Searching for furniture Mecca

When Jake and I were in Texas (yes, yes I remember I have to post pictures and I will I promise), we went to a store caleld Stacy Furniture in Grapevine. It was the ulitmate oasis for those on a furniture-seeking pilgrimage. Unfortunately they are unable to ship half way across the US, so woe is Jake and I. But it did get us thinking. In the 3+ years we've been together, we've only bought one major piece of furniture, our bed. All of our other furniture has been hand-me-downs, or compliments of the Goodwill (hey, money was tight). So we decided we would begin building our home again with all new, squeaky clean, know-who's-been-sitting-in-my-chair furniture. Well, reality decided to intervene and made us realize...we need EVERYTHING. New couch, new chairs, new entertainment "center", new guest bedroom furniture, new computer desk...you name it, we pretty much have it on our "need to get" list. Luckily, we are already awaiting our new dining set. The one we have currently is cute, don't get me wrong, but were growing out of it, and the kitties have decided the pads are purely for scratching purposes. So the foam padding in the chairs in now peeking out and it is time to say "Syonara" to our beloved retro inspired dinette set. Here is was we currently have (minus the flowers and tea set)


And this is what we're awaiting for arrival on Monday afternoon. (6 stools instead of 8)

I will be sure to take pictures of it when it arrives with it's entire set-up. I didn't really realize how tough it is to find furniture stores. The closest one we used to have was Levitz, but everyone knows they went belly up. There are some stores in San Francisco, but The City with all it's one-way streets and almost no street signs makes me nervous. So, Jake and I went trailblazing to Ashley Furniture in Concord and Brothers Furniture in San Rafael. The only thing I dont like is when the employee (or owner) follows you around like a proverbial shadow and tells you in broken English "oh...yeeeesss, set is sofa end luvsit 2 fo 1 offa" (In asian accent) At this point I'm thinking "OK, I can either leave now, or buy something. Either way, this person isn't going to stop talking to me." And you can't really get angry, because all they're really doing is trying to make a living. I can't begrudge anyone that...can I? Anyways, so the furniture hunt/saga continues. Ugh...