Help with decisions (a.ka. Pimp our Utah?)

[jsouthampton]

Hi all--

First time poster, long time forum stalker!

We are looking for one sofa and two recliners. Hoping to get some input on our upcoming living room furniture purchase from those who are currently doing their research and those who have been in our shoes.

A little bit about us—we live in New England and I consider our style for our home to be "transitional farmhouse" with plenty of authentic antiques superimposed on traditional and modern finishings. We have two dogs and two cats who spend time on our furniture but they are generally well behaved and do not destroy things. I frequently sleep on the sofa when my husband is away from work, with one dog and one cat. I also drink and (sometimes) spill wine and we frequently have guests that do the same. Husband is a firefighter and therefore a recliner snob (if you are, or are married to, a firefighter, you know this to be true!) and has some degree of chronic back pain due to spinal stenosis. He also has legitimate obsessive-compulsive personality disorder (a little different than true OCD) and takes cares of our possessions to the extreme. I have posted the layout (from the Icovia program) of our living area below—it's very atypical and there are really not too many ways that we can arrange furniture (which makes it easier?). Our living area is not the biggest but it has an airy feel to it—the ceilings are vaulted and are about 14 feet tall around the chimney and slope to about 10 or so feet at the perimeter of the hexagon, with large picture windows and sliders all around. The TV is mounted above our woodstove / mantle on our stone chimney, which extends to the ceiling. The real gem of our property is our views behind the house (through the window behind the sofa and the sliding glass doors)—a beautiful river with forestland behind it within 30 feet of house. Our ceiling is a medium tone pine board with matching beams. The walls will be a soft "greige" (gray/beige) and floors are a moderate (on the darkish side) wood look tile with radiant heat underneath.

We currently have an 8 year old 140" green microfiber sectional from Raymour & Flanagan that still looks and sits great (husband really does take care of our things). Looking to upgrade however. Originally picked out a handsome B-Y set but my heart knew it wanted H&M so we saved our pennies for an additional year.

We had considered the gigantic Settlement sofa for "ultimate comfort" purposes but after taping off its size on our floor it seems to project too far into the room, moving our coffee table quite deep into the room. I worry that command too much of the space. After much consideration, our current top choice is the Utah, it's both very long to fill the wall space and I feel the style factor forgives the likely decrease in comfort. The movement along the top edge mimics the flow of the river that appears to be floating over it from the proper angle, I think it was meant to be.  We are looking for the sofa to be a mid-tone brown. I like earth tones, and we are looking for something to compliment our view, not overpower it.

So input please from those who would be willing to share your ideas or experiences:

Do you think the Utah is too large for our space? We really would like as much seating as possible and would like to have two recliners as well. The sofa in the diagram below is set to the dimensions of the Utah. I'm thinking that the slight curve of the Utah will actually compliment our angled spaced.

Tufting or no? Leaning towards the tight back without tufting for a more contemporary, casual vibe to an already highly styled sofa.

Thoughts on burnished/hand antiqued leathers? I love unique and antique pieces, one of kind, hand- made, and rustic... I don't need to micromanage the color choice so long as the tone is what I want,i.e., brown not burgundy or black or orange. I feel especially since we are likely doing the non-tufted version the burnished leather will give the expanse of the back some dimension. Anybody have a bad experience with artisan leather? Anybody have suggestions for a specific leather that you love? I already looked at one round of samples, and the second set are being sent now—so many beautiful choices. I've also scoured this forum for actual pictures of pieces in various choices, that has been the most helpful by far! One that I am in love with but haven't seen in person is hand-antiqued saddle.

Similar subject—the Utah seems to beg for customization, or as a friend said--"that would look sick all pimped out". We have some budget to play around with it. So many fun things you can do to spice it up! But maybe more classy to just do a single leather as it already has so much going on, I don't want to take away from the beauty of it's form. The stock photos have croc embossed leather accents (not a fan of this for us) but we were thinking of perhaps a slightly contrasting leather on the base and arms, or perhaps just a contrasting gimp? It seems like the "I" stitching also is a popular choice. Or does anyone have any more fun ideas?

On to the recliners – we are looking for a matching set, although we don't like too "matchy-matchy" so probably wouldn't go with the Utah recliners, even though they are mighty beautiful. My husband and I are both around 5'7", normal build. One we both really like now is the "Roy". A bit more casual, streamlined but looks very comfy. Would this tone down and compliment the Utah, or do you think it would be a mismatch? Attached below are the stock pictures of Utah and Roy together. Any other recommendations? I know Duane loves the Saddler, that one is definitely on our list.  It seems like the bustle back is the way to go for comfort, anyone have experience otherwise? Likely would do our recliners in a darker leather to blend a little better and let the Utah be the star of the show. Would it be a lot to have all of the pieces be burnished, or would this look great?

My other concern is regarding having expensive leather pieces in close proximity to both a wood stove and pellet stove. Although these won't be used 24/7 once our radiant is turned on, will the leather kit recommended by H&M be enough to maintain their moisture once every 6 months or are there other precautions we should take? Also, we are planning on using furniture sunscreen on our pieces and will be having protective films on our new windows when they are installed as this room gets quite a bit of sun exposure, so at least we have that covered.
We will be placing our order this month (August) to take advantage of the H&M sale.

Sorry about the volumes I have written in this one post, this is just such a large purchase for us and I want to make sure I am headed in the right direction. Thanks in advance to anyone who chimes in—we will be happy to post about our H&M journey as it progresses!