Advertisers love to use suggestive terms and "thermal bridging" has become one of them. This is an area of building science where you need to do some homework on your own. Absolutely! However, The link I provided is not advertising. It is a Province of Manitoba site advising consumers/builders on some aspects of its nearly 40-year old R2000 homebuilding standards that have constantly evolved as benchmarks for "healthiness, environmental impact and energy efficiency." .... It seems misleading to use the term "thermal bridge" for wood when it has a thermal resistance 300 times greater than that of metal. .... The term is often applied to light wood framing exterior envelopes in a manner that seems to imply that wood studs have the insulation value of solid metal or no value at all. The term thermal bridging is consistently used byEnergy Star, Building America and leading building scientists, such as Dr. Joseph Lstiburek here where he refers to thermal bridging through wood framing on a cathedral roof reducing the R value approximately 20%. (And that's even with a layer of 1" XPS.) If the example of thermal bridging in the first page is a 20% reduction in the effective R value, that is R16. The range given, I presume, is the result of whole wall evaluations. By contrast, using a recommended method of averaging R values, for the R2000 Manitoba example, I get a value of R12.5 whatever theoretical wall size I slot in. Just adding together materials with various R factors does not yield equal field performance due to such factors as air leakage and convection currents. Indeed, studies show that real world installation of fiberglass batts is often way below ideal. And the ASTM testing, from which "standard" R values are derived, doesn't account for wind and moisture. The site moves on to solutions. As I read it, the examples on the subsequent linked pages are not a substitution of the first page. The example was not a matter of discrediting, but simply illustrating. Subsequent pages give further further examples of alternatives. There's no "advertising," as this is a government information site not that of a private company with commercial interests. Indeed, R2000 Manitoba gives equal or more play to reducing thermal bridging by reducing the amount of conventional wood framing--24" o.c. and other advanced framing techniques. Thermal bridging may not the be all and end all of insulation/sealing considerations. But it is clearly a very important issue that is widely ignored in current Codes that blithley prescribe R Values that are typically implemented in ways that result in effective R Values way below the supposed standard.

I bought a Stickley fabric upholstered sofa about 5 years ago. It is a traditional English roll arm sofa not one of their Mission style ones. I am very pleased with the quality. It's extremely comfortable and looks almost new despite the best efforts of 3 little boys to destroy it. I also have a leather Hancock & Moore sofa bought at the same time and I would say it's equivalent in quality and finish to the Stickley.

OK, this is a lot, I'll take it one point at a time and forgive me if I miss something. Stripes "should" be straight. Some companies can't handle this and should be upfront about it, but Norwalk can. Make 'em fix that. All recliners have a flap in the back, but most companies hold it in place with velcro. From the rear, even when velcro'd, it will appear loose and sagged. That's normal, that just how recliners are. I often suggest to people to get an ottoman instead of a recliner piece because of the styling compromises required. The corners might be normal, how does the floor sample look? What you have should be consistent with how the floor sample looked. Corners that have any curve to them, especially with tight back pieces, are often creased and not smooth. A proper crease is usually normal and acceptable, and may preferred to the distorted stretching required to eliminated creasing. Chipped wood legs can be retouched. This is preferred to sending the chair back to the factory because shipping it back will open the doors to further damage. Dust can just be wiped off, no big deal. Suede can attract lint. Some makes and some colors are worse than others. Get yourself a lint brush, you may need it. A sofa that comes off the truck NOT "factory wrapped" was probably inspected by the store. Factory wrapping doesn't always go back on after taken off. Not a big deal, we deliver lots of sofas blanket wrapped. It sounds like they're doing the right thing. Every maker and every retailer does things differently, and mistakes do happen. As long as they take of it, that's what counts.

Thanks, everyone, for your comments. I have to say that I feel so relieved reading that you don't care for the ring pulls, I guess because I wasn't 'feeling it' with them either! Really, I could care less if it's considered MCM or contemporary - whatever. I love les's idea of wood pulls to match the dark wood and DH liked it to, so I will explore that idea. K9arlene, your point is a good one! We have already bought this bed and are using it. I guess we don't prop up in bed much, because it hasn't bothered us. We are really happy with this bed. And I will use ellendi's suggestion to put firm pillows in our decorative shams and bolster pillow - good idea! Sherrmann - I would love to see a pic, but it's probably not easy to get one. Here is my main inspiration pic, although I kind of did the opposite coloring. It has teeny tiny knobs, so I obviously strayed in a big way from it. Maybe I will get some samples like these, but I don't know. Thanks again, everyone, and keep the comments coming!