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After three days of looking at every furniture shop on Golf Road from Meacham Road to Barrington Road, we finally picked out our living room and dining room furniture. For the living room, we bought four pieces from the Hudson collection at Bassett. We originally saw the sectional pieces and the chair, with the color and design catching our eye as we walked around the showroom. Then we saw the separate sofa across the aisle and thought that it would be a great fit for our living room.

We went to a few other stores after first visiting Bassett, only to return today and make the purchase. We bought the sofa, the loveseat, the storage ottoman and the bench. The storage ottoman and the bench were purchased instead of your standard coffee table and side tables. Because of their design, the storage ottoman and bench can both double as tables and seats. The storage ottoman opens to hold pillows, blankets and other things.

For the dining room, we were almost set to buy the Scarsdale 9-piece set from Wickes. It’s a beautiful set, but on our second visit to Wickes, we noticed something for the first time: a silver piping running under the edges of the table, chairs and china cabinet. It is a small detail, but one that we did not feel would fit with our vision for the two rooms. It was back to Harlem room place, which we almost overlooked this weekend.

When we visited Harlem earlier today, we only saw two dining room sets that we liked. Most were overly ornate or were glass top tables. We were avoiding glass table tops because they apparently don’t mix well with children. The two sets that we saw were the Malibu and the Manhattan sets, both 9-piece. We ended up choosing the Malibu set because of teh interesting table top design and open back chairs. We did not want the leather of the Manhattan chairs to clash with the leather from the living room.

The Malibu dining table comes with two leaves, allowing us to turn a compact table into a large one. The table comes apart with a quick tug, and the top glides open on ball bearing slides much like a drawer. The leaves are stored just under the table top by placing them on cross beams just above the base. All of this can be done by one person. It’s great! To make sure we can use all of the extended table real estate, we opted to purchase the 11-piece set, which includes two more side chairs than the 9-piece set. We will once again be able to seat eight at our dining room table.

In the weeks ahead, we will be picking colors for our living room and dining room. After Super Bowl weekend, we will paint the room, redo the base boards, and possibly add crown molding. For those of you who were offering to help us get a dining room set, how about you help us paint. If painting isn’t your forté, perhaps you can help us clear out the living room and dining room before we paint. We can use all the help we can get.