Recommend a chess set

I want to buy a new board and pieces.

I'm willing to pay up to 200 for the pieces and up to 150 for the board, although less would be great in both cases.
I've been looking at the usual places but am getting very confused.

Any recommendations?

I was hoping I'd get real ebony for that price but that dosesn't seem to be the case.

I like a classic look and a king size of 3 3/4 and a board with 2 1/4 squares, although I'm definitely open to other ideas. Also, do they have satin pieces? If not it's no biggie.

In either case I'm ready to buy and would love to get some recommendations.

Thanks

http://bit.ly/13y52aG

You may not have read my entire post but I was looking for a recommendation on chess sets not asking how to find them. Further, I was hoping I could find something within my price with ebony pieces. Thanks anyway.

The cheap plastic small hollow ones from KMart with the red and black checkered cardboard that folds in half are pretty cool. Maybe 4.95 or so. Plus tax, of course. Pretty good deal....... 

I have HOS Grandmaster Chessmen (the old version). I like them in terms of design and proportion, and they are very well made too. However, they may not fit your criteria. They do not have the ebony version and cost under $100. Also, I heard that the new version is not as good as the old one. It has something to do with HOS switching suppliers or something like that.

Thechessstore.com has numerous sets you should take a look at. You can buy the pieces, and board separately also, or you can buy a whole set. Numerous options. Good luck.

I bought this one recently. The lacquered version. You can see my review here also. If it's not nice enough they sell similar sets that are larger and/or more expensive. It's a starting point for you anyway.     http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000IBHEZA/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Why not? I like they way they look. I have plastic sets for casual play. I have wooden sets which I play on also. I've seen more expensive art that is less stimulating to the imagination. I also dust them sometimes. 

Let it out of the showcase once in a while .

http://www.crumiller.com/chess/chess_pages/staunton/Jaques50thSetDetail.htm

This is my normal tournament set: http://www.houseofstaunton.com/the-reykjavik-ii-series-chess-set-3-75-king.html

I use this plastic set for blitz and rapid: http://www.houseofstaunton.com/chess-pieces/plastic-chess-pieces/the-collector-series-plastic-chessmen-3-75-king.html

I am kind of a collector, I would be a bigger collector except my wife thinks we have too many sets already and they take up a lot of space. But if I was single, I would probably have thousands of dollars tied up in expensive chess sets all over the house. 

Got a bunch of those.
As per my description it is not what I'm looking for. . . "a good deal" that is.

I'm not buying a chess set so I can play better. Where did I say that? I'm buying it because I want a nice wood board with nice wood pieces.
Why is this so hard to understand?
Is it some sort of a priority that a chess set must be cheap or else you will never learn to play properly?
I want to put a nice set in my living room where my friends and I can play and I want to leave it out.
NOT take it to a club.
Which is exactly why I want a nice set, will leave it out and will use it a lot.

I know. It was kind of a joke. Somewhat. Maybe. Kind of, sort of. Anyway, as you can tell there are some cool sites with a lot to choose from. I've found that even when playing with really nice pieces in SLOW tournament games there are those players that STILL don't know how to treat them. Now, I won't mention any names (but they certainly KNOW WHO THEY ARE) and they can get chipped and worse. You get the idea. I've seen GMs happy with $10 plastic, beat up, grungy lookin' pieces. But get you a nice set, they're cool to have actually, just be careful who let touch em'. 

As I said my intent is  N O T  to take the set to a tournament. It is exclusively for my livinroom.

I'm very picky about chess sets, so I understand you wanting some recommendations. If I'm going to be pounding down 200 bucks on a set, I want to make sure I like the look of it, especially if its purpose is largely ornamental. For me, its about the bishop and the knight. I prefer slender pieces, and don't want an overly sized knight. The Reykajik set is ruled out for me because I'm not a fan of the bishop which is a little chunky. Price aside, this is the sort of style I like: http://www.houseofstaunton.com/the-collector-series-luxury-chess-set-4-4-king.html

There are handsome display sets but not at your price.

You're going to hate this recommendation but check out Ebay.  I scored a 4.5 ebony/boxwood Official Staunton (not HOS) set that originally went for $600 plus a padded individual compartment case for all of $150 plus shipping.  There aren't many deals like that, but they are out there.  Use "staunton " or "House of Staunton" as filters to weed out all the goofy theme sets.  It will at least give you a better feel for the market.

I went with rosewood for the Black pieces. House of Staunton claims their ebonized boxwood is high quality. I recall spending a year or two waffling among the several versions after deciding on the Reykjavik II set. My wife bought the board for me after I bought the pieces. The board was made in Spain, and is no longer available from the USCF (it was ~$65, the pieces $165). I like the inlaid border around the edges of the squares.

Last summer, in the Spokane City Championship, my opponent and I agreed to my pieces and his board, which has slightly larger squares than my board. See https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=210794085714884

You can see the set and wooden board in the background behind the book: 

I don't know any serious chess player that doesnt own several chess sets , some have dozens !  I have one for tournaments ( and a back up ) , a different one I use for blitz and my nicest set never leaves the house . I only use it for casual games or sometimes when analyzing games/positions . 

Post #10 brings up a question and hopefully some active uscf TDs will see the question and answer it for me. My wife recently had a tourney game in which her opponent ( who was assigned black against her ) supplied chess pieces that were red and white , as in post #10 .  She didnt want to play with red pieces and I told her I don't think she has to so she askd her opponent if they could use her set and he agreed .  Could she have been forced to accept the red and white pieces ?  I don't think so but am not certain.