Henkel Harris is pretty good stuff! I love both finishes! It comes down to the look you want to achieve. The darker finish has a more elegant and formal look. The other finish, a tad less formal. However, that feel is from comparing the two finishes side by side. Pull the darker finish out of the equation, and the other finish holds it own in both elegances and formality.

HHs factory authorized sell is July  Sept-- so that is why the salesperson said he could do better...don't let him BS you with that crap of, "Oh, you're a former customer, let me take care of you." Their cost from HH is set in stone. The storeÂs markup is set, unless they decide to have a sale. But they donÂt have sales unless the factory has a sale. Some stores will initially quote you a price 10% above their actual mark-up to see if you bite. If you hesitate and they are convinced that you are a serious shopper, they will tell you that they will talk to the manager about getting you a better price. Then they come back with the "deal" which is their actual mark up.

Ignore MSRP--NO ONE EVER PAYS MSRP! Retailers just use it to make you think you are getting a great deal. The manufacturer uses MSRP to keep the value of their products up. Ignore it. Instead, shop around. I buy a lot of my stuff from Boyles in Hickory NC. I have never had a bad experience with themÂever. I always use the same sales person, Brenda Hawkes 828 304-6861. In the past five years, I bought a Kindel dinning room set & sideboard, 2 Hickory Chair nightstands, a Baker bed, 2 Wildwood lamps, a Century sofa, a Bernhardt bed, a Kingsdown mattress set, a Hickory Chair center table, a Heckman coffee table, an Hooker or Heckman entertainment center.

Where my local stores are concerned, Brenda has given me a substantially lower price 100% of the time. Where other discount stores are concerned, only once has her price come in higher than another store discount store. The other discount store was Lexington Furniture in Lexington KY. The H&M sofa, chair and ottoman were $955 less! That really surprised me! So I went to Lexington. I have not received it yet, but I am concerned about LexingtonÂs delivery service. I have heard horror stories about their D&D Delivery company. So, I am paying $100 more to use Sun Delivery. WeÂll see if they measure up to Boyles Classic Delivery company.

Watch out for Rose and Blacks in NCÂthey are real hit and miss. Especially when it comes to delivering damaged goods. Boyles inspects everything before it is loaded on the truck. Rose and Blacks are known to deliver a lot of damaged furniture. Then they give the customer a hard time in resolving the problem.

Nonetheless, whomever you buy from, make sure you ask a few questions:
1. Deposit and final paymentÂhow much down and when is the final payment due. What type of payment do they take? Many places take a credit card for deposit, but want a check for the balance.

2. Return Policy  can you return it? If so, for exchange only or can you get a refund? Under what conditions can you get a refund. If a piece is inferior in quality from that of the floor sample or has major structural problems are you expected to just live with it?

3. Shipping/delivery  who handles their shipping/delivery? Is it a 3rd party company or actual employees of the store? Who handles any problems if it is a 3rd party delivery company--you or them? When do you take "possession" of the furniture? Is it at the loading dock, or when it is placed in your house? If it is at the loading dock, then most likely any damage in transit is your problem to resolve with the shipping/delivery company.

4. Damage resolution- if it arrives damaged, what is their policy on resolving it? If the damage was caused in transit, and it is a 3rd party deliver service, do you have to file the claim, or do they handle it? If they handle it, do you have to wait for the claim to be resolved before your furniture is replaced?

5. If the furniture is repairable, do they repair it and give it back to youÂor do you get a brand new piece?

6. What are shipping and delivery charges? Some places charge hourly rates (usually local stores) and give estimates. At what point does the clock start to run?

If they donÂt charge an hourly rate, will they give you an exact charge, in writing, prior to delivery? (They should also provide an estimate when you make your purchase.) When they call for delivery, the size and weight of the pieces are known to the delivery service, so they should have an exact charge. If you do not get an exact amount, the delivery guys will pull up in front of your house and most likely demand more money than the estimate. Boyles always gives me an exact figure on delivery when they call for delivery. And the check that I give them is for the exact amountÂnot a penny more. However, I do tip the guys separately from the delivery.

7. Find out the procedure for taking delivery!!! This is so important! If you do not follow the delivery procedures, then they will not stand behind you in the event of damage. Deliver is not opening your front door. Delivery is having the pieces unloaded and unwrapped. Do not let them bring the furniture into the house! In fact, when they come to the front door, tell them where to unload so you can inspect. Thoroughly inspect each and every piece outside of the house. No matter how much the deliver men try to push to hurry upÂtake you time and inspect each piece. Any and all nicks, scratches, and damage must be noted by you on the delivery slip. If you do not note it, it does not existÂas far as the store is concerned, the furniture was delivered in perfect condition.

