bronwynsmom, Thank you for posting the link. I really like that style, and the price is reasonable. Question - It's also offered in antique nickel, and I have nickel fixtures throughout that space and accenting the stove. I haven't any bronze, so I'm curious why that's the finish you suggested. Do you think it's a better choice with the chair? To your eye is it better to mix it up and introduce another finish than to try to match?

Thanks for posting the pics! The hutch is lovely and would be great painted as would all the other pieces. But, since you're hestitant to paint, why not leave it as it and make some painted or fabric covered boards to go behind the shelves and the area between the hutch and the bottom. Change the hardware to something a little more cottage/shabby - maybe glass ones. That, and the right accessories would really lighten the piece up. An easy fix for the tile table would be to have a round piece of wood cut to fit the tiled part and either paint it to match the color in the hutch or cover it in fabric. Then get a glass top to cover/protect it. The detail on the table edge is very nice. You could also remove the tile and do your own fun, shabby tile treatment. Tile can also be painted. Just protect it with a glass top and felt protectors. Are you using those chairs? I really like them and they would be perfect covered in the same/coordinating fabric as the valance as they have a very nice, romantic look. And yes, you can paint formica. It takes some prep work but it's easy(I painted my counters and it lasted for years with some care). Clean very well Lightly sand Clean again Prime with Kilz, use a light hand, let dry and give it one more coat. Let the primer cure for a day. Paint with your choice of paint After the paint is dry, apply 10 to 15 light coats of Minwax's Satin Finish Polycrylic. It dries very fast and you can usually apply another coat in 15 - 30 minutes but only if you applied a light coat. And that's pretty much it. I used pledge to clean and protect it. In case you haven't noticed, I'm a big fan of using what you have and making it the best it can be. :-D Here is a link that might be useful: Glass Pulls

LOL I thought you'd kick out of that. I only looked at the thumbnails. Our two year old grandson was here today. I'll have to go look at them. One of my hubby's sister's hubby lives out in the boondocks of central Iowa, nothing wrong with Iowa. It's my Home Sweet Home state, and he has a garage/outbuilding that's his man cave, though I can't see him calling it that. It's unfinished on the inside so it's more garage and storage for his muscle car, but does have tables with his stuff on them. Nothing fancy, not messy either. Just a place to get away from the house when the guys are over to watch Nascar or football. Just a country boy at heart. The best thing that happened to my SIL. Now I'm going to take a few minutes to check out the man caves. LOL

Allison, thanks for the article, I enjoyed reading it. Last month I went to the San Francisco store to look at one of their smaller slipcovered chairs for my living room. I heard their furniture was expensive so I was prepared for that but I wasn't prepared for the staggering delivery charge. I'm used to at most $75 delivery fee from furniture stores, if not free. And that's for the trip from the store's warehouse to my house...not from China or the pier to their store! But SC wants to charge me $300 to transport a chair and ottoman from it's place of manufacture, in Los Angeles, to the San Francisco area. When I asked why so much they explained that they don't have their own delivery trucks so it's no different than if I pay a mover to transport a piece of furniture. My other options were to drive down there and pick it up myself (never in a million years) or hire someone to bring it up here (too risky and I'm still shelling out money for gas and insurance). I think the trip from LA to their store in SF should be part of their cost of doing business, then you can charge me to bring the item from the store to my house. Surely they have means to transport merchandise intended for the store shelves, why not place our purchases on the truck with the store's merchandise and send it all up at the same time. Or have a separate truck intended for customer orders, wait for it to fill up before driving the entire load up to San Francisco. Get rid of that middle man, the trucking company. Otherwise the customer has to pay the most expensive form of transportation, one item at a time. Shabby Chic has got to come up with a better plan than that if they're going to open up stores in other states. Either the factory moves closer to the stores or they make changes to their method of transportion. To me it seems like an oxyoron when I think about the whole premise behind shabby chic....shopping at flea markets for scrappy old things that you pay pennies on the dollar for...but if you want Rachel Ashwell Shabby Chic to make it for you be prepared to pay thousands of dollars! Her chairs cost more than I've seen in the finest furniture store. Not to change the subject and start squakking about the price of their furniture (well, maybe a little) because it is made in the USA and that warrants a premium. I applaud businesses who are trying to keep manufacturing in this country and I want to support that even if it means I pay more. My beef is mainly with the delivery charge. Hopefully with the company growing they'll work on that problem. Can you just hear a New Yorker saying, "you want me to pay HOW MUCH to ship a chair from Los Angeles to Manhatten?!!" ;)