Hi everyone- I'm excited to find this forum, found a link from the Gardenweb forum which seems to get way too much spam and very few replies. I've just started to browse for a new sofa for the family room. I just bought 2 Bradington Young leather recliners for the room, which make the 12-year old cheapo sofa look even dingier than before! I got the BY recliners shipped from SC and am very happy with them.

I'm wondering what brands to explore for the sofa. I don't want something too expensive, maybe spending up to 2K. I took a look in the local Ethan Allen, Thomasville, and Bassett showrooms and wasn't extremely impressed with any. Thomasville was the only store that claimed to use kiln-dried hardwood frames, while the other 2 use plywood. (and btw, is a 7-layer block of hardwood as strong as kiln-drief wood?)

One last related question- we only have 2 local stores (i.e. ranging from 30 to 90 minutes away) that have the higher end brands. It felt a bit strange when I went to these stores to look at the BY chairs, knowing I wouldn't order them there because the prices are so much lower in NC and SC (I paid $1125 per chair vs. $2000 here in WA). However, I wouldn't feel comfortable ordering a sofa if I hadn't sat on one of the brands I'm considering. Thoughts on that? Thank you!