If yours is like most American households, the dining room is one of the first rooms people see when they walk into your house.  And like most families, yours might be using the dining room table as a catchall- dropping purses, schoolbooks and backpacks, keys and mail onto the table and then walking away to do the things they do when they get home for the day.  Don’t you ever get tired of having to clean up the table before you can serve a meal?  Or some families simply leave the mess and retreat to the living room for an informal TV meal- and we all know that you don’t get much family discussion done in front of the television.  While it may sound like too simple a solution, the answer could be simply buying a new dining room table that is both beautiful and built in such a way that it is no longer the ideal catchall.

The Northern Height Counter Height Table could just be the right one for your family, and with its higher- than- average height, it could be a decidedly less convenient plopping spot for all your family’s daily luggage items.  In addition to its unusual height, it is also built so beautifully that no one will want to clutter it up with junk.  The table top is finished in a lovely dark cherry stain color, while the rest of the table is black.  The rectangular table’s four legs are lathed in a circular spindle style, making it just a little elegant- but not over the top.  There are matching counter stools available in the collection for use with this table, and they are the perfect complement to the table.

This great table is made by Hillsdale Furniture, one of the most trusted manufacturers of quality home furnishings.

Beds wear out, that’s just the way it works.  You may love your old bed, but if it’s getting rickety and squeaky, if it creaks and groans every time you roll over, it’s time to invest in your sleep and buy a new bed.  Everyone has their own particular taste in bedroom furniture, and finding the right headboard and bed set can take a little looking around.  But when you finally find just the perfect one, you’ll look forward to crawling into bed in the evening for many years to come.  Make sure to choose a well made bed, such as a quality metal bed, and you won’t have to worry about buying a new one for a very long time.

The Kirkwell Bed features vertical slats in both the headboard and footboard, connected at the top by tiny individual arches and welded decorative metal castings.  Both headboard and footboard are dramatically arched at the top rails, and the headboard is slightly taller than the footboard.  Each of the bed’s four corners are decorated with slender metal bed posts topped with graceful pointed finials.  The bed has a traditional brushed bronze finish and is available in full, queen, and king sizes.  This bed’s traditional design makes it a lovely addition to any traditionally designed bedroom or guest room.

The Kirkwell Bed is manufactured by Hillsdale Furniture, maker of affordable bedroom furniture for any design and budget.  Whether you love a sturdy metal bed or prefer a more traditional wooden bed, Hillsdale has just the right one.

When you buy a new bed for your growing child, it’s easy to think in terms of only the next few years.  Honestly, your child is probably going to want a new bed in a few years when he or she becomes a teenager and needs more sleeping room than a twin sized bed can provide.  But instead of skimping on quality to save money on this “temporary” purchase, you child will thank you later if you choose an heirloom quality bed set that he or she can later pass down to your grandchild.  A good quality bed can be taken apart and stored, properly wrapped in plastic, in your garage or attic until the time when it is needed again.  A good bed will stand the test of time and still have plenty of life left in it when your child needs a bigger bed in a few years.

Take, for instance, the Frisco Kids Bed with Frame by Fashion Bed Group.  It is truly a kids bed, available only in twin size.  The four bed posts and much of the head and foot board frames are made of solid wood finished in a lovely maple color, and the wrought iron built into the frames between the bed posts is the traditional matte black wrought iron color.  Both headboard and footboard are very tall, making a dramatic statement.  This is a bed your child will be proud to pass down when the time comes.

The Frisco Bed is made by Fashion Bed Group.  They have many other heirloom quality metal beds and wooden beds to choose from, and each piece comes with their standard ten year warranty.

If you’re having problems trying to choose furniture for your breakfast nook, don’t feel bad.  That room can be very tricky to decorate.  A breakfast nook is supposed to be a light, airy place where the air moves freely and you feel as though you’re in a wide open space, even though you’re actually in the house.  Not just any dining set will do for this room.  It needs a special type of furniture that allows the air to move freely, and only sparely built furniture with as much open surface as possible will do the job.  A great selection is a set of upholstered metal chairs with open backs and a beautiful matching glass- top dining table that will allow light to pass through and add a feeling of spaciousness.

An excellent set to choose would be the Camelot Dining Set by Hillsdale Furniture.  The table has a glass top with a subtle greyish tint and is made of tempered glass for toughness and security.  The table top is set on top of beautiful, curving wrought iron legs finished in a shade that matches the set’s four chairs.  The chairs are made of wrought iron, and finished in the traditional matte black color.  The seats are padded and upholstered with a lovely eggshell colored fabric.  The semi- open chair backs are built with vertical metal slats for a simple yet elegant look.

The beautiful Camelot Dining Set is made by Hillsdale Furniture.  Hillsdale is one of the leading manufacturers of affordable bedroom furniture in addition to their wide selection of kitchen and dining room furniture.

