Thanks for all the additional suggestions- Unfortunately, the doors mounting on the other side of the wall won't work either- There is a light switch on one of the walls, and the other will soon be a built int book case once the playroom moves to our basement. As far as the couch= I don't think it would be a good idea to move it as it will block the flow from the kitchen/eating area into the family room. But it's not completely out of the question. Kind of playing with it in my mind. I will eventually get cushions for the window seats. I suppose that will have to do to fulfill my extra seating desire. Gosh the french doors were an after thought. When we built the house 2 years ago, we said, wouldn't it be great to have them and so being the impulsive people we were (not so much now) we had them installed. Now i wish I had not installed them as they seem to be causing more of an issue than not! Thanks again! Elissa

We have soft leather (like glove leather) chairs that we sit in daily. They were like this from day one. We have a leather sofa and loveseat in our multi-purpose room that DH had, so it's probably 10 years old. I can't sit on it. I slide right off and that's why it's upstairs where our sons hang out when they are home. The guys love it. I have to put a throw across it to sit on it. We also have a leather chair and ottoman in the library. It's only a few years old and from the same company as our soft leather chairs. We got a lower priced leather for it and it's not as slippery as DH's old sofa, but I wish we'd put the higher grade leather on it. Good leather can last a life time (I used to have horses and some of my favorite saddles were over 30 years old). Cameron

You've got some great advice above. 14 year olds are little hormone casseroles and I'm sure they must feel terrible about themselves when their emotions get the best of them. Just give them some slack on the little things and choose your battles wisely. Like others here, I was very consistent when my kids were young, in fact, I found out later that my sisters used to talk about me behind my back because they thought I was too strict with my son's behavior. None of my sisters had kids at that time and later one of them told me that she used to think I was too strict but that she realized how well my kids listened to me because they knew I meant what I said. I didn't give my kids warnings over and over. I told them what behavior I expected and if they didn't follow it, we left or stopped what we were doing. Sometimes I felt like I was punishing myself because we'd have to leave stores, resturaunts, even grandpa and grandmas house. It was exhausting, but so worth it. That said, I thought 14 was the toughest age with my DS. He seemed to think that because he was now physically bigger than me, that we were equals. WRONG. There were a few times when he spoke disrepectfully to me, thought he was smarter than I am and was just a pain in the butt. One thing that worked for me my son was disrepectful to me is my husband (his dad) made it clear to our son that not only was I his mother and it was wrong to speak to me that way, but my husband would not tolerate anyone speaking to his wife disrespectfully, he said "don't you dare speak like that to my wife, I will not allow anyone to speak to her like that and if it continues, you will deal with me" Now, my husband isn't mean or scary or violent or anything like that but it made quite an impression on my son. 14 was a struggle but the rest of his teenage years were mostly alot of fun. Teenagers are such interesting people and its so fun to watch the little person you nurtured grown into a wonderful young adult. It really helps to keep your sense of humor through this too.

Thanks so much for the feedback, everyone. It is interesting how different everyone's experience is with these stools.ie. some have problems with the swivel, or swivel return, others do not! I wonder if some swivels are "stiffer" than others and don't swing around so much? I love your barstool, buel. (I love how when I moused over the photo, I could find out exactly what it was and where you bought it!I just checked- they aren't carrying it anymore.) Shar-az- what a good idea to put a clear bumper on the stool! I actually called my granite company today to ask if they have had problems with people chipping the granite edge with a counter stool--they said they have never had a customer call to ask for one to be repaired, at least. Jterrilynn- I like your idea of a dark leather or vinyl seat. I never thought about making it easier to slide off; I was just thinking about color and ease of cleaning. My first pick was really this stool which has a brown vinyl seat-- I just had a bit of sticker shock when I put 4 of them in my cart (with tax it is close to $600 and I still need to buy another two more bar-height ones for the dining room!) Then I started questioning the whole swivel thing. It is too expensive to make a mistake. I think now I may just go ahead and bit the bullet and pay the money. I was running around all day today looking at bar stools! What do you all think of this one? My cabinets are a honey-spice maple, with a light colored granite, so it will be a contrast. Here is a link that might be useful: corsica counter stool