Hi, thanks for the nice words! prill, the paint is "Pumice" by Restoration Hardware. I found the rug at HomeGoods, of all places! We looked all over the place for rugs and I happened to be shopping for candles and it caught my eye. gwbr, we're going to play with the placement of the dining table this weekend. It's a heavy table so moving it is a pain, but I agree with you the alignment isn't quite right. We just had the movers bring it in and plop it down and we haven't had a chance to find the right placement yet. ummm, thanks for the tips! The dining table was custom made by a LA carpenter who makes dining tables out of re-claimed wood. As for your tip about painting the "brown table", were you referring to the little red table? We don't have a brown table except for the small round table b/t the two chairs.

Hi Officewench. I see two issues here--the cabinet itself, & the the general level of (as you put it) matchy-matchyness, which is a dismissive term I don't like, even if I don't care for the over-coordinated look, either. It's the same difference between saying that a room that's been decorated gradually over a long period of time--a historic house, say, or maybe my own place--has an undecorated look and saying that it's a jumbled mess. At Malmaison in France, everything has been designed within an inch of its life, and the woods & the gilt-bronze hardwaree and the silk lampas fabrics are all perfectly consistent, but the results are gorgeous, not "matchy-matchy". Thus endeth the screed. OK, now that we've finished with semantics, let's get on to your actual question. If the cabinetwork in your entire house--except for this bath--is already done in white shaker cabinets with recessed-panel doors, I hardly think that adding one more cabinet in the same style is going to sink the ship. After all, if you like the all-white look, there can never be too much of it, and if you're already having second thoughts about having so much of it, I hate to say this but it's already too late, anyway, so don't expect a single cabinet to correct the balance. This has nothing to do with that. So, now that we've established that what goes on in the bathroom stays in the bathroom, you can forget about what's going on in the rest of the house as you choose your bathroom's vanity. It's time to focus on the here-&-now. Here's the thing: cherry's a funny wood. In bright light--and if the wood is in a fairly light-color stain--cherry can be absolutely beautiful, with a wonderful, shimmering, satiny luster that you otherwise only see in things like birds-eye & curly & fiddle-back maple veneers and (sometimes) in sycamore. On the other hand, in its darker colorations & without strong directional light to highlight its occasional chatoyance, cherry can also look dull & lifeless, with nothing but surface shine to add any sort of visual interest. That's why, in a very small room with no natural light, I might hesitate to use cherry: it won't show off to its best advantage, and, added to the fact that it will be the only time the wood shows up in your otherwise all-white decor, your vanity could end up looking like something you picked up merely because it was a good deal--rather than something you bought because you loved it--or worse, that it was a mistake, like the wrong cabinet showed up on the truck & you didn't have time to exchange it for the right one. face it: we live in a complicated world, and stuff like that sometimes happens, but when it does, there's no point advertising the fact, and there's even less reason to make it look like that's the case when it really isn't. You'll know which is the right answer. Regards, Magnaverde.

This thread is leading to unexpected places. We've noticed the relationship between our childhood experiences and our life style or homelife now. And, Flgargoyle is so right to note that you have to balance the elements of a very organized exacting profession with a home style that gives you some breathing room. In my case, working as a librarian for years and years, and being called upon for very proper and perfect language use, I would revert at home to using AIN'T etc. In my home, especially after I began work as a boat captain, I needed to have something alive around me. I began to indulge my passion for container plants. Never have liked fake plants. Over the years, I killed a lot of plants by leaving them outside during the months I was away at work on the oil field boats. These days, I have some favorite container plants that I drag with me, just like the parrots and the dogs, when I travel from Alabama to Massachusetts. I love to use live plants inside the house as part of my decorating. Better something alive around me than another piece of furniture. Right now, I am up north and the plants I could not bring with me for the stay, they are in good hands with a "babysitter." Ever since the show HOARDERS came on TV, I've been questioning myself about clutter. At what point does it become too much. My efforts to keep the house safe to walk around in, find stored items easily, and enjoy the things we have.....that is important to me. I'm not a neat freak. Things don't have to be high dollar, because I enjoy things which are rather primitive or old and abused. I like to have space around things so they will stand out. I also like to have enough storage that I can cycle accessories in and out of the rooms, and they will each have a time to star.

I would go with fabric (no tufting) & any colour could work since you have such a blank slate. Usually I try to keep the seat height of the upholstered pieces about the same,since your chairs are wings they will likely be taller than the couch. Have you considered picking your rug first and then building up from there? For me,it is easier that way. I find the rug sets the tone and colourway.