We Need a New Sofa, please help

[moremoremore]

HA! I just went through this...I obsessed. Was easier to find a car. Ordered a sofa and two chairs today!

Flexsteel is very good I hear. I have an old Clayton Marcus that is really holding up.

For the new for our new house, I went all over and to name a FEW, to Restoration Hardware (crap)....Went to Bassett (crap)...Didn't think much of Ethan Allen or Lazy Boy. Thomasville makes a good product but didn't love the styles. I think that there is nothing wrong with Macys stuff per se but I can't imagine it being the quality you can get with other brands. Ashley was not only ugly and boring but also crappy.

I found that Lee Industries was the way to go. It was a toss up between a Vanguard or Lee. I picked Lee because of style. I got an awesome price from Alan Ferguson in NC...I called them after reading up online and finding what I wanted locally. I don't know if they even have a real store LOL...

Lee has an awesome new color that looks like a velvet without the nap and is really tough. It's a gray/beige called Flanders Beige. I went with a Vanguard fabric on the chairs which will be COM so that made it a little more expensive.


Oh, I also wanted to mention Mitchell Gold. To be honest, the Fletcher Sofa was my first choice, but it was almost 4 grand for a base fabric. So that, with two chairs, tax and shipping was too much.

 

[moremoremore]

Oh, Broyhill also makes a good sofa at a very good price. Only problem for me was styling but maybe you'll find something in your taste!

 

[pennquaker09]

Skippy, you picked a good time to go sofa shopping because I know that Thomasville is about to have their annual Presidents Day sale. It''s their main sale of the year and I think some others are going to have PD sales also.

I''ve been looking myself, and if I see something really good, I''ll let you know.

 

[blushingbride]

Date: 2/8/2008 6:24:20 PM
Author: Mara
we got ours 4 years ago from Macys and it''s held up very well considering portia practically lives on it hehe. it was one of those chaise lounge on each end with a loveseat in the middle microsuede ones in a dark taupe. we still love it, it''s very comfy, stays pretty clean (wipe down with water and towel) and cushions still have a lot of life in them. and we watch a lot of TV so it''s not like we don''t use it. and it''s great for naps. we''ve had great luck with macy''s furniture in the past as well. our new leather chair is from them as well.

other than that, we used to have a breuners here that had great furniture. i know that a lot of people really like thomasville as well. i''d also check out C&B but they can be really pricey for what seems like okay quality, and same with PB. i''d try to go to a large dept store like a macys or a straight furniture store to see what deals and quality can be had.

Wow - Mary - I was just reading this post and DH and I just bought the same couch you guys have! Too funny. Is yours a sleeper too? That was most important to us. Ours is chocolate brown. Macy''s does have great stuff!!

 

[Dogmom]

Skippy, I swear by Ethan Allen. You definitely get what you pay for, and they also offer a complimentary design service. You can upgrade the pad used in the seat cushion, and that helps them keep their shape if you go with a firmer cushion. I believe you can also order a replacement down the line, if needed.

My ex and I had several pieces that we loved that held up very well with daily use. I lucked out and found a floor sample at an outrageous price for my own place and I still enjoy it t several years later. I got a recliner last Fall off the floor that is beautiful and very comfortable. I love it! EA is pricey, but well worth it.

Good luck and have fun shopping!

 

[sugarplum]

skippy, did you find a new sofa yet? isn''t shopping for furniture more difficult than you''d think it''d be??

 

[Skippy123]

Date: 3/20/2008 12:46:38 PM
Author: sugarplum
skippy, did you find a new sofa yet? isn''t shopping for furniture more difficult than you''d think it''d be??

Thanks everyone for the suggestions!!!!

Sugarplum, hubby has been out of town so we haven''t looked; we looked before our trip to europe so we need to go see these sofas suggested by PS''ers. I made a list of everyones suggestions, thanks for asking. hehe I do think it is tough, like mattress shopping, hated that!