The rule on damage is reject delivery of the piece. Find out their procedure for minor nicks and scratches. However, if they are deep and/or excessiveÂdown to the wood and a lot of them, reject delivery.

8. What type of delivery do you getÂcurbside or white-glove? Curbside is just thatÂto the curb. Some will bring it inside, but no further. White-glove means they bring it in the house and put it where you want it. Boyles places it where you want it, wipes the piece down to remove any fingerprints; they also take away any packaging. Some delivery services will not take the packagingÂthey claim trucking laws wonÂt allow the to take it.

Head to one of the reputable stores and look through the HH sample wood finishes and check out those you would like to take home to evaluate in your dinning room. Ditto for fabric samples. If they tell you that they cannot let you take the samples, move on down the road to the next store. All reputable stores allow clients to take home fabric and finish samples. I have a bag of them sitting in my bedroom at this very moment.

A Note on Wood Samples: Wood samples will not be 100% accurate as each piece of wood has it own characteristics and will take the finish a bit differently. However, the wood samples will give you a very good idea of the finish.

Seeing the samples in the dinning room will best guide you on finish and fabric selection.

Hope to see pics when you get it!

Thanks Realdreamer! Your reply is so detailed and REALLY REALLY helpful to me. I'm gonna save it to a file and make sure I check and follow on those checklist things.

On the wood samples, I did get to see the ones for Stickley in a local store. Didn't ask for Henkel Harris but did see another dining table. It's very close to the effects shown on HH catelogs. I feel a little guilty taking local store sales' time knowing that their prices can't compete with the discounter ad I probably won't end up ordering from the local store. So didn't ask for too much help from them. But I certainly didn't know one could ask to check out some from the store and bring home. Maybe I should ask the discounter store and see if they could send me some.

It is not as convenient as ordering from local store and I don't know how the discounter I talked to are much cheaper. But if we decide to go for the whole thing we like, it's gonna save us thousands. Now my real concern is, once we get to know all these fine furnitures, it's hard to go down the level and accept value city quality again. Furniture will become a significant expenditure in the family financial plan!

And on the 2 finishes shown above, when I asked someone from Boyles, I was told we could only do 2 Mahagony finishes, the darker one or the faded one. The first picture above seems like Ebony finish and the orange fabic is also not available from the online fabics list. I like both finishes above but the first one certainly is more eye-catching to me. Maybe it's not possible to do it?

Are you sure that's an orange fabric? It could be something like a red and gold check that just looks orange from a distance.

You can also find your own fabric for the chairs -- it makes it a little bit more expensive, but dining chairs don't have a ton of upholstery, and I think it's worth it to find the RIGHT material.

Segbrown£¬

The fabrics from HH web site do seem a little boring. Where would you recommend to go find fabrics for fine furniture? Local furniture stores? Thanks!

Fabric stores. Find out how much yardage you need per chair, multiply by the number of chairs, and you'll get an idea of your price range.

Try Calico Corners for some nice stuff; sometimes you can get some really good deals. Also home decorating fabric stores -- they have samples and yardage as well as millions of books to look at.

If you have a designer or a friend with a license, go to your local design center; that's fabric mecca.

And there is always a lot of good cheap fabric on ebay, believe it or not. It's best to know exactly what you're looking for, though, since it's hard to tell from a thumbnail.

Of course, that may be too much. I tend to like to look at every possible fabric before I choose, which is a little weird. So, first try the stock at a Calico Corners or other home decor store (Joann, etc.).

Then if you find something you like, usually the procedure is to send the COM ("customer's own material") to the furniture store where you are buying the chairs, and they'll get it to the manufacturer.

Regarding the finishescall Brenda Hawkes at the Boyles Hickory Store (Brenda Hawks 828/304-6861). Brenda works Thurs - Sun. Tell her Catherine from Houston, TX told you to call as you were not sure you were given correct information on the finishes. If she asks if you have been in any of their stores in the past year, say yes*. Ask her to confirm the availability of finishes.

The fabric selection on the web site is generally a sampling only. To see the full selection, you will need to go to the store. I believe HH does COM (Customer's Own Material). Ask Brenda if they do COM. If so, then you can purchase and use your owe. In such a case, you find a fabric that you like and BEFORE YOU BUY IT, take down the width, pattern repeat, and note any nape. Then call your salesperson and give her/him this information. She/he will contact HH and obtain the amount of fabric you will need to buy. You then give the fabric to the salesperson and she/he will get it to the HH. I do this all of the time. I even bought a fabric from one manufacturer(as I was buying several of their pieces) and had it sent to EJ Victor to put on one of their chairs--LOL!

