I've worked with all kinds of wood, and maple is tricky stuff to work with. It will tend to blotch or not take stain well at all. I found a beautiful little table at auction, completely ignored by everyone because it was covered in gobs of army green paint. But upon close inspection I could see it had details in the turned stem. Once stripped, it even had paw feet! Sweet little antique, my father told me it was hard rock maple. There's a reason it has that name, it is hard as a rock! For $22 I was really happy but when I went to put stain on it did not absorb well at all and looked hideous. I ended up taking sanding it back off and just leaving it nekkid with a protective top coat. ;) I have a Heywood Wakefield BR set that it's good shape structurally but finish has seen better days on top. When I researched refinishing it, I learned (from a guy who specialized in HW restoration) that maple was often covered in what appears to be 'solid' color because of the way it reacts to stains. I'm describing that 40/50's look of seeing little to no wood grain. Leaving my table bare worked well for me, I actually prefer it that way. Probably won't suit your needs, though. I'd google 'staining maple' for more info. Here's one article that offers some good suggestions: Staining and Blending Difficult Woods He has pictures, too ;) I'm personally not in favor of putting stain over any type of poly or varnish. Stain was made to absorb into wood. Applying it on top of varnish or poly means it's sitting on that surface. Just can't see successful long term results, but that's just my humble .02.

Kframe, yes we get a refund sometimes more than $2500. We discussed this some time ago and I am pretty sure he adjusted it the maximum (or minimum allowed). I am definitely going to follow up on this. I know you are supposed come as close to breaking even as possible on taxes, so I am not sure what is going on with it. As a followup on the 401K, we decided to go ahead and do the max. Well, the HR gal called my husband and told him that because we was in a highly-paid mgmt position, it was too much and he would probably get money back. We both laughed at the "highly-paid" part, but anyway we had to cut it to about $9000 a year. We didn't realize we would have this same issue as his previous job because this company is much, much larger with many employees above him. I check out Pond's website and found this questions posted. Question: "My husband and I are each contributing 10% of our incomes to our companies 401(k) plans and have some money left over to invest elsewhere. Would it be better to put that money away for our kids college or make extra payments against the mortgage?" Pond's answer: "Probably neither at this stage. Rather, you should add to your retirement savings plans at work if you can get to 15%, great. Then, I think you both should do an IRA. While saving for college and paying down the mortgage are both noble objectives, your most important objective at this stage in your life is putting enough money away for retirement. Moreover, contributing to plans at work and IRAs are simply better financially than college savings and extra mortgage payments. Since there are limits as to how much you can contribute to retirement plans, each year its a use it or lose it proposition. If you forego putting as much money as you can into a plan in a particular year, its a year that can never be made up in the future. But once youre over the hurdle of putting enough money away for your retirement, then you can go on to college savings and prepaying your mortgage. Perhaps you could do a little of both with whatevers left over at the end of the month." I have been putting a bit extra toward my mortgage for almost two years now. Maybe I shouldn't. Next week we will be talking to my in-laws accountant. I think I better print this out and bring it with me.

Didn't know about THAT......man....the fabric is GORGEOUS! The wall paper is AWESOME! Thanks! Yep...that was me. I'm in love with this fabric. The birds are grey velvet. I did a room in grey and white. Have a spider back chair that needs a new seat. ♥

That looks like a great reading chair! And you can tell it wasn't cheap to begin with, because the stripes on the material have been perfectly matched (seat back to seat cushion). Great find!