Besides a bed, the one furniture item that every bedroom absolutely must have is a dresser or chest of drawers.  You need a place to store your clothes, and a handsome, low built dresser can do double duty as a makeup table or a dressing table.  To use it in this fashion, simply add a large mirror on the wall behind the dresser.  A well constructed dresser will stand up to many years of use and still be in good condition when you are ready for a change, so that you can repurpose it in another room of the house.

While the Banyan Dresser was designed and built to be the perfect companion piece to the Banyan Bed, its simple, clean lines make it an excellent choice for any modern bedroom.  Or if you are designing a bedroom in more contemporary style, this dresser is perfectly nondescript so that it will fit into any room design.  The large dresser has seven roomy drawers to provide lots of storage space.  It is beautifully finished in a dark espresso stain color and crafted of quality hardwood for lasting durability.  The nickel finished metal drawer pulls are stylish and decorative in addition to functional.  There is a matching mirror available as an optional addition.

The Banyan Dresser is part of Hillsdale Furniture’s Banyan Collection.  There is also a chest of drawers, a nightstand and a full bed set that would match the dresser beautifully if you prefer a tied- together look in your bedroom furniture.

There is a great new trend in interior design that has caught on and held on- the ‘shabby chic’ look is here to stay. This great look allows you to incorporate some of your favorite old furniture into a room design with some new pieces that are intentionally made to look old and worn- it’s called a distressed finish. A distressed finish is readily recognizable in paint that is cracked or chipped and then sanded off more toward the edges of the piece- sometimes to the point that no paint is left. As you may have noticed, that is the way that painted furniture tends to wear after years and years of use. In the past, such a piece may have been stripped of paint completely, sanded, and then repainted or stained. Today however, these aged looking pieces are highly prized for their distinctly worn- in look.

One such piece is the Wilshire Bedside Chest. This great piece has a very antique look with a pine top and a very distressed white finish on the rest of the wood. The bottom plates are scalloped for a country look and the feet are short and stout, carved in a circular pattern. The piece is 42 inches tall, perfect for use as a slightly taller than average bedside table. Some people prefer a slightly taller nightstand so that it’s not so easy to simply reach over while asleep and tip over a glass of water.

This lovely bedside chest is made by Hillsdale Furniture. They also have a wide range of beds to choose from that would look lovely next to this great bedside table.

With all the busy, intricate styles available in bedroom furniture, there is something to be said for a plain, simple bed.  The guest room is a great place to put one of these simple beds.  When you are designing your guest room, you should remember that the people who are going to be sleeping there are unlikely to have the same taste in bedroom furniture as you do.  Simple is better, because it’s more likely to be appealing to a larger number of people.  As far as years of durability go, it’s hard to beat a sturdy wooden bed.  A wooden sleigh bed is a step above that even, with a slightly country feels that gives coziness to the surroundings.

The Shelby Bed with Frame is a complete bed set with headboard, footboard, and bed frame.  All you need to add is your mattress and box springs.  A simple sleigh bed, it has a bead board decoration on the headboard and footboard that looks a little like fine paneling.  The bed is finished in a deep mahogany stain color that is both casual and versatile, suitable for being worked into the design plan of your guest room no matter what that might be.

The Shelby Bed with Frame is made by Fashion Bed Group, a company that specializes in beds.  Whether you’re looking for a metal bed, a wooden bed, or a whole set of kids bedroom furniture, Fashion Bed Group has just the right one, and they all come with a ten year warranty.

Some people like to design their bedrooms one perfect piece of furniture at a time.  They find a lovely headboard at a furniture store, a great nightstand at a thrift shop, a beautiful mirror at the mall, and inherit a dresser from a grandparent.  They compile each piece of furniture according to what they like, using a little luck and a lot of patience.  Others, however, do not have the time or the patience to build the perfect bedroom set.  They need a good, matching bedroom set so that all the picking and choosing work is done for them.  The Prairie Bedroom Set with Dresser is just such a set.

The Prairie Bedroom Set with Dresser features a queen size bed with a lovely triple arched headboard with two parallel carved edges.  The set also includes a nightstand with two drawers and a beautiful, roomy eight drawer dresser.  This is one of the largest dressers available in the South Shore Furniture bedroom set line.  Every drawer in the set is adorned with lovely and functional antiqued silver toned drawer pulls.  With the pieces included in this set, you’ll have everything you need to get started with a bedroom transformation, but there are other pieces in the Prairie line to complete the full bedroom look.

The Prairie Bedroom Set is just one part of a complete line of furniture from South Shore Furniture.  South Shore Furniture offers kids bedroom sets, master bedroom sets, and affordable bedroom furniture for everyone in the house.

Just when you thought you had everything you needed for your little one, he or she went and grew up.  The set you had was lovely- a cute little toddler bed, a matching dresser with a built in changing table surface, and even a little bookcase to house all the favorite bedtime books.  While it worked very well for a few years, things change- and kids are certainly no exception.  Now you find yourself shopping all over again for a bedroom set that will fit your child or children who have outgrown the toddler furniture.  A great answer to this situation for a boy’s or girl’s bedroom is the Little Treasures Bookcase Bedroom Set with Dresser- a lovely set of kids bedroom furniture.

