Ha ha, nothin' like being paged! Almost makes me feel popular :-) I'm sorry I missed your request earlier. My mantel is from Brees Mantels out of Greenville SC. I do like it a lot- everyone who comes over almost always comments on it, but I don't like the disparity with the stone on the other side- so that's why I would do something different. It has presence at over 6' tall. I would think there are local mantel people who do the same thing where you are, most likely.

Are you able to switch the loveseat and sofa? That would bring the sofa out from the wall and at more of a right angle to the loveseat. This will bring the main seating area closer together and more functional. Keep in mind that the sofa would not be against the wall and closer to the middle of the room. You could eventually find a nice table to go along the back of it for lamps and accessories. Your grandmother's buffet would probably work for that! :) I like it in the entry, but I'm a compulsive furniture rearranger. I like to change things up every 6 months or so. If that isn't an option because of bad flow, bring the loveseat out from the wall toward the sofa. The front corners of those pieces should be closer together. The spider chair looks nice in the corner by the entry. It also offers a place for you to sit and put on/take off your shoes. It just needs some artwork hanging by it. Your tall plant can go into the living room corner to help disguise your thermostat. Then the standing lamp can go into the now vacant corner behind the furniture. Tired yet? :)

Great find, John. Cousances was bought by Le Creuset in the 1950's. The little skillet is indeed the lid to the saucepan. They still make these, called the 2-in-1, at least in the U.S. The skillet part is my total fave, and the saucepan part is a new fave for induction. Edited, from the eBay Guide "Cousances enameled cast iron ... had features which distinguished them from their competitors. Among those features were the base, which was left without enamel, but sealed against rust with the final glaze, and the skillet design which was a French version of the classic American skillet popularized by Griswold and WagnerWare, having two pour spouts, a cast on handle, and a lifting tab on the largest of the handled skillets." You've got the care and cleaning right. You don't need to do anything to the enamel. If it's clean, it's clean. And if the bottoms aren't rusted at all, they're probably still sealed. The place to beware is the very edge around the top where the iron is sealed, but can get worn. You don't want to leave that soaking so that it rusts (but if that happens you can just scrub off the rust and do better next time). You can bake on some oil to season any truly raw iron parts, but it shouldn't be necessary. If you do get stuck on gunk, you can deglaze it on the stove. Just heat some water and use a wooden scraper or wooden spoon to loosen the gunk. If the gunk is on the outside, heat it in a larger pan of water. And if you burn the bottom or really thoroughly bake on gunk, it just takes longer and more elbow grease, but you should be able to bring it back if you're patient and gentle. The most important thing for caring for your enamelled pans is not to scratch the enamel. No scrambling the eggs with a table fork in the pan. Use wood, plastic or silicone. For clean up you can use a plastic scrubby, or a plant fiber one, but no metal. Like any cast iron, don't shock them. No ice cold water in a hot pan. Don't put a hot pan down in a puddle. Try not to bang the rim or drop it. Le Creuset make silicone handle covers nowadays which can be very useful. Congrats on the new friends. They can parlent en français with the Maviels, because you know those prima donnas flirteront avec les bad boys.

Issues with usernames came about because lots of usernames were already "taken" by other people who were already member of Houzz. I'm someone who was affected by that. "Lindsey_CA" was apparently already in use by a Houzz member, so my username is actually "webuser_xxxxxx" with each "x" being replaced by a number. But, I am able to change my DISPLAY name to Lindsey_CA. Although I am glad for that, it really makes little sense. If more than one of us can be shown as Lindsey_CA, it might be kind of difficult to tell who's who. I guess that's where the avatar comes in. But if more than one person with the same display name doesn't have any avatar at all... Oh, well...