Deepest, highest sofa and chair to fit 30.5" doorway?

[AilFin]

If I take the front and storm doors off, my doorway is 30.5" wide and 79.5" high. (It is actually 31"/80", but I decreased the measurements by 1/2" to allow for error since the doorway is so skinny.)

The doorway is in the corner of the room, so on the right, coming in from outside, there is a wall -- no wiggle room on the right.

What is the maximum depth and height of a sofa and chair that will fit through that door without taking a risk of harming the leather, assuming I buy the furniture from Mr. Collie and it is delivered to Pennsylvania? IOW, experienced people will be putting the furniture in my house.

Do the feet come off H & M furniture to accommodate doorway width problems?

I am interested in the 4651 Lena Sofa, the 4390 Metro Sofa, and the 2010 Angelo Tilt Back Chair. My living room is only 13.5' x 20', so except for my husband's chair, I'm trying to make sure the furniture isn't too big for the room, aside from the doorway problem.

Also, I am interested in a power lift recliner for my husband, who is 6'2" tall, 250 lbs. Will any of the H & M recliners that would fit my husband fit through a 30.5" wide doorway? His comfort is very important to me, so I don't want to squeeze him into a little chair. I just measured him while he sat on the sofa and from seat to the top of his head is 37", if that helps. I don't want him to recline and have his head hanging off the end of chair!

Thank you,
AilFin

[simplyjeff]

I posted this fairly recently but questions about fitting furniture through doors comes up often so here is a repost.

For people with questions about whether furniture will fit there is an amazing free resource available.

Harry Lipsky is a retired professional mover who has moderated a blog for many years specifically to help figure out whether your specific piece of furniture, appliance, etc. will fit through your specific door, hall or stairway.

People send him measurements of the items they are attempting to move along with the dimensions and measurements of the space they are trying to move through. Harry then calculates whether it can be done. In many cases he gives specific instructions on how a piece must be maneuvered, tilted, etc. in order to fit.

I have consulted with him on several occasions and always received a response within a few hours.

Harry can be found at the Moving-Furniture Experts Blog

There are a couple of other moving experts on the blog but I have found Harry to be infallible.

Jeff Frank
Simplicity Sofas

[drcollie]

Recliners and tilt backs are relatively easy to get through narrow openings, as the backs can be 'laid down' or extended to get them through the openings (gentle handing is a must when moving motion furniture when its extended).

The Lena is not going to go though that opening but the Metro series should. The legs do not detach on either of those pieces. While I know Jeff likes Hareey Lipsky, I prefer to call up Jimmy Moore on fitment issues, as they have frame bucks at the H&M plant and can move the actual piece through openings at H&M to be sure it fits. Jimmy has never missed yet. If he says it will fit - it fits.

[AilFin]

Thank you, Jeff and Duane.

I have searched Harry Lipsky's site. It seems the general rule of thumb is that a sofa with that is 38" deep and 34" high, max, will fit through a 30" doorway as long as it is a straight shot through the door. We did get a 38" deep sofa through our doorway, and it was a tight fit.

The height of the sofa, of course, depends on whether the feet can be removed and/or on whether removed cushions will change that dimension.

[simplyjeff]

This is the first time I ever heard of a manufacturer who took the time and effort to help its customers figure out whether its furniture will fit through narrow openings (other than Simplicity Sofas.) Kudos to Jimmy Moore and H&M.

For all other manufacturers I strongly recommend Harry Lipsky. (Harry does not charge for his services.)

Jeff Frank
Simplicity Sofas

[drcollie]

I call Jimmy at least once a month with a fitment question, because no one wants to order a piece and have it arrive then not go in the home. Then everyone is unhappy! While its never a sure thing, we can get a 99 % success rate this way. Just this past Saturday my delivery guys had to work extra hard on a H&M Carmen sofa to get it in a customer's home in Rockville, MD, and that's not a particularly large sofa. They had to dismantle the sliding glass door and come through the back yard to get it in the house. Took them much longer than usual to make the delivery, but they don't give up and they put it all back together, too. (they did get a tip, and earned it)

I am very wary of NYC apartments - that's the most difficult place in all of the USA to try to figure out if something will fit. Have to measure the complex front door, the elevators, the fire breaks in the hallways and then the apartment door itself. Tough!

[AilFin]

I posted a thread on the Decorating and Layout forum because of what the interior decorator I tried to hire privately told me. She is a fantastic decorator whom I have known for 30 years. She is now working for Ethan Allen and can't take clients on the side. I told her I did not intend to purchase furniture from EA because I plan to buy some Hancock and Moore pieces.

She told me that EA's leather furniture is of much higher quality than that manufactured by Hancock and Moore.

I am not the brightest bulb in the pack when it comes to decorating and choosing furniture, but I have done my homework, which is why I'm here.

PS If the distance from the chair seat to the top of my husband's head is 37", are there any tilt-back chairs or recliners that will fit him and that have the power lift feature?

[drcollie]

I told her I did not intend to purchase furniture from EA because I plan to buy some Hancock and Moore pieces. She told me that EA's leather furniture is of much higher quality than that manufactured by Hancock and Moore.

LOL. Why.....I'm SURPRISED she said that ! <sarcasm>

The chair seat (usually 20") and then 37" above that? That means a 57" tall chair at the back, just shy of 5' high? Either your husband is about seven and a half feet tall or that dimension is off....

FYI, recliners have power lift mechanisms, but tilt backs do not.

[AilFin]

My decorator friend has had a Hancock and Moore sofa in her den for 20 years. It still looks great -- doesn't need new cushion cores. But years ago, someone laid their wet head against the sofa and it stained, and the stain has never come out -- that's her beef with the leather on it. Gee, I was impressed that the sofa has lasted so long and still looks great.

I measured my husband again. He is 33" from his waistband to the top of his head. He is 74" tall. That leaves 41" for the rest of him to drape across the seat and down the front of the chair to the floor.

Now granted, like most men, his waistband doesn't sit at his waist. The part of his body that his waistband wraps around, however, is not planted on the chair seat when he sits down. It is against the seat back, which is why I choose it as a measuring point.

I think I will drag him to a furniture store to sit in various recliners to see what fits him, and measure that chair before I place an order with you. You can probably tell I don't know anything about recliners. I have never sat in one, and I will be the first person in my family to own one. I'm probably visualizing this all wrong. I bet you a million bucks that, with all the anti-recliner sentiment in my family, my mother will be the first one to take over that chair when she visits.

I think the power lift mechanism is going to be helpful to my husband, so I'd better get those neat tilt-back chairs out of mind.

Thank you for your help, Duane.

[drcollie]

I've seen stains like that once in a great while, but it doesn't happen often. Water saturation is to be avoided, but most likely there was a buildup of hair oils in the area and the water just 'set it' further.

Here's the current lineup of H&M Power Lift Recliners:

http://www.hancockandmoore.com/categ...?categoryid=PL