Proudmama: Yes, that's exactly what I'm looking for in a light maple. Puppy farms? Egads, just another category of purchases to feel guilty about.... I can't buy anything from China without a twinge of guilt either.... Ellen: Thanks for the insight into Amish business practices. I'm glad they've found a way to survive and still hold their belief system together. I admire those people for their lifestyle and discipline. Thanks again for all of the replies!

Thank you all, again! Les-I love your idea...it was one of the first plans that I tried when we got the new furniture. The EC was a bit large for that corner unfortunately. (It's been in both corners and along the couch wall already!) I also tried the couch on the wall where the EC is, but that wall is shorter and the couch pretty much went from end to end (from what I remember), so no room for a table. But I'll measure and try again. While this is the room that we do watch tv, I agree with you...I do not like it looking as though it's the center of our lives, b/c it's not! I'm wondering if maybe I put the tv on a smaller table (I have one or two that may work) and put it in the corner you said, then move the couch, either to the windows or the back wall, if it works. Thanks for your help! kswl: I love your idea about chairs with legs, for a more roomy look. That never occurred to me. I like the idea of a slipper chair as well. I'm considering turning our DR into a reading room, since with small kids, we don't use that room much at all! We have a morning room with a table large enough for us and more, so losing the DR is not really an issue. So if we change the DR, the overstuffed chair would go in that room. I don't love the EC...it's a Sauder piece that we bought years ago. The *only* nice thing about it is that is has great storage for dvds/cds/kids puzzles & games and even the sides have tons of storage for books etc. Our plan is to send it to the basement, if and when we ever finish it. In this market, we don't want to do it, b/c we may move in the next few years and would never recover the $$. One more question?? Can I do decorative curtains on the two far ends of the windows? So the middle window would be open? I do want to add some color, softness, coziness, but it seems like curtains on all 3 windows is way too much. I've tried valances on all three, but they did nothing for the room and made it seem very choppy to me, if that makes sense? Thank you again, everyone...I wish I knew what I was doing...this is really helpful. At least I know for sure to measure next time before I make a purchase this big. :)

idrive65, Adorable model, what is your Dogs name and breed? Do you have to keep the toenails trimmed, how do you keep them short? We have two miniature poodles and a Collie and are concerned about adding a hardwood floor to the Kitchen. Even though we think that it will look great with the white cabinets and be much more comfortable than our hard tile floor! Is this White Oak barn wood a hard or soft wood? Your floors are beautiful, where did you find these and are they expensive? We live in the Mid-west, are these rare? Thank you for sharing! roseofblue Aw thanks. The pup is supposedly pure Labrador retriever, but we got him third hand and he's a mighty skinny specimen for a lab. I don't trim his nails as often as I should because he hates it, I do it badly, and twice I've cut him (ouch!) so he runs and hides when those clippers come out. I may try the dremel route mentioned upthread. White oak is a hardwood but not as hard as many imported species, of which there are quite a few between Hickory and the one imported that I listed, Jatoba. (Ipe, used for decking, is 3684 and considered fireproof!) Upstairs we mixed white with red oak and antique chestnut. In one area where dh wheeled on office chair back and forth (!) you can see wear on the chestnut, a little on the red oak, and none on the white oak boards. According the janka scale: White pine: 420 So. yellow pine: 690-870 Cherry: 950 Red Oak: 1290 White Oak: 1360 Hard Maple: 1450 Hickory: 1820 Jatoba (aka "Braz. Cherry") 2350 I agree with all who say the finish matters. The aluminum oxide finishes on pre-finished floors is very durable. Others have site finished with waterlox which is easily touched up as needed, you can search for photos of ccoombs floors for photos of beautiful waterloxed oak floors. My dh owns an flooring company that sells only antique remilled products so he made the floors for us. We actually kept a lot of boards that might be culled for a customer because I wanted a "busy" floor. Thankfully it matches the dog hair and hides the scratches very well!

What Pal said. I wasn’t able to find a good example with a vintage glass dome shade, but have seen them in antique stores. You could also use a drum shade (or any other shape you like). A couple of examples with and without shades: Metal shade: Pleated: Or a Tiffany style (these two are floor lamps from Wayfair … just using as an example): Just for fun … I saw this site with elaborate (and pricey) Victorian shades: https://vintageshades.com/floorlampshades.htm Search ’antique lamps finials’ for good examples of such.