not a great idea. I like the idea of defining the entry via flooring, but since the construction of a wall is pretty unlikely then would change in flooring still be a good idea? An alternative is maybe I could purchase a rug. The problem is that it will need to live beyond the door swing, otherwise is will impede the door.