Huntsville needs.. (house, to buy, homeschooling)

[Maledictorian]

Huntsville needs an Ikea store.

I'm totally lost without decent furniture and I really don't feel like driving to Atlanta for a coffee table.

[Charles]

Trader Joes
Southwest Airlines
More ethnic restaurants
Fry's Electronics

We've sort of worked it here:

What retail would you bring to Huntsville

[friday13]

Originally Posted by Maledictorian

Huntsville needs an Ikea store.

I'm totally lost without decent furniture and I really don't feel like driving to Atlanta for a coffee table.

who needs IKEA?
Couple Sued over "Ugly" IKEA Kitchen - CBS News

Seriously now, try 2Danes on University (and Sparkman) -maybe you get lucky and find something 50% off (they have a website too)

[Maledictorian]

Yikes. What's 2Danes?

I'm not looking for cheap necessarily, I'm looking for something that doesn't look like my Aunt Ester designed it which seems to be de rigueur here.

I guess I should count my blessings, we do have a Pottery Barn after all.

[tammie2]

Order online!! Keeping in mind that most of the Ikea furniture is made in China, free chemicals included.

I just finished ordering Crate and Barrel rockers online, best experience I ever had!! I was able to take the fabric swatch and run it through the full gambit, I poured liquids on it, dropped food, scratched it with the cat's claws(the cats were NOT happy), rubbed it across the dog's fur-everything that they might have to endure in my home at some point. I saw how it cleaned up and held up, putting it through several years worth of abuse in a week. They were delivered last week and they are PERFECT!! The couch has been ordered now(we are backwards, can't help it ) I was able to order american made furniture from an american company with eco friendly materials(I am not a fan of the free chemicals-as enticing as something free may sound)-something I couldn't get locally....and it cost me $65 for delivery, very worth not trekking out to Atlanta.

[Charles]

Originally Posted by Maledictorian

I'm looking for something that doesn't look like my Aunt Ester designed it which seems to be de rigueur here.

I've noticed that too. Go to Vallemls and click on a few random homes. It seems the furniture is not modern, like aunt Ester designed it for her tea parties.

From my post

http://www.city-data.com/forum/3869627-post43.html

The biggest problems we're having is the layout of the homes as we've seen them on the internet (we haven't been in any yet). It seems every home we've seen has all sorts of useless or redundant rooms:

Sitting room in the master bedroom. Who ever uses one of these?

Formal Dining Room: I'd bet 90% of people use a FDR no more than five days per year. Another wasted room. Unfortuneately it's almost impossible to buy a home without a formal dining room. Probably the result of market research based on peoples perceptions of what they want. Just got to have a formal dining room to put in your fine china cabinet. People have these visions of entertaining when they buy a home (that's why just about every listed house description you read has something like "entertain your guests" or "great for entertaining".)

Second master bedroom. Ya right, like one out of a thousand people needs one of these.

Keeping room. What is a keeping room? Another wasted room to put furniture that no one ever sits on. Some people even cover this furniture with plastic.

Formal Living Room (when there is a great room). See above about a room full of expensive furniture with fancy pillows on it and other things grandma likes to look at but never use. Even if you don't play one, you could stick a grand piano in there just for looks.

Upstairs family room (when there is already a downstairs family room). Another wasted room. How many family rooms does someone need?

Parlor, In 2008?

Does anyone really ever sit in here? I can just hear: "Don't touch.", "Don't touch.", "Don't touch."

This image has been resized. Click this bar to view the full image. The original image is sized 1484x964.http://www.ncentral.com/%7Etowers/images/LivingRoom.jpg (broken link)
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This would be OK if I could rest my feet on the table and I could I eat and surf the net at the same time. Where do I throw my pizza boxes and crusts in here? Oh, notice they covered the $5000 wood flooring with a $200 rug.

(image not protected by copyright)

[ghett61]

Hey that is my house

[zenjenn]

Formal Dining Room: I'd bet 90% of people use a FDR no more than five days per year. Another wasted room

Our house has a formal dining room. We have it furnished with rustic pine furniture. We use that room every day for homework (now homeschooling), as well as our go-to area for family crafts and games. For holidays, formal occasions, and guests, we eat there. (If we need it more formal, that's what nice tablecloths are for!) Even for casual occasions - if we have another family or two over we can put the kids at the kitchen table, while the adults dine in the formal dining area.

I also have a formal "sitting room" that I have put my computer desk and piano in, so it too gets daily use!

I agree many homes have these "formal" rooms wasted, but with the right furnishings and attitude those rooms can be very functional.

Charles, I hope you'll keep posting in the HSV forum after you are all back in CA.

[tammie2]

Originally Posted by Charles

From my post

http://www.city-data.com/forum/3869627-post43.html

The biggest problems we're having is the layout of the homes as we've seen them on the internet (we haven't been in any yet). It seems every home we've seen has all sorts of useless or redundant rooms:

Formal Dining Room: I'd bet 90% of people use a FDR no more than five days per year. Another wasted room. Unfortuneately it's almost impossible to buy a home without a formal dining room. Probably the result of market research based on peoples perceptions of what they want. Just got to have a formal dining room to put in your fine china cabinet. People have these visions of entertaining when they buy a home (that's why just about every listed house description you read has something like "entertain your guests" or "great for entertaining".)

Formal Living Room (when there is a great room). See above about a room full of expensive furniture with fancy pillows on it and other things grandma likes to look at but never use. Even if you don't play one, you could stick a grand piano in there just for looks.
Does anyone really ever sit in here? I can just hear: "Don't touch.", "Don't touch.", "Don't touch."

No one says you need to use the rooms as stated!!

Our formal LR is a library, our formal DR is our dining room, and our dinky eat in kitchen is my computer space, the 4th bedroom is the kids playroom, the door can be shut if company is coming. When we had overnight company it became the kids room so their rooms could be guest rooms-for once a year it works.

We aren't a formal entertaining type of family, I have met very few engineering families that were. We definitely don't like the "don't touch" type of environment, chances are someday someone will touch and I will be in tears, so if it can't be touched it is high enough to prevent curious fingers from getting ahold of it.

Be creative and you can work with all the unworkable rooms.

[NicoleC]

Originally Posted by tammie2

Order online!! Keeping in mind that most of the Ikea furniture is made in China, free chemicals included.

Most IKEA products are made in Italy and Poland, with less than 1/3 made in Asia. And they are made to EU air quality and manufacturing standards which are far stricter than those in the US -- no formadehyde and everything is low- or no-VOC.

Not everything Crate & Barrel is made in the US; they source furniture world-wide.