This is the bench in my front bed. I'm amazed at the difference in the front garden. I took this pic early spring '06 before I started planting that bed. Now it's filling up. Here is an old church pew that is on my kitchen porch. Note the cat beds underneath and the cat in the rocking chair to the left. That cat is a feral cat that has adopted my porch and brings his children with him! My husband makes fun of this bench, that it is so small. I explained that the porch is only 4ft deep so this is what works. Of course he sits out there on that bench so it can't be that bad. Annette

There are several things to consider when deciding which table and chairs to buy : --oval, rectangular, round ( I have one of each, and prefer the rectangular) --trestle, pedestal, 4 legs (I have one of each, and prefer the trestle. Legs limit how many chairs go down the sides, and pedestals with leaves can be tippy if someone leans heavily on the end--my elderly grandfather slid the entire contents from the table onto the floor one Thanksgiving!) --width of the front of the chair (with my oval table with 4 legs, I can only have 8 chairs comfortably with three 12" leaves. 10 chairs fit, but not comfortably.) --do chairs have arms (only get them for the 2 ends of a rectangular or oval table, otherwise it's too hard for people to get in and out; be sure the arms will fit UNDER the table top. Mine don't, so I could only use 2 leaves in my 64" long table in my old 12' long dining room.) --slant of back of the chair (almost straight up & down barely works ok with 30" from table edge to wall; slanted needs 36" from table edge to wall) --how many leaves and their sizes --width and length of table before leaves are added --how many dishes of food to be served are usually on the table, and how many dishes are used at each place setting. (I had 22 people at 3 tables for a sit down pot luck at Thanksgiving, using both good and inexpensive china. I didn't want them clearing and stacking the dishes, since the last time I did that some pieces were chipped. This time I had them keep their finished soup bowls, salad plates, and dinner plates on the table. There were no serving dishes or center pieces on the tables. At Christmas I had lots of serving dishes in the center of the table. So think about how you are likely to entertain family and friends. I have found that a 42" wide ~5' long rectangular (with slightly rounded corners so no one gets hurt) trestle table with 3-12" leaves covers most of my needs best. Anne

Yes, you can mix and match chairs. However, we recommend you get the same style chair just in a different color. Here is an example from a design we did for a client:

Re the extra hole - don't bother. One is adequate. Plants don't care if it takes 6 minutes vs 60 seconds for a pot to drain. More holes affect only the speed with which the pot drains, not how fully it drains. IOW, if you have 1 hole in the pot bottom and a 4" perched water column at container capacity (the amount of water remaining in the pot at the point in time where a fully saturated medium has just stopped draining) and you add 5 or 10 more holes, you'll still have a 4" perched water column at container capacity, which = no return for the extra effort. The best place for a drainage hole is through the bottom AT the sidewall. That way, if needed, you can remove a lot of excess water by tipping the pot. The shaded area in the image below represents saturated soil. Compare B to A to see how much difference the simple act of tipping the pot to a 45 angle makes. Al