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 like the first chair also better with the sectional, style-wise..frankly I just love it better overall. Is it comfortable enough? if yes, go for it..if no, obviously don't compromise. No, you don't need to match the wood in the chair precisely, neither you need to keep all the tables wood. You can mix in other fabrics(like an ottoman? also additonal seating. just beware of fabric overload..should be very well considered), metals, glass, woven grass, you name it..obviously some of it can be wood too. Keep to the same vibe, but feel free to mix your textures and materials.

yes. that's how you get color. Let me show you an example. Look at this room and take away the rugs, Pillows, and throw. what do you have? you have a wood floor and white furniture and white walls. that's it. see how much life those items add? same for your room. Except I'd have to throw in a plant somewhere. every room needs some greenery. here's a neutral room w/greenery and some prints and texture this room takes a risk w/pastel blue/purples. see all the diff prints? they all work together because the color palette is the same. I love this one. notice the window treatments, and tree. and every room needs a bit of leopard. what do you think about the woven wood blinds and some white linen drapes? do you like that look? I posted this room because of the rug. I love the soft blue tones w/the warm rust/orange tones. they'd look great w/your gray and your wood floors same thing w/this rug. find a rug you love and then pull those colors onto the pillows/throws. bring in pattern/textures and don't forget a plant or two!

Chairs are perfect!!! So comfortable and big, we all fit here now. Room got crowded with a dog cage (we just got a dog this week) and the big plant which is temporarily here until we take the Christmas tree down.