As reported in this post, during a sprucing up phase, I painted my island a mossy green color. It didn't occur to me at the time that the green stools I had might not work well with this new color. When we moved in a decade ago, I cut corners with these stools. I didn't want to spend a fortune, bought plain pine stools from Target, and had them painted and repainted and repainted so they looked layered and worn and slightly more interesting than plain pine stools from Target. They did the trick. They have been knocked over and spilled on, and I never batted an eye. (FYI: Normally, I would bat an eye over knocked over and spilled on.) 

With the recent updates in my kitchen and family room, the Target stools weren't quite cutting it. 

I decided not to share this little tidbit about ordering new stools with my husband. I have learned from experience that if he doesn't know about the new until it arrives, it sometimes works out for the best. No waiting, no anticipation, just new stools one day. I can assure you that asking for new stools wouldn't have worked out well. His response would have been one of the following:

1. We already have stools. 

2. What's wrong with the stools we have?

3. Why did you paint the island green in the first place?

Today is the day of new stools!

Here are the old Target stools... LOL

I showed this photo of Dan Carithers' kitchen to my designer, Richard White, and begged, "find these stools!" 

They are pretty darn close! We picked out a darker french finish, a charming check, and ordered.

Apparently I'm obsessed with check fabrics because I have no less than three of them in my family room/kitchen! I do love the check on the stools...

And the husband liked them just fine. They are so much better looking, more comfortable, and he didn't bat an eye... No more knocking over or spilling going on in this kitchen!