Need a longer than average sofa for the living room

[avinhou]

I am shopping for a longer than average sofa (most seem to be in the 80 to 90 inch range). I would like something in the close to 100" range (plus/minus a few). The style is not that important - it is a family of three (no kids, one is a teenager), all under 160 lbs, and the living room is well used for general entertainment and family movie watching (working on a home theater room though). I would prefer leather upholstery. While searching for a quality sofa, I was led to this forum and so far very impressed by the knowledge here.

I narrowed my selection to the following:

1. Hancock & Moore: Architects sofa 5969-3: 101"W
2. Bradington-Young Aldana Large Sofa 601-96: 108.5"W
3. McKinley 3838 Buchanan Grande Sofa: 106"W
4. Taylor-King: 3904B Reunion sofa: 96"W inside, 128" outside.

I drew up a plan for the living room with the Taylor King Reunion sofa - the drawing is to scale (as much as my skills with LibreOffice allows).



Are there any other choices/sofas to consider for that length? Any thoughts on the layout of the furniture? The above choices are not in any order, I would like to buy the best, but budget is not unlimited. From what I read here and elsewhere the brands I have shortlisted should serve me well in the build quality aspect - with some flexibility on the budget side.

Thank you.

[drcollie]

I think I would avoid that design of sofa, where the ends come in and lead to a "conversation" design. That type of configuration is designed to float in a large room, not be up against the wall. I believe that if you put that in the room you will say "this doesn't work, what were we thinking?" . The wings one each end both lead to blockage and dead spots behind the sofa, while it can look OK on paper I would think long and hard about that type of form factor.

Hancock & Moore: Architects sofa 5969-3: Your kids will hate it. Also, you can't really nap on it. Not good for TV watching. Note the low back height. This is another sofa for floating in the room as a style piece, Functionality is poor for your application

Bradington-Young Aldana Large Sofa 601-96 see above, watch that back height! I'd suggest 36" minimum

McKinley 3838 Buchanan Grande Sofa Better! That's a form factor you can live with and enjoy.

Taylor-King: 3904B Reunion sofa Not going to work, see initial comments

Others you can take a look at, keeping in mind we want to keep the budget reasonable and in leather:

Take a look at the Hancock and Moore YOUR WAY sofas, they have a 96" model (no photos of it) and also a new 4-seat 111" version if you want even larger. Here's the best link to see them (configuration page):

http://www.hancockandmoore.com/ecatalog/index.html#452

and a photo of the new 111" model that will be in the new catalog in early Spring:



Best bang for the buck is this one out of their Just in Time Promotion. Here you can get into this one in leather Alberta Harness (or Wine) for well under $ 3K before shipping fees (vary depending on your location).

http://www.hancockandmoore.com/Produ.../West-End-Sofa

Century does their Leatherstone Promotion as well, you can get something here that might configure well for you.

https://www.centuryfurniture.com/gal...ne-catalog.pdf

Hope that helps...

[avinhou]

Duane, Thanks for the advice. The value proposition on the West End is definitely tempting. A few questions:

a) West End as part of the promotion is only available in the two leather choices, correct? Alberta Harness & Wine? I tried to look up these (the leather swatches) on the H&M website (for a larger picture) and I couldn't find it. Are either of these shiny?
b) Appreciate the advice on the seat back height - I re-searched the Taylor King site and found a couple of others. These are both available in leather as per Taylor King website.

9200-03 Lifestyles sofa 104"W
1037-03 Talulah sofa 102.5"W

c) H&M: The Your Way 96" is an interesting option. What would be the typical delivery times on these? I read through the sticky on the H&M delivery times. But not sure if that applied to the "Your Way" as well.
d) Century furniture leatherstone - The 98" is a good option in terms of dimensions. Same question as above - delivery times? In terms of quality of construction/longevity how would these compare to H&M, Taylor King or BY?

Thanks again.

[drcollie]

H&M "ALBERTA" leather is a promotional leather and not swatched. It's a genuine top grain, typical Chinese Tannery Finished leather - which means you are never going to get bowled over by its beauty, but it will function well in a busy household and take the torque of kids on it. It's not that bi-cast or bonded leather garbage many suppliers put on their promotional pieces. Most of all you have the famed Hancock and Moore Construction at a very attractive price point. We can put that sofa in a higher grade leather, but the price can easily double. Here's a photo of the Wine and Harness atop a Wade Chestnut hide (the most matte leather I have in the store). Harness is the larger swatch. Its not super shiny to me, but its certainly not matte, either.



Here's a piece made up in Alberta Wine (not my photo):



Taylor King does leather, but its higher in price than H&M Promo pieces and the build is not at H&M standards in either materials or workmanship. You would may more, for less (in leather).

Right now H&M is building in 6 weeks if the leather is in stock. However that West End is in the Just in Time promotion, so its out the door in 2 weeks. Then you have to add transit time to that and to TX I'm going to say three weeks, perhaps a bit longer. Your Way pieces go on the 6 week schedule. If the leather you pick is out of stock, then that can add 2 to 8 weeks to the time.

The main difference construction wise is Century/Taylor King/Bradington Young are all plywood frames. Only H&M is solid maple, and a super-strong frame means no suspension failure over time. Workmanship is higher on the H&M than B-Y and Taylor King, Century is equal (in my opinion). Remember that H&M is the Gold Standard in the industry, there is no better maker unless you go full house custom handmade. The other brands are solid, but they're not H&M. Build times on B-Y 4 weeks, Taylor King is 10 weeks, Century about 6 weeks.