Experience buying a sofa with the "sit" test / H&M 'Your Way' program

[imdworkin]

My wife is 5'10" and I'm 5'6"; she likes firmer, more upright seating. I prefer more of a "club chair" feel. Needless to say, we have a tough time finding a sofa that we can both agree upon. We recently bought a Pottery Barn Pearce Sofa - in the store, it was a compromise, I liked it (though it wasn't as loungey as I'd like), and with a pillow behind her, she was comfortable. Only problem is that, within a month of receiving it, the top-coat appears to be coming off on the piping. Pottery Barn has stood behind the purchase and has agreed to take back the sofa. So, now, we're looking to step up to a more reliable brand (Hancock & Moore, possibly Stickley). And we get back to finding a sofa that we both agree on.

H&M dealers around us seem to have limited inventory; the closest we've gotten is the Ricki -- my wife loves it, but it's not as soft (and seems to be a bit more upright) than I'd like. I love the Nola, but she's not comfortable on it. (This seems strange, since the dimensions of the Ricki and Nola are very similar). Both sofa's were tried with the Qualux cushions. Since we'd like something longer than either of those, we've also considered either the Emilio or the Your Way program - but given the variability we're seeing between sofa's that appear to have similar dimensions, we're hesistant to get a sofa that we can't sit on. We did find a Stickley sofa that we can go with as a compromise if needed.

Does anyone have any advice? Is there some comparison of H&M frames that are similar (similar cushion pitch, etc)? Will different cushions or a higher density cushion in the Nola significantly change how it sits? If we go for the 'compromise', how does Stickley compare to H&M - we've been told that they're very close....

Appreciate any advice!

[drcollie]

On anything with a welt trim on an edge, from any maker, you can expect to see some wear and finish loss on that welt. Friction from your legs/clothing is going to do that. Some wear better than others, but if you want to avoid that then get s stitch or simple seam cushion closure.

We have had this discussion (above) via private email, and I do not think anyone can advise comfort from one model to the next, and what one person will like and another will not. I think the question you really want to ask of the other forum members (and what I have suggested) is this:

"Did you purchase your sofa sight unseen and found that it met your expectations as to overall comfort in one of the premium brands?"

[imdworkin]

Our sofa saga continues - but we're hopefully getting to a conclusion . We had seen a Century sofa that we really liked - but their pricing is insane. List was about 50% more than most of the Hancock and more list prices, and selling price was as well - and we weren't even looking at one of their higher tier leathers. (I'm not posting prices here - figure that's a no-no on the forum). Much higher than any H&M piece and I see no difference in quality (in fact, I prefer H&M's leathers).

Our issue is that my wife seems to like sofa's that are a bit higher - and many of the H&M sofa's seem to sit a little lower. She likes the Ricki and the Smithfield; I thought she'd like the Martini but it was too low. I run hot and cold on the Ricki - we've seen it and I've thought it would be OK, and at other places I didn't think it was deep enough (all with the same cushion fill, which is odd).

We saw the Bohemian today -- we both LOVED the design, and WISHED that it worked for both of us. I thought it was very comfortable; my wife thought it was a little low - odd given that it's specs are very similar to the Ricki. I'm considering going with a 21oz down fill on the seats - not sure if that would solve her issue though. We're going to take another look at the Smithfield. I wish the Bohemian worked -- Duane, any chance we can have them lengthen the legs by an inch? (only half-kidding

We did see a Bradington Young piece today that we both liked -- #613-95 Greco, and we're leaning towards one of their higher grade leathers - either #9126-87 (Julian Harbor Flea Market Burnished Walnut), or #9135-84 (Grafton Square - Rodeo Antique Silver). Is anyone/Duane familiar with this sofa/these leathers? Any opinion?. I saw in one of Duane's posts that B&Y doesn't allow modifications like removing nail heads without an up-charge -- any idea if that would be possible here?

Thanks in advance for the help!

[drcollie]

As you know, Century is now the owner of Hancock and Moore, the deal was closed in October of last year. I decided to go to Century's showroom at the High Point Fall Market (2015) with the thoughts that I might pick up the line to have vertical integration of the companies. It was a very busy showroom, and I waited about 30 minutes for a rep (they prefer to have one with you), then gave up and wandered around on my own. They build a nice product, however I didn't see anything that was so unique or different or at superior price point that would fill a niche for my store that I already had covered. I continue to believe that Hancock and Moore is the gold standard in the leather upholstery business, and there is not another company out there that approaches what they offer in category.

You can easily get the H&M Bohemian with a frame mod to bring it up higher. 1" or 2", whatever you like. There will be a custom charge but I would not expect it to be eye-watering in the least. Doing 21 oz standard cores will help a little, but it would be moe like gaining 1/2" and not very noticeable.

Nail delete is not an option on the B-Y 613-95 sofa. The reason is that B-Y does a bit of a cheat on several models with nail trim as standard, they use the nails to go in-between the stitch closures to cover up the panel joinery. Removing the nails would reveal the stitches and that would be unsightly. At H&M, nails are always decorative and never used to blind a stitch closure, there is a propert piece of welt to close the joinery, so any nail can always be removed from any H&M item. With B-Y, its integral to the piece (and they are not the only company doing it). There are probably fifty shortcuts in a B-Y piece that H&M does not take, and those shortcuts are what keep the price down, that's one of them. A welt closure looks very simple to the untrained eye, but in reality it uses a lot of leather when you see them all being cut, and they have to be rolled onto an inner core then sewn into the panels. Eliminating all the welts easily reduces a manufacturer's cost in a piece by several hundred dollars. The reason I still sell B-Y is that those 'cheats' don't adversely affect the overall lifespan of the piece to any large degree, and it allows me to offer a price-resistance customer a decent product for (on average) 25 to 30 % less money.

Both those B-Y hides are decent, no issues there!