unless you're willing to spend $4,000 and above it's very hard to get a really nice piece. most are not made well and it won't last. This is what I do I'm a designer an objective of mine is to find a used sofa buy a good manufacturer hand tied made in USA. Then I pick a fabric and have it reupholstered this way you will have a really good sofa for a long long time. Every piece of furniture I have has been reupholstered. I know this pretty gross to some people but I'm telling you it's very much worth your while. Also many manufacturers do not have good fabrics and by the time you pick the fabric you like it's going to cost you another thousand dollars or more. and their selection is pretty sparse. I bought my Fabrics online from anatol's Fabrics in Ohio online. They send you samples and you get the upholsterer to give you an estimate on how much you need.

To me, there's nothing wrong with mixing "high end" and lower cost, functional good-quality kitchen components. More important to me is to avoid the waste implied in buying things that will not last or that will certainly become unfashionable. I live in a working class neighborhood, mostly little 1950s houses with lots of retirees, including myself. Although our lot is on a lake, this property will NEVER command top dollar because of the settlement pattern of the community. The recession has really hurt home values here; I thought our house was $275,000 to $300,000 because of previous improvements, but I believe that it's now $220,000 and that was before we launched a major addition, geothermal, and new siding, etc. No matter what we sink into the house, it's for us, not for resale or peer pressure. We have decided to retain the 30 inch refrigerator we bought last year (an emergency purchase) but to put it in a position where a larger unit could some day fit. No wooden housing around it. We are keeping our old electric range, but are adding a portable induction burner that can be set out on the countertop to increase functionality. There is room for another oven on a wall outside our new G shaped kitchen, but I don't think I will be the one to buy it (unless my grown children move back to live nearby); a portable roaster oven will suffice to augment the baking and roasting for large gatherings. We use our outdoor gas grill in all seasons for grilling. My husband enjoys the ritual of being the griller and he shovels the access space before dinner parties. The broiler in the old range suffices if he doesn't want to venture outdoors. We are retaining our existing dishwasher. Our big innovation is to add a second sink to the kitchen. All sinks and appliances are white. My muse is the idea of a "workshop kitchen." I am not trying to reproduce any particular theme, unless it is a farm kitchen that processes a lot of food in season. I do hope to make the kitchen work as a functional, welcoming space for myself and husband now that we're empty nesters and for events when we have visitors, whether large or small groups. Laminate for countertops is sufficient and my ego does not require anything more dazzling on the countertops, although there will be slabs of butcherblock on either side of the stove. Hubby decided to go with hardwood floor and install it and finish it himself, although I was ready to order the vinyl. We have found a local cabinetmaker who said he would meet the price of a sample plan of readymade cabinets from the Big Box home stores. Now, we're adding custom touches to the cabinetry plans, not in decorative features but real utility features, such as tapping the space that was wasted in "spacers" between boxes. All materials are American made, or American harvested. Except for the old siding and walls and flooring, very little is going to the landfill. Furnace went to the scrap metal guy. My own eccentricities will add all the "pop" and pizzaz that this kitchen will need. Fabric, color, laminate choice, color of stain, art, displays of collections-- a creative outlet without a high end price tag. We have splurged on a bank of windows and a few light fixtures (No, we're not putting in "cans" because the ceiling feeds to an attic where we're fighting heat loss.) We are working very hard to live within our means, following the requirements of good sense and ignoring consumer manias. When I get myself too fired up about making a more upscale purchase, I remind myself that the photos, the ad copy, the home shows and the open houses, are all there to facilitate SELLING, not living. Here in Minnesota, where granite is quarried, I know that some of the rock countertops are fairly reasonable, but as I have declared elsewhere on this forum, I refuse to purchase anything that is sold with a "how to care for it" bottle of something and some warnings about how to protect the finish. In many ways, by definition, I am free from the pressures that other posters feel in order to keep up with the neighborhood, to make a kitchen that defines a house value, or to prepare for the brutal house market. I don't envy the young and broke. But I was there once and I not only survived but thrived on it. The original kitchen in this house was painted baby blue without concern for the cathair? gobs in the paint and the kitchen 'table' had a hinge so we could access the refrigerator. My hubby and my carpenter father and a different local cabinetmaker came up with a sufficient re-do that we have appreciated since right before the Bicentennial. I raised two sensible daughters in that modest kitchen. This doesn't mean I'm not agonizing over choices today, though. "Leave me alone, I'm thinking!" is a common mantra right now. Today's musing: Do I want to order fancier cupboard doors? It's always something. Enjoy your day. Florantha