The Little Treasures Bookcase Bedroom Set with Dresser is a lovely set that includes everything you need to get started redecorating your growing child’s bedroom.  It includes a storage bed for lots of under bed storage, a dresser with six roomy drawers, a nightstand with one drawer and an open area underneath for toys or books, and a bookcase headboard for even more storage.  The entire set has a lovely pine finish and is well constructed for lasting durability.

This cute little set of kids bedroom furniture is built for both boys and girls by South Shore Furniture.  South Shore builds many different types of kids bedroom furniture in addition to affordable beds and sets for adults, and every piece of furniture is made to stand up to years of use.

Sleigh beds are a traditional favorite type of bed.  The gently outward sloping top portion of sleigh beds is both elegant and romantic- just the kind of bedroom furniture one would expect to find in a comfy country cottage or maybe a ski resort.  A new twist on this cozy favorite is the metal bed made in sleigh fashion.  These beds are lighter in weight so they are cheaper to ship, easier to set up, and tend to last every bit as long as their wooden counterparts.  A metal sleigh bed can be just the answer if you are torn between the two styles- it’s the best of both worlds.

The Charleston Bed is a great example of this type of happy medium styling.  It is an iron bed with outward curving design on both the headboard and footboard.  The lovely ball accents throughout add a soft touch to the gold colored tubing used for the bed construction.  The bed set is available in full, queen and king sizes and includes the headboard, footboard and the bed frame, so you only need to add a mattress and box spring.  This lovely bed will be the focal point of your comfortable bedroom and will invite you into a cozy night of sleep for years to come.

The lovely Charleston Bed is made by Hillsdale Furniture, one of the world’s best bed manufacturers.  Whether you’re looking for a metal bed, an iron bed, a sleigh bed, or any combination of the available materials, Hillsdale probably has the exact bed you’re looking for.

It’s hard to deny the appeal of a four poster bed in an elegant bedroom setting.  With this piece of master bedroom furniture, you can transform your plain old bedroom into an oasis on par with a four star retreat.  To make the transformation, replace your old bed and headboard set with a four poster bed, add semi- sheer curtains to all four sides of the bed, and add a luxurious set of high thread count bedding with lots of accent pillows and extras.  Add a matching pair of nightstands, a matching dresser with a large mirror and a cozy, foot friendly rug.  A few wisely chosen pieces of artwork for the walls, a potted tree, and curtains for the windows that match the curtains on the bed would complete the look.  For the bookworm with an extra corner, you can create a little reading nook in your relaxing bedroom.  Just add a side table (or a third nightstand like the ones by the bed), place a lamp on the table, choose a comfortable chair with a footrest, and place a small bookcase next to the wall, and you have a cozy reading spot.

The Wilshire Four Poster Bed would be the perfect bed for the relaxing bedroom design above.  Made of solid hardwoods in a dark cappuccino finish, this bed has clean, straight lines and is simple yet beautiful.  The four posts are joined to create a rectangular frame above the bed, perfect for hanging a few sets of semi- sheer tab top curtains in a semi- sheer neutral color.  The Wilshire Post Bed is available in queen or king sizes and since it is a variation on the modern platform bed, it requires no box spring under the mattress.

The Wilshire Four Poster Bed is made by Lifestyle Solutions Furniture a company that truly understands modern bedroom design.  This knowledge is apparent in their large selection of modern platform beds, contemporary bedroom furniture and kids bedroom furniture at very affordable prices.

Bar stools and counter stools are some of the most overlooked pieces of furniture, simply because furniture shoppers and do-it-yourself home decorators aren’t aware of just how many different styles are available.  Those who have kitchen bars or entertainment room bars in their homes often choose bar stools for those locations based only on easy availability and price.  They see cheap barstools in whatever general store they happen to be shopping in and pick up a few.  That is one good way to end up with plain barstools or counter stools of inferior quality, mass- produced to the point that you can find an identical piece in just about any house.

A much better idea is to do a quick search on the internet for a little company called Pastel Furniture.  They have a huge selection of barstools and counter stools that are built much more durably than the mass produced stools available in general stores.  Just as important, these stools are not available in just any store, so it’s unlikely that you’ll meet anyone with an identical set of barstools to the set you have in your own home.  You can express your style and originality by choosing a quality set of counter stools or bar stools that speak to you- a set you are in love with at first sight.

Pastel Furniture carries bar stools and counter stools made of wood, wrought iron, and other materials finished in just about every color choice there is.  Styles vary from the simple to the elaborate, and the selection is designed to cover any possibility in room design.  Each barstool and counter stool seat is padded and upholstered in a fabric color that is complimentary to the frame.  And the entire line of stools is built to last for many years- unlike the inexpensive stools you can find just about anywhere.