Help with L-shaped H&M sectional choice

[lynarthur]

My wife and I have been debating between a sofa/loveseat combo vs. sectional to replace a large sectional in our family room that we feel is just a little too big. The room is approximately 17'x16' but it has a large built in cabinet and large fireplace in one corner that take up a lot of space - we can attach pictures of the room if it will help.

We've been looking here and at the H&M website to try and figure out dimensions and configurations but sectionals are very confusing. The current sectional we have in the room (RCfurniture Marlo pictured here: http://rcfurniture.com/quick-ship-program/ ) is listed as LAF (with return)/RAF and has comfortable seating for 5, plus the corner. The short side is 108" and the long is 135" with a depth of 44" and height of 42". I think in H&M terms, our sectional would be LAC/RAF but am not 100% certain. It seems like many of the H&M sectionals are LAQ/RAQ and only have seating for 4. Since we spend a lot of time in this room we are looking for mostly comfort vs. style and are leaning towards the Journey or City models, but also like the September, Bradley, and Member sofas.

Due to the room layout, we want an L-Shaped sectional, not a curved model as both sides will be against a wall. It looks like only the City, Journey, and September sofas are also available in a sectional. And of those, it only appears like the City may be available in the configuration we would want. Am I reading their website correctly? Are there other models that we like available in an L-shaped sectional with seating for 5? If it is just the City then it makes the decision a bit easier

And yes, we do like the Sundance but it is too big for this room and we'd also hate to have the gorgeous back hidden up against the wall.

Thanks for any advice/help!

[drcollie]

Sectional measurements ARE confusing. Sometimes they post 'Wall space needed' and other times you have to figure it out by taking the length of one side (without a partial corner) and the the depth of the other side. You can also look at the sofa version of the sectional, take the inside length + one arm width and come up with a reasonable accurate run before the corner. Example:

# 1283 Campaign Sofa is 84" L, and inside is 71", therefore the arms are 13" or 6.5" each. The run of the 3-seat sectional is then 71" + 6.5" or 77.5". Then take the outside depth of the sofa which is 38" and add that for the return to come up with 115.5" wall space. Now if you go look at their spec on the website, it says 116" so we were within 1/2' just using the sofa measurements.

The 2-piece sectionals are less costly and stronger than the 3-piece ones. There is definitely a move afoot to build sectionals in just two segments. However when you add the corner onto one end, now you have a egress/ingress issue and need a wide doorway, close to 36" in most cases because there is no 'short arm' to help you get it through the threshold. So buy a 3-piece sectional when your space into the home is tight, a 2-piece if it will go through the doorways.

Most sectionals have the corner (either 90 Degree L, or a curved wedge) than either a 2 seat or 3 seat option for either side of the corner. Take a look at the Campaign and the LaCross units, they are both in "L" configurations.

[lynarthur]

Ok, the sectional we have is 2 piece and the smallest entryway into the room is at least 38" wide so we should be ok with a 2-piece. Are the Campaign and LaCross the only 2 sectionals available in the 2-piece L configuration? Can we get other styles of sectionals (City, Journey, etc.) that don't appear to made in a 2-piece L to be made in that form or is that insanely expensive? Also, here are a couple of pictures of the setup we currently have.

[drcollie]

"L" shape H&M's that come to mind...

City
Campaign
Arrington
Donatella (fantastic!)
Illusion (zzzzz..boring)
LaCross

That's all that comes to mind ....

[wisejd]

Not intending to be viewed as the devil's advocate, I must say if I was furnishing your room and wanted a sectional, I would not encumber my possible selection to an L-Shapped offering. As an example, the Sundance Love-Seat Sectional would look gorgeous and offer excellent stability and comfort in your room. It would be a smaller footprint (which you want) but still has ample space to lay down on either side. The round corner offers space for an interesting and practical floor lamp behind the sectional. The unique design / style of the Sundance would look astonishing in your room given the fantastic fireplace (w/ curve). I think something the size of the Sundance Love Seat Sectional would leave room for another piece of furniture on the longer wall. So as to not be pushing one particular sectional, my real point is that just because both sides of the sectional will be against the wall does not restrict one from selecting from any of the H&M offerings (with the exception of those that are just too big).

[drcollie]

How about some better room shots? Open the blinds so there is some better lighting and let's see what the entire room looks like from all angles? I'm not so sure a sectional is the best layout - but I have to see all the corners of the room to think about layout.

[lynarthur]

Thanks for the ideas. Actually we were discussing it last night and realized we don't have to limit our selection to just L-shapes. But it was tempting since it sounds like the 2-piece sectionals are less expensive then the 3-piece and we have wide TX sized doorways. So here are a couple of panoramic pics of the room with the iphone6 - haven't tried these before but they seem to have turned out ok. It is a bit overcast this morning and the room faces west so we should have more light later if these aren't enough. Our initial plan was to get a sofa and loveseat but my wife and I both like to lay down in the hour or so of relaxation time we get each night after we get the kids to sleep and based on some of Duane's other posts we realized a sectional would be a better way to go. We really want comfort over style since we spend lots of time in this room as it is next to the kitchen and patio. Whenever we have family over this is where we spend most of the time and we do need seating for at least 5. We do love the Sundance but just think it would be a waste to have the back against the wall - our is house is pretty big (4200 sq ft.) so we will likely have space to get the Sundance in another room where it can be floated and show off its beauty.

[wisejd]

Thanks for posting the additional photos, and we have found the iPhone 6 to take excellent photos (as did yours). The room is gorgeous and looks like it could support a loveseat and sofa with a shared end-table. From your comments, I guess the issue is if one of you could stretch-out comfortably on a loveseat. If possible you may want to avoid the wider rolled-arms. I am ready to move in!

[lynarthur]

I just remembered that many people include their height - I'm about 5'10" and my wife is 5'5" and our daughters are 40" and 29" tall...but they are growing like crazy :-) I remeasured the room for the about 18th time and the shorter wall with large window is about 115" long until it hits the base of the fireplace mantel. The window is 96" wide (no wonder it was so darn expensive to replace it last year). The longer wall, with the smaller window (still 48" wide) is 165" long and it is 108" from the window to the end of the wall. They are both picture windows so we don't need access to open them.

The current sectional takes up 108" of the 115" shorter wall and 135" of the 165" longer wall. As I'm writing these measurements down it seems like we could almost fit 2 sofas in the room. One in the middle of the 96" window and one in the middle of the 108" long wall section between the window and edge of the wall. We could then put a nicer ottoman in the middle of the room and we still might have room for narrow/low height end table in front of the smaller window. We'd want something with less depth than our current sectional, which shouldn't be difficult since it is 44" deep. Now we need to try and see if 2 sofas would look ok or a little hokey and just go back to the sectional options.

[wisejd]

As food for thought, you might take a look at the Bradley Two-Seat Sofa and the Bradley Sofa for the shorter and longer wall respectively. That might leave enough room for a shared end-table and if you look at the inside width of the Bradley Two-Seat Sofa it is still more than long enough for lying down comfortably. This particular style offers nice arms to rest against yet they do not extend outside the main width of the Sofas. I don't think two full-size Sofas are going to work because the left-hand seat of the Sofa on the shorter wall would be overlapped with the side of the other Sofa (given the width & depth of most Sofa styles). This choice would also give you an optional furniture placement of the larger Sofa centered in the window of the shorter wall with an ottoman in front (like the one you have), while the Two-Seat Sofa could be down near the room entry with an end table of it's own.