OOOH!! I have half a dozen links in my Favorites. In areas where there is natural rock and the cost of the real thing is too high, the home made rock is great. It can take some time to do though. A really good search line in Google is Creating cement decorations in the garden. I'll come back later with some book names. Some of this stuff will blow you away!! Sandy

One thing I do remember from Int. Des. classes (I'm *not* an Int. Designer, but an Art History major that had ID dreams many moons ago ;))was that you added the length and width of the room and used this figure as the diameter, in inches, of a chandelier (ie, a 22" in diameter fixture for a 10x12 room), *but* that was if the lighting was centered in the room (IIRC). Another was that the fixture should be half the width of the table (round or square). So with your 56" round table a 28"/diameter fixture would be the absolute perfect size. I don't see what an inch and a half smaller would really matter. Go for it!

Also, in an ideal world, I like counter chair backs to be closer to the counter height, especially in a case like yours. But, I realize you are going to stick with these chairs for awhile. I prefer leather for the breakfast bar. People tend to spill more there and it is a casual in and out. Fabric is fine for the dining area.

Yep next project is to address that to the best I can. Partner wants a big tv but they are an eyesore in general but I need to compromise on it :). I plan to get rid of the stand and paint the builts in white so will hopefully minimize the overall look. Would love to redo the whole wall, change out to the fireplace for a lower and wider electic fireplace and mount the tv directly above but that sounds expensive. Maybe in the future!