Some of the things are improving a little now that I have been away from the home for a while. It is amazing how much "family stress" can aggrivate conditions. They are still there but some of the stress factors are gone. Arbitration (binding) was yest morning. Now I just have to wait to see what division decisions he makes. Hate knowing I will leave behind the plants that gave me all that harvest since they haven't been cared for and I have been told some were mowed over so they probably won't survive. Ah but I shall do as I did for it....plant what people give me and manage it organically. It will take a long time before the clay soil provides as did the sandy loam I fortified with the compost down here. Putting down new beds in clay soil or for that fact even trying to break clay soil to drop in a seed will be so different from before. But for bird feeding I can plant sunflowers and that will save on bird seed money. Then just rotate what I plant each year until I can no longer get outside. I still will utilize body saving practices as: pipe for planting sticks (pruned or windfall limbs) as walking sticks buckets to sit on crawling (dragging along the walking stick for getting up) making sure plants are zone hardy make sure plants are soil & companion amlicable rely on birds for bug patrol I will (hopefully) have more space in which to garden now but recognize the percentage of land available & garden size I make it has to conform to my ability to handle the clay. Much more back breaking than what I started with before.

I am considering buying a sofa that is manufactured by Younger furniture in North Carolina and is retailed at Halpern's furniture in New Orleans. Halpern's told me that Younger manufactures all the upholstered pieces they sell. It is an independent store that has been around for several decades and has a good reputation. Here are the specs from the manufacturer's site: Frame - Kiln dried oak (or ash or maple) frame, corners blocked, double doweled and glued. Joint breakers added. Seat cushions - 5.5" High Resiliency foam with minimum 2.0 density, wrapped in denier polyester fiber encased in non-woven ticking Back cushions - silicone impregnated polyester fiber, inner casing is channeled, encased in non-woven cover Springs - Sinuous s curve I was told the fabric is a polyester cotton blend and it is a velvet. It has a very luxe and rich look, and the color is a gorgeous blue/gray/green that the salesman called "Silver Sage" (and indeed it looks very much like a slightly darker version of Rest. Hardware's Silver Sage). I was given a sample of the fabric to bring home. It is not a very thick fabric, but it seems to be very tightly woven. I have tried to pull on it to see if I could tear it, but it doesn't seem like that's possible. I have tried scratching it with my nails and the back of a pen, but the scratches came out by brushing the nap with my hand or a comb. I tried staining it with some ketchup but some warm water on a wash rag lifted the stain out. It is not exceedingly plush, but I am wondering if that will help prevent it from eventually becoming matted. I really have no idea if velvet is a good upholstery fabric, but I do know it looks quite lovely. I tried pushing on the arms to see if they would flex, but they did not budge. The seams all look tight and there do not appear to be any sagging spots on the cover. I lifted up the couch from the bottom and it seemed quite solid. So, does this sound like a decent couch? The best part is that it usually retails for $900, but this was a floor sample clearance and it is only $499. I am almost leery since it's so inexpensive. Another concern is that the back cushions can be removed. My last "Ashley" couch had those type of back cushions and it was a disaster. However, I looked inside the Ashley cushions and see they are only filled with that loose white sutff that looks like torn cotton balls. There is absolutely no structure to it at all. It always looks like someone has just slept on it. This back cushions on the new couch felt much more substanital. The fill material was encased in some type of pillowcase and there was channel stitching. Also, there were 2 seams with piping along the edges with a gusset(?) in between that looked like it would help maintain the shape of the cushion. So does this sound like a good couch? Although I love blue/gray/green and it definitely goes with my color scheme, I never considered a couch of this color. Kind of worried about how it will look. Here is a link to a picture of the same style sofa with a different fabric from the Younger website: http://www.youngerfurniture.com/475%20copy.jpg Sorry for the novel, but I really want to make a good choice and spend my money wisely after the last couch debacle from Ashley!

Now keep in mind that I am brain storming your space as if it were mine. So take all below with patience as I expand on what I already mentioned above. I would love to see a beautiful rectangle table by your DBIL, that can be extended or made into a simple square for just the family. That top could be anything, of course I'd vote for a walnut slab (live edge?), or other slab from locally sourced lumber. Sophisticated, or funky, or rustic. Regarding the backs of the seating, I was thinking something more solid like the seating cushion/mattress, also used up against the wall, then have pillows propped up against the mattress for better depth sitting. These would be thinner and narrower of course. Then these cot sized backs could be taken off and put on the floor for a cot sized sleeping surface for overnight guests. You have potential sleeping for 4, if you use the last 2 pictures you've posted as your examples. If I did it that way, I would want the back of the benches to have a wood upright back to rest the cot sized mattresses on so I wouldn't be rubbing the wall with the mattresses or pillows. I might put a piano hinge on the wood upright so I could fold it down when moving the platform to reconfigure the space if needed. These platforms could mortise and tenon into the supporting blocks so they don't wiggle off. Or some sort of lag bolt system. If you used mattresses, I don't now if you'd need webbing; I think a wood platform would be ok.

We have a commercial grade carpet in our home office. The first carpet lasted about 11-12 years. The carpet itself was still in good condition; however it kept buckling because we initially put pad under it and the constant rolling of the chairs created problems. We always used chair mats, but it was still enough rolling to cause movement. We'd had it re-stretched several times till the carpet installer finally said "last time". The new carpet is also commercial grade but without a pad & glued down. It's held up well thus far. There are some very pretty Durkan patterns. Do you have a certain one picked out?