The best sofa I have ever owned (actually we still have 2 of them) are by Conover Chair in NC. They don't have a strong presence in the MidWest where I am at this time, but seriously they are 24 years old and need recovering due to stains, etc but there is not one thing wrong with their construction and their workmanship is second to none. You might hear that they are out of business but they are not. They were just bought out by a different family but their standards and workmanship are still the same. We are opting to have them recovered instead of buying new ones. Another good company for sofas is Norwalk. They literally are a stone's throw from my brother's home and have been in business for ages. Candice Olson from Divine Design has her own line through Norwalk.

Iceanna, I drooled over those fireplace surrounds in the gallery - breath-taking antiques. Franksmom and Kswl - I do not want to hang those portraits over the fireplace. The fireplace is gas and emits a lot of heat - and a lot of it goes up (ask the poor fresh wreath I hung over the fireplace this Christmas). The woman is my grandmother and probably is 115 years old. I am afraid of the heat. Kswl - there are only two chairs upholstered the same - the two flanking the fireplace. I gave a lot of thought to comments here - a lot - and then DH decided to go shopping with me on Friday. He very rarely goes as he figures everything is a matter of opinion - and he couldn't figure out why I wanted to replace the piece currently there. Anyway - off we went in the snow. I looked at a lot of prints and saw this one. Were the colors good? Yes, perfect. More importantly, did it reflect me. I looked at the scene and immediately thought old, calm, serene, could almost see people walking up the street in days gone by. Life is more than intense right now and I am going for quiet at home! So we bought it knowing we could return it -but alone it seemed to small. We trooped through a few more stores and started looking at scones. He liked these as they mimic the fireplace surround which we do love. We came home and I told him I was going to wait until my DILs came today - he told me he liked it and "just hang it" - so we did. I do like it. Is it forever? Probably not. Will I always keep looking? Yes, but I do like it. The sconces look amazing lit (am going to look for battery-operated candles). So for now, I like it and certainly better than the purple print, which now has a new home. I don't know how the colors are going to come through but here goes: For years I have been wanting to take the ugly mirrors off my dresser - the picture is perfect - picks up the colors in the comforter: I still need to "dress" the dresser ---

That's a tough one. I think it's easy to keep adding the color and maybe overdoing it, but I also don't think anyone would question it or think it was at all ill-advised if they walked in and you also had it on the fridge wall. If you do any on that wall, I would do the whole thing, though, so it doesn't get spotty and contrived looking. I think what I'd use to make the decision is what you want to see on that wall, white or dark, since it's large and seen from other rooms and is right in a walk-through area. The other thing you could do is the island and fridge wall in that color and the baking center in another color, like dove gray, black, red, yellow, blue (any number of shades), light wood...the options are endless, depending on the mood you want.

sheesharee, so glad I'M not the ONLY one :) I had my camera with me for the first outting with DH (and forgot to use it, kicked myself in the car after we left) because of course NOW I cannot remember the important details I need to for determining if it will work. We went out again last night and was very frustrated, DIDNT bring the camera or the measuring tape, went home telling DH that we are just going to keep the furniture we have and deal with it. (that was the frustration speaking) Nothing I liked was something he liked. Considered just removing the patterned couch, moving the green chair over in it's place, replacing the green chair with a round table/table lamp etc in that corner by the fp pulling down an ottoman from the attic that is 1/2 way redone and finishing it and just moving on. Oh well, we will see....I'm going to start working on those tables and see what I can do with them. I'm thinking about a darker stain. something along the lines of the colors in the frames on the pics I have in there now, would that be too dark? Eventually *much bigger, more involved project* would be to redo the ET center. I'll redo the legs on the chair and purple couch at the same time.