Most of the discount stores cannot provide samples as it entails shipping them out of state. There is a high likelihood that they will not get them back. When you check out samples from your local store, they take a credit card number or they charge a refundable small fee to ensure you return the samples. Stores actually pay for most of the samples. It isnt much, but if they just hand them out without guaranteeing a return, they could end up spending $$$ over the course of a year to replenish their samples.

*****
I am glad I could be of help. I began buying out of state 6 years ago and found the experience to be intimidating as I had no clue as to what I was doing. However, I was fortunate to stubble into reputable dealers like Boyles in Hickory. I also benefited from hearing horror stories from people that did business with not so reputable stores. This taught me a lot.

Definitely ask to check out samples! Please dont feel guilty for shopping around your local store. Truth be told, they can be as competitive as the NC and other discount storesthey simply choose not to be.

The manufacture charges the retailers the same price for the goodsdoes not matter where that retailer does business. Wholesale merchandised is not taxed, so they cannot blame local & state taxes for their higher prices. Freight does vary by location, but the differences are minimal--not hundreds of dollars more. A retailer with exceptionally high volume may receive a discount, but not much.

Local retailers expect the manufactures to provide them protection by demanding the manufactures implement special sanctions against the NC and discount stores for selling to out of state customers. Some have been very successful in curtailing out of state sales on some lines.

Before I forget: Welcome to the "I Love Quality Furniture Club" sister. LOL! We are women that would rather have one really fine piece of furniture than 5 really poor pieces. Buying a piece or two at a time is the key.

* local stores nationwide have complained so bitterly about stores like Boyles, that somenot allmanufactures will only allow an out of state sale if the customer has been in the store in the past year. The only "proof" is a verbal confirmation.

Thanks to Segbrown and Realdreamer! There is so much to learn and I just love this! Will try to checkout sample woods and look at more fabrics at local store.

The saleslady in the store I visited is so nice and I really hope I could buy something from her, maybe if not this time for HH, then some other brands later. The store is the only Stickley carrier in the area so I think there might be a chance for us to also get Stickley from them. Stickley seems to have a much more restricted policy against out-of-state purchase. The discount(or I should say regurlar price) is only 30% off MSRP for STickley here so it's pretty expensive still.

sue1004,
I did buy close to $10,000 in furniuture from my locale store just a month ago. While I could have purchased some of the pieces from Boyles, there was a line that Boyles did not carry. Given that my local store worked so long with me on this particular purchase, I decided to buy all the pieces them. So I think your idea of making a purchase from your local store at at later date is a good one.

Furniture and new cars sales are similar in that a salesperson can spend a considerable amount of time with a potential customers, yet never make a sale. Those that work in the business understand that is the nature of their business. The majority of people that they deal with do not buy. For the time that you have spent with this saleswoman, there are hundreds of others that she has dealt with that took as much or more of her time and did not buy. Furniture and cars are big bucks...people don't buy a dinning room set everyday--they understand that every contact does not result in a sale.

BTW: Stickley! Oh yes. My husband has the Chippendale Writting Desk! We bought it local when we lived in VA. He had been drooling over it for months. The store had a storewide sale, then we received an extra 20% off any one item letter from the store, so we bought! We dashed in to buy it and the salesperson said Stickely was not included. We said the letter had no such inclusion, so she checked the with manager and the manager said, no problem. LOL. He loves this desk.

This is a lousy picture of the desk--it really is a beauty.
http://www.stickley.com/gallery/details.cfm?id=2681&q=desk&view=all

That is a neat desk you bought, RealDreamer. And extra 20% off, yeah, it's no brainer.

We learned how different Stickley is in that store we visited. The sales lady showed us how it has central wood on wood glide as well as the sides, which makes the movement really really smooth. She said you could literally pull it out using just one finger, and she was not lying, it's that easy. We were a little fascinated by that as a fact. I gues that truely shows their attention to detail.

When I asked the sales lady the difference she deems between HH and Stickley, she replied that she thought they are pretty comparable, though HH has paid more attention to the fancy finishes, HH pieces go through more than 40 steps in the finishing process, which gives those pieces the special effects.

Stickley is so nice to provide electronic catalog in PDF files. I wish other manufacturers would care to do that. It could really save the customers some effects, you get most of the information like finish colors, sizes all with a few clicks without having to go the local store asking for someone's help. Definitely a plus for them on this!