Came to this website looking for updated info on the latest appliances and thought I'd check in with this thread. I'm glad I did. DISASSEMBLY My sleeper sofa (see posts above) had to be disassembled too. When I first ordered there was plenty of room for delivery, but during remodeling I decided to put in a door that was normal-sized (too narrow for the sofa). It wasn't hard to put the unit back together again on the other side, but it's more complicated than just screwing the legs back on. So I'd suggest you make sure the delivery people (or friends of yours) know what they're doing. Then it would be fine. It's not brain surgery, but it's not like playing with TinkerToys either. You're buying a relatively sophisticated mechanism, as well as something that looks good. So it makes sense to respect what you've paid for. You wouldn't let just anybody install a dishwasher, for example. But thousands of them get installed properly every day. AMERICAN LEATHER CUSTOMER SERVICE I would buy American Leather again, even after my nightmare. I accept that things will go wrong with a percentage of anything that's manufactured or delivered. My problem was with with my retailer, Foremost Furniture. At every step of the way they were careless. As in, they could not have cared less what happened once they had all their money. If you do not live in New York or the tri-state area, you cannot make this mistake. I believe AL pushed Foremost to fulfill their legal obligations in my case, thanks to this site. After I posted here, the situation was addressed. I could not get a refund--Foremost dragged this out for years, so the sofa was now officially "used"--but I got a store credit. That is not, IMHO, AL's fault. Foremost is a nightmare, so I warn anybody about their truly nasty management. But if you have a decent retailer (and do your research into their customer service record), I think AL is a very good value in every way. I love their stuff. I only come to this site when I am remodeling or need advice on purchases, so my purpose in posting is to clarify what I can and to be fair. I'm glad I didn't have to go the time and expense of taking legal action to solve my problem. It took years to address the problem; that's wrong. But once AL got involved, the problem was attended to in a reasonable time frame. And they only got involved because of this site and this thread. FWIW

Yeah, the Shelby would be the ultimate...but he'll have to wait until our 11th anniversary (steel) for that. :-) Thanks to everyone for your comments and advice. I truly will not resent a chair that I don't fully love if it makes him happy. When I look at the chair, I'll see my love for Mr. Weedy, not a cringing style decision...my change of heart has merely broadened my standards of acceptability. My slight preference for the black chair is because to me it looks a little better-made: smoother leather, a little less of the "poof" factor. And the shade of brown isn't perfect (I'd prefer a little darker), which is why I've dithered ambivalently. I'm 95% confident that the two chairs I've narrowed it down to both meet his standards of comfort. There are things he's mentioned in previous shopping, like full-leg support (not a split ottoman) and full-arm support (some have a gap in the arm support when you fully recline) and lots of cush. He's only 2" taller than me and outweighs me by just 10 or 15 lbs. Nonetheless, it's a good point to let him try them out so that he loves the chair. So here's what I'm leaning towards doing. He's en route back home from Iowa right now, due in early afternoon. I'm thinking I'll take him to both stores to see both chairs, hiding the price tags, and let him choose. Of course, if either didn't completely meet his standard of comfort we'd be back to the drawing board, and I'm fine with that, and in fact that would probably be good to avoid purchasing something that he's not perfectly happy with. But that takes the load of the final decision off of me. Not only will it make him the happiest, it'll eliminate any second-guessing I might be prone to do later ("I wonder if I really should have gotten the brown one instead...").

Thank you so much, greenhaven! I removed photos after initial post but based on the order you stated, I think the first is the one that is still there - with tangerine and green fabric? What is it about andino white that allows 'any direction', vs. the bianco romano? Is it the cream/beige in bianco - and what direction wouldn't it allow? (The andino would be more complicated to get.) I have so many questions! :-) I have spent hours pinning over the months. I have inspiration of 'white cabinets' and of flat panel/shaker, but not too much more specific. I haven't found much color though the link embedded in my last post and reposted here had some -but with counters dark. That's what I found most recently. I guess at this point I want something that looks good in the space and won't have to be undone at a sale, and can accommodate happy colors as accents. :-) Here is a link that might be useful: Better Homes Gardens

Your kitchen will be VERY dark. Take away the "very", and I agree. Your other two bedrooms are very, very small. Again, take away the adjective, and I agree. My girls' bedrooms are each 12x12, and they're comfortable rooms -- but you should decide just how much furniture you expect them to hold. My daughter who's still at home has a double bed, a double dresser w/ mirror and two bookcases (one tall, one wide). In the other room, we have a queen and no dresser ... this room has held a queen + two dressers in the past, and it was tight with those three large pieces. You say it'll be years 'til you build ... so your kids'll be teens /possibly be out the door by the time you build. These rooms are not large, gracious suites, but they are adequate. I'd add windows to the "blank" walls in the kids' rooms; light from two directions is always a good thing. I would add a pocket door to this "wing" of the house so the children (or guests in the future) can "close it off". This would also allow you to "close it off" to save on heating /cooling once the children are out of the house. The bath is cramped. A person will essentially stand on the toilet to use the sink. I wonder if you could steal from the front porch /push the closet forward ... so you could have a larger, more comfortable bath with a larger vanity /better storage ... I drew in a shower instead of a tub for no particular reason. Grill deck seems strangely far from the kitchen. Yes, that is a problem ... with a screened porch on the side, I think I'd lose the rear porch /go with a deck or patio instead across the back. Traffic pattern from the non-master bedrooms to garage and/or laundry seems like it takes you right through kitchen and dining room, which I wouldn’t like. Yes, I don't think you have enough space between the kitchen and the dining room. I'd extend the dining room out a bit. Here's what I'd do with this plan: - Extend the dining room out so you have space for a comfortable pathway. - Redo the garage entry so you have a multi-purpose room to the right as you enter ... on the right wall /wall shared with the garage you'll have a small coat closet and the washer/dryer (venting won't be bad ... run the hose down the edge of the garage /only one bend) ... across from this wall you'll have a long wall of pantry shelving ... you'll have a door between the laundry and the master closet, which is relocated towards the center of of the house. - The master bath is now on the corner, allowing it to have windows on two sides ... and you have a nice linen closet that didn't exist before ... or you could extend the shower and/or tub to really huge proportions. - You'll lose the French doors in the master bedroom, but I'd let the master "poke out towards the back", allowing for windows on three sides, and I'd place the head of the bed in the middle of the back wall. Overall, I think this layout has the beginnings of a good empty-nester plan.