Both FlexSteel and Norwalk make good quality products. LuAnn's comments that she is unhappy with Norwalk seems unfounded. What is the basis of this statement. Quite frankly the two products are rather similar both use kiln dried hardwood plywood frames. Flexsteel uses and features their "U" shaped Flexolator spring. With Norwalk it's all about their cushions using a high quality Qualux foam cushion as standard with down and spring and down cushion upgrades available. Norwalk also has a huge selection of fabrics featuring over 850 fabrics. The tailoring of each company and the price range are similar. Really you couldn't go wrong with either company in their price range. Again not the top of the line quality and construction wise but you could do a lot worse.

Blonde, I think you and I must be furniture sisters LOL I can't imagine building a house, how wonderful! That's a lot of work so my hat is off to both of you! We bought our home as a foreclosure in need of some loving and loving is what it's gotten. :c) With the exception of our master bath remodel, we've done all the work ourselves; including the installation of our floors. After all we've put into it I wish I could say it's our forever house, but I don't really think so. That's another story though. LOL Thanks so much for your feedback on the table/chairs/server. I was wondering if it worked with the cabinets and flooring, so your opinion is really appreciated. I'm pretty happy with it. Yes, the furniture saga continues but I'm sure it will work out, things always do, don't they? And yes, 3rd time is the charm. Now I have to find curtain fabric for that big window next to the new table. Always projects. LOL Don't feel too bad about the furniture options in your area, we're in a similar boat it just takes some tenacity to stick with it until you find what you want. We live in Michigan about an hour or so north of Detroit. Furniture options here are barren at best. As a matter of fact, we had to drive over 50 miles away just to see the couch we got. I love to research though and would be happy to help you to find out what other options are available in your area. Sorry you're having problems with the upload. Tinypic.com allows you to upload pics to for the HTML code without an account. Just go to tinypic.com, upload the pic, change "RESIZE" to Message Board (640x480), hit upload now, it will make you type some cryptic words to keep spammers out, then it will upload the photo. Copy the HTML code and place it in the Message window of your Forum message. Hit preview and your photos will be there. :c) 50.00 is cheap delivery considering fuel prices. The store we bought the table at has now charged us 79.00 x2 plus that freaking restock fee for the sofa's which was 350.00. That's over 500.00 in fees. Ouch. I could have bought tv stand with that! I've never paid a restocking fee before in my life and can promise you I never will again. I think it's ridiculous. As far as black goes, the only experience I've had with black is that I recently painted the cabinet in our spare bathroom black and love it. It is sort of a dust magnet though. I love both black and white painted furniture and don't think you can go wrong with either. My last kitchen table was white and I had for 20 years; it showed dirt that I don't think the black would show, however black would show any paint chipping that I don't believe the white would show as badly. Finger prints are another animal however and I can't say, you may want to post a thread and see what kind of response you get. One thing I do wonder about is if the black would have a stronger presence in a room as opposed to the white, I know it does in our bathroom. Do you know what I mean? How big is your space? Would the black swallow it up? Is this what your other table looked like? I love those chairs. They carry them at Pottery Barn Outlet which luckily is 50 miles north of us, they are very french country. Why is everything 50 miles away? LOL Here is a link that might be useful: link to table & chairs in photo

I think the idea of any Brown, or any Taupe being a Neutral and that it will go with anything is something that will date current decorating trends. Genuine leather (just like granite) was Out of fashion for some time because of the popularity of synthetics during the mid-century period. My parents had a custom suede sofa that aged very poorly (it was brown and ended up with bluish black shiny wear marks on it) --the company paid to recover it, and offered black leather, and my parents picked black Naugahyde for it's bullet-proof ness. (Still in their house). Leather has become much cheaper, because the ways of processing leather all the way to processing the Dermis to look like the hide by coating it and painting it, and embossing it --has made "Leather" accessible at all price points (although the Bycast leather process I described can't be called "leather" in some countries). So the big, *relatively inexpensive "leather" sofa may be something that says early 2000s, as well as the "neutral" color of the sofa, being shoehorned into a room full of other colors.

Thanks for the great tips. Yes, it's a good point that 16 won't be sitting at the same time...more like 12 or so. Sadly, I have to go fairly dark due to the cleaning and staining issues. I should have added that I plan to add a large 12 x 15 area rug to break up the dark sofas from the darkish wood. I can't go with medium gray because it will look too "matchy-matchy" with the med. gray stone fireplace. Quick question/concern...I searched for sofas that are made from "Sunbrella" people here suggested and there are only a few and they are outdoor sofas. Mostly, the Sunbrella fabric is pillows. Also, I'll be removing both sofa tables behind the sofas that are there now, so that will give me another~ 4+ feet. But I still plan on putting more narrow sofa tables as I don't want the sofas right up against the walls, so it will be more like an extra 2 feet I'll be gaining. Any other suggestions for a "tough" fabric that won't be torn easily? We've had issues with guests sitting on the sofas, etc., with keys, etc, in their back pockets that tear the fabric or snag it. What are opinions on leather? Vinyl? Also, I'd like to lighten up the room with a cleaner, more modern white (ish) paint, maybe with a touch of gray, )but not with any blue or "pink" in it.) The walls are now painted Sherwin-Williams "Accessible Beige" and the Doors (not seen in the pictures are "Dovetail"...which I LOVE, but is way too dark for the walls. I've already gone down the line of the "Dovetail" paint strip and the lighter colors look kinda "pink-ish" in that room.) Thanks again everyone