 

[sugarplum]

good luck skippy and let us know how it goes. i''m in the market for some new furniture too and although it''s fun shopping for it, it can also get frustrating trying to find something that fits all our criteria!

 

[rainydaze]

hi skippy - this probably comes too late but we just purchased three sofas all within the past year so i had a couple of thoughts....

the sofa is by flexsteel and we have had it for a little over a year now. still holding up like new, and it is used daily by adults and little jumpin'' kiddos.

the second is a sectional is by palliser and it is leather. love the leather - very easy to keep clean with kids. we have had it a little over a year and it is SOOOO comfortable. the backrest cushions need some fluffing now and then. i don''t know much about the construction as i didn''t research the company the way i normally do, but it is serving its purpose well thus far.

the third is another sectional that was recently purchased from a local furniture company (winchendon furniture). it is by sherill. it has the eight-way hand tied thing going on, and the screwed, glued and nailed joints..... which from my understanding is what to look for when looking for a high-end piece that will hold up for a long, long time. also very comfortable and appears well made from the outside as well. nothing sloppy about it.

during my shopping, i was set to buy a couple of pieces from ethan allen, but after doing a search on them online i discovered many negative reviews, as well as many complaints filed with a consumer bureau. over and over i found very similar complaints with the construction of the furniture and very poor customer service, with many people''s issues being blown off by ethan allen. the complaints spanned over several years - 2003 to present day - and the volume and consistency of them gave me great pause. this really bums me out because i love their style. i am still undecided if i will take a chance on them - i am really hoping to find something i like as much elsewhere.

good luck in your search, if you haven''t already found something!

 

[miraclesrule]

It''s important to test the sofa too. Get up and down, and up and down, and have the kids jump on it for 10 mnutes or so.

I made a modest investment in a sofa with a comfy oversized (almost like a loveseat) chair. Although sitting on the chair was great, especially sideways with your knees over the arm and your head on the other arm, the couch totally sucked.

The cushions would move out from the back of the frame and I would have to keep pushing them back in. It was the most annoying thing. You also couldn''t turn the cushions over and that bugged me so I gave them to my brother.

Restoration Hardware sells magic leather sofas!! I swear it''s magic. I bought what I consider to be an expensive leather sofa from them and one night one of my girlfriends and I were getting ready to watch a video. She was drinking Shiraz (very red wine) and me with my white. As I went for the remote, she went for her glass of Shiraz and somehow the full glass of red wine spilled onto the arm and side of my $3500 sofa.

My daughter still says I would have gone ballastic if it were her instead of my friend, but that is because she let the cat in and he clawed it slightly...but I digress.

Anyway, I was very cool and went to get some paper towels to clean the off-white carpet and my friend was mortified. She kept saying how sorry she was and I kept saying "it''s okay, it''s not your fault, I can just put it in the living room up against a wall" but I was dying inside. As we were going back and forth for paper towels for the carpet, we noticed the large wet spots on the arms and side of the sofa were disappearing... Seriously disappearing...like Harry Potter stuff!! We both just watched it disappear as it dried...before our very eyes. We were speechless. I was like "OMG, I have a magic couch!!"

No kid could ruin that bad boy from Restoration Hardware. I think it was the Morgan line or something. I am a believer. One of these days I am going to get the matching chair and ottoman.

So, of course, my vote is Restoration Hardware is you want to go leather.

 

[ksinger]

I''m really late to the party but I''ll chime in with Massoud. I have a Massoud sofa that I bought back in ''93. It was, and is, classicly styled, and was so well-made that I had the thing re-covered last year rather than trying to replace it. (Replacing it with a similar Massoud sofa with a similar grade fabric, was going to be a bit out of my budget - I paid $1200 in ''93 and same sofa costs $26 -2700 today. Cost $1100 to recover.) Not because the tapestry on it wore out, but because I got tired of it finally. The cushions, which are latex foam, will probably hold up another 15 years.