Art pottery from the era can be very organic and will really soften the geometry. I love the look of contemporary pottery with mission, but I'd keep the glazes matte.

The link below is to an art pottery site.

Could you use different chairs with the table? Or do some kid of light fabric slipcover on the chairs? Breaking up the set somehow would keep it from feeling too strictly misson. Perhaps you could use the buffet in an office or LR and do a white painted sideboard in the DR.

For you son's room, do as you wish. Your son's room doesn't need to be the same style as you DR.

Although Mari is our resident expert on the Arts & Crafts and Mission styles -- I can also recommend checking Amazon for books on the subject that might give you a few more ideas "outside the box"

Yes -- art pottery of many sorts -- "raku" is one of my favs. Also metalwork is another favorite -- perhaps handmade items of copper or iron might appeal -- perhaps sculpture?

Items of deep rich colors -- olives, rich reds, golden saffron, pale wheat might work too -- perhaps a tapestry?

Just some thoughts!!!!

*pthtbthphht* Teacats ;-) ;-) ;-)

If you really don't want to decorate in A&C style with Mission furniture, you most certainly don't have to! The Decorating Police are not going to descend upon your home and arrest you for violating some "law" that a couple of pieces of furniture trap you into a style you don't want to follow. Mission furniture goes quite well with many contemporary pieces, for example, as well as with primitives, not-too-spindly Shaker pieces, pretty much anything that continues that simplicity of shape. Some people like to mix in Asian things - some of the most prominent designers of the period were heavily influenced by Asian traditions, like Greene & Greene and Frank Lloyd Wright. Especially since it's natural cherry instead of something dark and "classic Mission" like fumed oak or mahogany (the Stickleys used quite a bit of mahogany) your furniture already has a less "conventional Arts & Crafts" look. Handwoven textiles or vintage embroidered linens (eBay and Touch of Europe has some great vintage stuff at pretty reasonable prices) are perfect for tablecloths/runners. Think about a faux-sisal carpet in wool or polypropylene, or to go in the other direction, a braided rug. LLBean has nice ones and a lifetime guarantee on their products. Although Betty is IMO on a good track with a suggestion of pottery, you are not restricted to period pieces - since you like primitives, putting a collection of primitive pottery jugs and pitchers on the buffet would be interesting and attractive, and still compatible with the furniture. It's undoubtedly a little bit of a cliche but I still have a fondness for a pottery jug or chunky vase filled with pussywillows! (Although I am totally over the whole curly willow fad. LOL) Actually, pretty much anything handcrafted would play nicely here - baskets, folk-art paintings, etc. Wrought iron would be very good for lighting to merge your liking for primitives with the Mission items, but you're not limited to A&C style things at all. Hubbardton Forge makes a lot of really neat iron lighting.

With the natural cherry furniture and painted trim, you may want to try lighter colors than you would with stained trim and dark oak/mahogany furniture. Sorry, I don't agree with Teacats' color recommendations, because IMO deep color does not work as well with light painted trim and light wood tones - too high contrast - and by the Twenties the Colonial Revival style was coming to dominate over A&C anyway. The strong, muddied A&C colors were being replaced with lighter, softer tones like soft green, slatey blues, pale peach/coral, and such, and white trim was actually coming to be the norm. Probably a revolt against the last few decades of dark stained trim! :-) (If you have a Finneran & Haley paint dealer around by chance, they have excellent pamphlets with paint chips for their Historical Colors lines. Don't go by the dealer locator on their site, call them, because I don't see the dealer nearest to me in their listing.) Many of the colors in Bradbury & Bradbury's Arts & Crafts II wallpaper frieze line are appropriate as well - their samples are pretty cheap and might work nicely for color-scheme inspiration.

Hope this helps some.

SOrry for the delay in responding...I couldn't seem to find my post!! Thank you for all of the suggestions. Very helpful.

Mari, I especially appreciate your thoughful, detailed reply. I know the "decorating police" are not gonna come after me; I was just looking for ideas that would work well with what I have, without being a slave to the look. Just by reading your response, I think I may have picked up on one of my problems--the wall color. My DH tends to like the darker, saturated colors, while I tend to like lighter ones. I am really drawn to greens and have been searching for the perfect olivey green, but haven't come up with it yet. I have simple wood roman shades on the windows and the room faces south, so it's very bright. That has made it very difficult to find the right paint color--the swatches always look so different at home. I don't have a Finneran & Haley dealer nearby, so I will give them a call to see about paint swatches.

So you think I should be good on whatever I mix in as long as I keep the lines more simple? I've always loved pottery and handmade items, so I'll keep an eye out for those things. I guess I need to check out the books on mission style at the library/bookstore as well.

My biggest problem is that my DH tends to be very opinionated about decorating, and when we don't agree, we tend to do nothing. After all this time, we still have blank walls, bare floors and empty tabletops. I have avoided knick-knacks because of small children and my lack of desire to dust around them. I just want to make some changes in my home to make it warm and inviting, and do it in a way that is pleasing to both of us.

You've given me much food for thought. Let me think about it for a while and I'll be back. :0)