Ending the Day on a Better Note...

We have ordered new dining room furniture, and bought and picked up patio furniture (part 1)! Though this has been a day of questionable customer service, ultimately, we have had success, and while it'll likely be a couple weeks before the dining room pieces arrive, that's actually better because by then, hopefully, we'll have new floors to put them on! So... here's what we selected:

(this table, from the Napa Collection at World Market)

(this bench, also from the WM Napa Collection)

(and four of these, Sophia dining chairs, in red leather, also WM)

Our next stop was Target, where we selected a table and chair set for the balcony. We had some particular needs to be met by our balcony furniture. We did a lot of research and really liked the affordability and look of this season's options at Target. As I mentioned, this is balcony furniture part 1 only - we're still looking for some other pieces, but part 1 had to be the dining/seating situation. But I digress... We needed taller pieces, because of the height of our balcony rail, which has a wide panel at the top that basically rests at eye level (i.e., blocking the view) when you're seated in an average height chair. And whatever we purchased needed to be on the smaller end of the patio furniture options, because while it is long, our balcony is not especially wide. Scale, people! We had to get the scale right. So, here's what we ended up with (after a wild goose chase that sent us to three separate Targets, including, finally, Evanston):

(Casetta 3-piece Bistro, from Target)

 Now we just need it to get a little warmer...