If you can find a "standard" sized chair (18" wide), it'll work, but it'll be tight. Generally, for banquet seating, one figures two feet per person. But if your table has legs you'll have less than two feet per person. If you have a pedestal, everyone will be battling the base, and it'll be hard to keep from tipping. You could probably maximize the knee room by attaching one end to the wall and have a single center leg on the other end, but then you have to clean around it rather than being able to shift it. This is what I'd do if I had to make the same space work. I'm just as worried about the 28". That doesn't leave any room on the table for serving dishes, and barely any for condiments, bread, cereal boxes, or whatever. How big are your plates? If they're 10", add 2" for not lapping over the edges and being able to get a finger between, and you're left with 4" down the middle. My plates are bigger. In other words, this is basically a travel trailer dinette. It's very cozy, but you can make it work. Much better for breakfasts and snacks than actual dining, but even that can be managed.

I recently completed a DIY install of Hansen's Cable Railing system. This is a summary of my experience. I selected Hansen after a great deal of research. Although there are cheaper options, their prices seemed to be midpoint, and their quality promised to be excellent. There were good points and bad points to my experience with Hansen, that I will detail shortly, but in the end I would recommend their product if you have no stairs, and recommend another company's product if you have any stairs involved. My build involved a (roughly) 13' x 22' deck surrounded on 3 sides with 42" cable railing, plus a stairs with cable rail on both sides and a handrail, plus a short run of 5-steps stairs with cable on one side, plus 13' of cable around 2 sides of a patio. Altogether, Hansen charged 8800 for the rails, posts, cable, fittings, screws, etc... I recommend waiting until your deck is built before ordering the product, as having different dimensions or angles then given to Hansen can lead to serious issues. However, I actually ordered before my deck build and made sure that the deck adhered to plans. After they charge your card for a deposit, Hansen draws up plans which they send to you for approval. This provides a comprehensive pick list of materials and ensures that their butt is covered if there is a problem. There is about a 2-3 week lag between initial payment and plan approval and when they manufacture and ship. The product came delivered by freight in a pallet of posts, plus a VERY long skinny package with the rails. I needed two strong people to carry the long package, and fortunately the delivery person used a forklift to put the pallet in a good place. During the install, I found that they made 3 mistakes (leaving out 1 cable for each side of the stairs and messing up the size of one post) but were good about fixing the problems. I went with mostly fascia mounted posts to maximize deck space and also strength of post supports, with some in concrete. The brackets and posts feel very beefy and solid. I went with the powdercoated color, and for the most part the product paint was excellent. However there was one post with bubbles on the paint, and all of the stairs post caps had terrible paint jobs. Their system feels very well thought out, with some exceptions I will mention shortly, and clearly they have engineered it to pass code. The install went smoothly. The positives were: my sales representative, Doug Heizenrader, was very helpful in both the ordering process and install process, explaining design and intall options. Also, they provide almost all of the hardware you need, in one convenient package. I had to buy a tool for cutting cable (I went with a Dremel UltaMax saw because cutting stainless cable is super hard), for swaging cable (got the Lehigh swaging tool), and had to purchase concrete wedge anchors for the brackets that went into concrete. The install process is: mount the brackets (4 large lag screws per post) which sometimes requires adding some washers to straighten the post. Then put all the posts upside down in the brackets, use a laser level to mark a consistent distance above the highest point of the deck, and cut all the posts to length. Then put all the posts right side up, install railing, then screw in the posts to the brackets. They provide excellent Tek screws for much of these tasks, and the amount of predrilling needed is reasonable. As for the negative, I was shocked to find that the stairs posts were completely blank, I was expected to drill these myself. This involves making a template (I used a piece of laminate flooring) and positioning the template against the top rail to properly position the holes. Although this may not sound like a big imposition, it is very time consuming because there are say 11 holes on each side of each stairs post. Furthermore, I found out (the hard way) that the holes have to be drilled at an angle that mimics the eventual path of the cable, or it is difficult/impossible to thread the cable and the cable wont lie right and will excessively rub. So I actually had to drill every hole TWICE. Similarly, I found that Hansen did NOT drill the corner post holes (where the cable makes a 90 degree turn) at an angle, with the result being that I had to drill these with my hand drill. Requiring me to drill these holes is really bad, in my opinion, because the result with a hand drill is far inferior to what hansen could achive with their machining; and drilling aluminum is difficult to get high quality results as the metal mushrooms easily. Not to mention the significant amount of extra time and effort. There is NO good reason that Hansen should require us to do this part of the install; given accurate rise-run measurements on the stairs, any necessary adjustments can be made by altering the height of the post, which is a standard part of the install for non-stairs posts. When I queried Doug at Hansen about this, he basically admitted that they do it because sometimes customers give inaccurate rise-run measurements. This is a piss poor reason to require customers to drill and achieve a lower quality result in my opinion. Also, their instructions are incomplete when it comes to cutting the cable. Their instructions are "cut the cable 1/2" from the face of the post after pulling it taut". However, this will be disastrous if applied to stairs, where you actually need to cut the cable 1/2" PAST the face of the post due to the diagonal path thru the post and the larger washer. I managed to catch this, but they should really include such directions for everyone. Another potential problem is that their fascia mounted brackets put the post a good 1.5" away from the fascia, and the cables 2.5"; if your decking does not overhang the fascia, this gap is excessive and a sideways foot can easily slip off the deck. Another tricky thing for those of us who have never swaged before, is to realize that the swage closest to the threads should not be closer than a half inch from the threads, as the cable only extends a certain amount into the threaded terminal. In summary, I found their system well designed, the product high quality, and their execution excellent. HOWEVER, I DO NOT recommend their product if you have stairs or if you have alot of 90 degree posts, as they require you to do alot of unnecessary work that comes out below standard, and they do not properly document the cable cutting process for stairs.

