The placemats were brand new from a garage sale last summer, think I paid a dollar for all of them. The napkin rings are really pretty, but only have the two. I bought them at a model home furnishings sale, think they were a dollar each. bettyd, which candle are you referring to? The big one in the middle? That is from a local candle shop, it is a certain scent (snowflake)that I can only buy there and it's on my footed cake plate. The napkins were from a garage sale too, 8 of them for $2.00, I also used them for Christmas! I was at Jewel/Osco today, for groceries but always check out their seasonal aisle. They had only 4 cupcake candles left, I did find a bargain though. Six stemmed glasses, green stems & swirled blue & clear on the top for .50 each. You bet I grabbed all 6 of them! Will take some close-ups & the glasses. Thanks for the compliments, I'm getting real anxious for garage sales again, but have a few months to cool my heels@!!!

We are empty nesters who built a lake cottage last year that will be our retirement home. We did put a counter height set in our dining area, which is open to the kitchen, and we love it. We built this house for the way that we enjoyed living, and that meant more casual gatherings than formal meals. We have an island (counter height) with a second level for bar height seating. It is adjacent to the counter height table and most often I set food and appetizers on the bar level for people to serve themselves and sit down with their plates at the table. We find most people, especially the older ones, find it easier to get up and down from the counter height chairs than regular height ones. I will grant you that it's a little jump to get up and down from BAR height chairs, but counter height, for most folks, means just sliding their butts on or off, as opposed to raising yourself (like doing squats)from seated to standing in a regular chair. I'm only 5'2" so my feet sometimes dangle from even regular height deep seated dining chairs! We chose chairs that have a rung on which you can rest your feet when seated and I find them really comfortable. It comes down to a matter of personal choice and lifestyle, but I am really happy to have gone with the counter height dining set.

I needed a small table that could extend to a large one for my space. I hunted high and low and found exactly what I wanted from a Canadian company called Dinec. They have an excellent website, dinec.com The quality is terrific, solid wood. On their website you can "make" your own table. They will build to your specs. You can mix and match legs, tops, apron styles, etc. You can then find a local dealer. I bought mine at Flemington Department Store in NJ. My table, which extends from 5 feet to 10 feet (yes, we have big dinner parties and I wanted to seat 12 comfortably) had the smoothest most easy to use mechanism and leaf system. It also has a 5th leg for extra support when fully extended. The tables in stores like Bassett, Thomasville, etc. didn't extend long enough for my needs, plus they didn't have the extra tough table top finishes that I needed...don't want to worry about water rings and what not. The Dinec table is very tough. They have a wide variety of finishes. I was buying sight unseen, the store had little itty bitty wood samples and ONE of their tables, and not the style or color I was interested in. So I contacted the company in Canada and I have to say, they helped guide my choice very nicely. When the table finally arrived, I was thrilled with the results. It is not a cheap product, but luckily the store was having an amazing President's Day sale. The table, which would ordinarily have been about $2300 (and was that, and even more at other dealers...I checked!) was on sale for about $1500. This is a table that will last several lifetimes and will probably only get better with age. I didn't buy chairs from Dinec, just the table. I already had chairs I wanted to use plus I don't like matching stuff. Oh, I have no financial or other interest in this company. Just a satisfied customer!

unfortunately, we do not have a room that is near the dining area that could be used. We pretty much use this "breakfast nook" as our sole dining space. We have considered a banquette, but our concern was that it would take up more space than what is available. However, the dining set that I shared, in the description, the dimensions state that it is 48" x 36", which makes it narrower and rectangle, which is why we chose it for that space. I think, in that picture, it just looks square, but it is actually rectangle! It has a leaf built into it; here is a picture of it with the leaf added to it, bringing the length to 66" we were planning on putting the table against the wall like the current one is set up and putting the chairs on either end and along the side to leave adequate space when it is just the three of us (we are a small family) As for the china hutch, thank you klfische, I agree, that something shorter with artwork would be better suited to the space, which is why I wanted to invest in a buffet or server instead. I was actually considering the purchase of a base cabinet and adding decorative trim and knobs to match it to the new dining table, but my husband said we should reconfigure the current cabinet to be more suitable. I actually have a plan for the artwork to go over the top... Two framed New Orleans Jazz Fest Posters that create a pair that were created by artist Terrance Osborne. I actually created this plan to kinda see how the table would fit in relation to the space available. I actually used the measurements of the cabinets in my kitchen, etc. to figure out the wall openings, etc to get a more accurate idea of the space available! (the plan software only had a 6 chair table example available, we would actually move the table closer to the wall for the majority of the time. :) So no rug under the table or anything? I was wondering if a rug may brighten up the space, but maybe we will just do the table and repurpose the hutch and see where it goes? I will be back with pictures when all is done! ANy other suggestions are appreciated!!! :)