Could use some help/suggestions w/ furniture layout/ideas

[rpolzin25]

So my wife and I are in the process of trying to figure out furniture in our living room. All we have now is an oversize couch/chaise combo w/ the couch/chaise being about 117 inches in length and the chaise w/ a 66 inch depth. We are currently thinking of doing a sectional/chaise combo for kind of a U shaped couch plus a chair in the corner of our living room. Our living room is decent size at 17 ft x 17 ft but we are struggling a bit w/ a recommended layout. We think a sectional makes the most sense but wonder if a sofa/loveseat would work just fine or possibly better. I've included a picture of our construction plans of our living room for a good idea of the layout. We want a walkway on both sides of the couch and the the large window starts only about a foot and a half to 2 ft off the floor. We would rather not walk in from the main entry foyer to the back of a couch thus thats the end we would do a chaise there. We also want to be careful not to have the couch be too long on the window wall because we have the fireplace in the corner.

We had been visiting the main furniture stores but are now venturing in to more of the independent stores as we really want to make sure we are getting quality furniture that will last and is in leather. Currently we are looking at Smith Bros 5000 series sectional and chair. Its definitely pushing our budget but we want to get something quality that will last. My wife and I are also short and prefer a couch w/ a shorter seat depth. The only other store we had found something that kind of fit our needs was La Z Boy but i'm wary of their overall quality and they want almost $10k just for the sectional in leather. We also saw an HTL international sectional in another big box store but i am always leary of imported furniture and how it will hold up. Plus it was nearly $5k and I'd rather spend a little extra to get something USA made and be more confident in quality.

I attached two pictures of our living room blue prints. One is our potential thought on layout of the sectional w/ chaise and a chair, the other being a blank layout.

Really appreciate opinions on doing a sectional vs sofa/loveseat combo (i'm not confident we would be able to fit a sofa/sofa combo) and also on the quality of Smith Bros vs anything else that might be recommended in similar price range w/ a shorter seat depth.

Ideally we want to try to keep our costs under $6K but if we have to go over it a bit its not the end of the world if we are getting high quality and what we want.

Thanks in advance