If you have the chance to buy one of their pieces, you should! I bought a sofa and loveseat at Macy's in 2002 made by Southern (for $1400 on clearance!!). It has lasted thru two little kids and all their friends as the primary family room set, two standard poodles, and two cats. Not only do we still have the set, the seat cushions are still completely puffy! We regularly remove the covers on the cushions and wash them (they are chenille) and they don't shrink, fade, and have just now developed a slight hole along a back seam. While the set looks somewhat dated and I'd like to replace them, I just can't get past having to pay $4000 for a comparable set that will probably only hold up for two or three years. Ours are still insanely comfortable and a quality I haven't seen in modern furniture stores (Lee, Rowe, Restoration Hardware, etc). Southern still makes the sofa set I have, only now it is upholstered in linen. My husband just said to buy from them again or have someone slipcover it in a heavy linen. I wish I could find a dealer by me in Florida! And trust me, I've tried.

Could you please post pictures of your Adura? We are currently planning to order about 1000 square feet of it (the LVT planks) in a couple of weeks. It would be very helpful to see pictures of what you do not like about it. The reviews are SO variable here--some people like it and some people hate it. Based on my research and taking home multiple samples, it SEEMS to be the best choice for us. Our dealer has a plank he has let people take home and "abuse"--with Goof-Off, gun black (?), permanent marker, cigarette "burns" etc. Nothing affected it except paint stripper. I took a key and scratched it REALLY hard and there were some extremely MINOR scratches that were only visible in certain light and looking at it right up close. I also tried to scratch it with the dogs' nails and the edge of a quarter. That is what really sold me on this brand--how little that plank reacted to all the things people were trying to do to it (it was a leftover plank from part of that showroom floor that had Adura planks installed on it). Oh, and the showroom floor looked great as well. [I am not questioning your experience, but would be very interested to see photos due to our plan to spend a lot of money on this stuff. Thanks.)

It's funny, 40 - 50 years ago, when I was younger, homes in my area were ripping out marble tiles, mantels and cabinet tops because they looked so old fashioned. Harwood floors were to be covered with carpet. They were "antiquing" cabinets and dressers with paint (green, orange, beige and gold with brown stain streaked over it.) Now they are chalk painting everything to death in pastels! Maple finished colonial was the standard furniture decor, only to be replaced by heavy oak tables and chairs. (Heaven forbid you stil had chrome table and chairs!) White kitchens were only for those who had to paint the cabinets because they couldn't afford new stained ones. And trim around the house was only painted because the wood was so chewed up through the years that it had gobs of wood putty on it. I have no idea what to call my style these days. My home has knotty pine ceilings, walnut stained birch cabinets, a 60s style livingroom/media area, a rustic upstairs guest room, and a who-knows-what-you'd-call-it master bedroom. Some of my furniture is 40+ years old. I just like that it is so sturdy, and functional. Many lamps are 50+. I just like how amber murano glass looks. I will have a home like no one else, so maybe I will save the humiliation of being "on trend" now and "dated" later.

Oh. I didn't mean to sound all gloomy etc. Not at all. It didn't feel like that then. First, I was little..it doesn't bother you to share the amenities with eight or nine other people, when you're a kid. The lightness of the being is pretty bearable when you're young. At least it should be. Also, it was seventies, eighties..relatively calm time. Actually, I was convinced we were all lucky, fortunate, and whatnot. I thought I had a very sweet life. Which was true to big extent-no war, no hunger, no major misery.. Would be daydreaming how I help other kids from around the world..that weren't as lucky as us to be born in our amazing country. I wanted to share with them clothes and food and blah blah So when years passed and things started to change and I set my feet in some of these other countries-then I understood my crappy clothes wouldn't do most of these kids any favors..)) Now I need to remind myself the same things-nothing is given. We just get lucky sometimes. May these times be kind to us in the future..