Thanks for the feedback! I am going to go with the velvet. Mtn, there are no photos on line of the fabrics and I tried to take a photo of the swatches but I could not get the light to show the differences correctly. Re: Mitchell Gold - I love their furniture. I have purchased a lot from them over the years. I first learned about MG in 2000 b/c they used to make sofas for Pottery Barn and I was asking about the manufacturer. That sofa has been moved around over the past 13 years but is still going strong! olychick and holly-kay - thanks for weighing in! I think in my heart I knew the velvet was the right choice, but it is more monochromatic than the other fabric which has a little striation in it. snookums - that kind of feedback is just what I was looking for. I can't stand purchasing furniture that doesn't wear well. I will definitely post photos when I get the piece in.

I spent yesterday pouring over images of vintage bathrooms and kitchens (the two most easy to date rooms). I looked at images from 1900-2018 and every year in between. My estimation is this, and some may disagree with me: nothing, and I mean NOTHING, stays fashionable forever. It may have a resurgence in popularity several decades later, but it will also have dated times in between, no matter the era. And when it does come back, it usually comes back in a slightly different "version" so that even the original carries a bit of "off" ness. Some of the modern bathrooms today carry a bit of 1920s look, or 1980s look, but actual bathrooms from the 1920s and 1980s would still be remodeled by the discriminating homeowner. (I am one, my husband is less fussy!) Funnily enough -- I tried to get my parents to use black and white tile in their bathroom in 2000, and they both said "yuck!" LOL! My dad said "no way, that is so dated, it reminds me of the tile from the 30s" (he was a kid then). LOL!!! I said "yuck" at the time to their tan stone tile (not a fan of tan). Looking at the 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s, 00s, only elements here and there come back into fashion. I looked at plenty of 20s and 30s bathrooms and while the tile color was similar to todays tile colors, often the way tile was laid out can become dated; like tiling halfway up all walls, and all around a confined shower room, as opposed to having an open walk-in shower with glass doors. Now mix in a floating vanity from the 1970s and quartz countertops and vessel sinks and you've got 2019. Patterned tile from the 1970s is also back in fashion, but NOT with the same color pallatte. You may have to go 100 years before your tile comes back into fashion! 10 years out - almost certainly dated. The closest thing I can see to making a home timeless is try not to make it look like every other house on the block that's being built this year, but even with that there's a limit to how much you can do. I'll try my best. Remodel or price reduction may be inevitable. Lots of good advice on pricing. I'll try to understand that any $400 tile is for me and me alone, and if I can't stomach the cost, I'll try to make subway tile look good. :D einportlander -- what your friends went through, this is EXACTLY what' I'm seeing! From your name I assume you're from Portland so you know what I'm talking about -- how there are lots of things from the year 2000 suddenly hitting the market, especially on the Washington side (Camas, WA was practically built in 2000) or further out from the city like in West Linn. One 4500 sqft home sold in one week for 2.5 million in Lake Oswego, while larger homes, even 9,000 sqft on 3 acres in Lake Oswego sold for 1.7 after sitting on the market for over 1 year and going through a price reduction! This could really only be a pricing problem -- people expect to get top dollar for their home but their idea of it's worth isn't realistic. Looking at these homes as a buyer, all I thought was how much will it cost to replace the finishes in 9000 sqft? We learned after getting a quote from a trusted contractor that it costs nearly as much as it does to just build your own, so that's what we're doing! I'm having a hard time talking myself into splurging on finishes only to become a story like your friend. I've conceded that there's a good chance we'll have to sell for less than we "think" it's worth when the time comes. But at least I'm going into the process with my eyes wide open!