I've enjoyed reading all of the various perspectives on lamps and side tables. I much prefer lamps to the harshness of overhead lights, though they do come in handy for giving hair cuts and cleaning up the occasional pet mess. Other than that, the only time the overhead lights go on in our house is when we have guests who like lots of light. As for side tables, we haven't needed them in our living room since we replaced our couches with prairie settles that have flat arms and backs, perfect for placing drinks, books, and whatever else needs a temporary landing spot. We have a sofa-sized one and a loveseat-sized one, and though it's rare for 3 people to sit on the sofa at once, that middle spot is perfect for cats ;) We leave a coaster at the end of each arm by default because that spot is much more convenient than the coffee table, even when sitting on the loveseat (that's right behind the coffee table). Our living room is small, by modern standards anyway, and one antique floor lamp has served it amazingly well (in addition to sconces above the fireplace) so we rarely use the can lights in the ceiling. It's no ordinary lamp though... It has 3 candelabra bulbs under a silk shade that switch on individually, as well as a torchiere (shaded by milk glass) with 3 brightness settings, plus a night light in the base. I usually switch on only one of the candelabra bulbs to read, but everyone in the family has his or her preferred setting depending on the activity at hand. My dad rewired the lamp after rescuing it from someone's trash, and I've had it with me since my very first apartment 20 years ago. It got a new silk shade about 11 years ago. Here's a picture of my beloved lamp (to the right of the sofa settle). I especially love the night light and wish more lamps had this feature. I recently saw a similar lamp at a flea market (that I may have to go back and buy if it's still there), but it didn't have the night light that I love so much. That tiny switch in the front is what switches it on/off when you tap it with a toe.

The analog version is a well tabbed 4" binder or two, plus an alpha expanding file for invoices, expanding files for permits & stamped plans, etc. all of which fit into a file box at completion. The current digital version is google drive instead of the binder, which is accessible remotely. The amount of paper created by the current ability to create specifications is almost infinite. Photos are another issue, but sub directories & labels are keys to organization. There are a few formatted systems out there but they almost take another person to manage. For cost management, I organize along the lines of lender cost breakdowns, similar to FHA & NAHB formats, 50-60 main line items. Typically these formats are similar to the order performed during construction. Its important to track budget vs actual at every line item in order to manage the totals. Understand details such as whether the window bid includes installation or is FOB a warehouse and do not assume each window supplier bids the same way, same with plumbing contractors, electricians, etc. Understand which materials are included in each bid. Too many see that big total budget line and overspend early on a few key selections. For selections, you cannot make them soon enough. That doesn't mean ordering, but being ready to order. Unless you're outfitting the home from the local home supply retail warehouse and are OK with their existing stock (and some do) much of the stuff in your home comes with lead times, especially if it comes from overseas in containers that need customs clearances (tile, some cabinets, fixtures, etc.) or in the case of cast iron tubs and sinks, might be awaiting for a burned down plant to be rebuilt.