Living Room Furniture Advice

[SusanNC]

My husband and I have decided that it is time to purchase some living room furniture. Our current furniture consists of a hand-me-down sofa and loveseat that are worn and frumpy.

We do have a very nice glass coffee table that I plan to keep for a long time, but other than that the whole room is open for improvement. This is our first home and this will be our first time purchasing furniture with a real budget.

Our plan is to purchase a sofa and 2 chairs with ottomans.

Here is some more information about us:

We are located in the Raleigh-Durham, NC area. We don’t have kids yet but we plan to have them within the next few years. We have a 1.5 year old Golden Retriever who enjoys snuggling up on the sofa, so whatever upholstery material we choose will have to be able to withstand some fur and nails. I do keep his nails trimmed but he is still capable of scratching things.

My husband is a big lounger - he wants to be horizontal as much as possible - whereas I prefer staying upright. I have positional vertigo which makes me dizzy when my head is horizontal, so I only lay down when I am sleeping.

We both enjoy the look of leather chesterfields. We have sat in a few and I find them to be very comfortable. I am able to lean against the sides without sinking. My husband also thinks they are very comfortable but I’m not sure if he can really lay down on them. Long story short, I think I want a chesterfield sofa, but I am open to the idea of something else.

I love the look of burnished leather in a variety of browns (tobacco to espresso). I’m pretty sure if we go with a leather sofa it will be brown. If we choose a fabric sofa it will be a neutral white or beige tone.

In terms of sofa shape and style, I strongly prefer more traditional styles. I want something that is tightly-upholstered with turned legs or casters. Some H&M chesterfield styles that I love are the Chancellor, Teton, Tavern, and Kent. For the chesterfields, I prefer the cushions over the tufted seats. The non-chesterfield H&M styles I love are the Utopia, Carmen, and Harvest.

For the chairs, I love the look of wingback chairs. I’m also a sucker for intricate floral and geometric textiles, so I would love to get the chairs upholstered in something that really pops. It may be more practical to upholster them in something more neutral and add flair with printed pillows and throws.

Our current sofa is 84” wide. I think that I could fit something up to 92” wide in that space, but that may be wishful thinking.

With all of that in mind, I have some specific questions:

1. We are looking to spend about $10-12k total. Is that enough to cover a sofa and 2 chairs from quality producers? We may choose to spread out the purchases if it’s going to cost much more than that.
2. Is it worth investing in top-quality pieces at this point in our lives? When I have kids running around, will I wish I had waited to buy my dream sofa?
3. Does leather sound like a good fit for us? From what I’ve read, a semi-aniline protected leather with a distressed finish would be the best option. Does this sound right? Would a performance fabric be a better choice?
4. What size/style sofa do you think will work best in this room?
5. What size/style chairs do you think will work best in this room?
6. Do you have any alternative ideas for which pieces would work and how to arrange them?

I couldn't figure out how to attach images, so I created an album on imgur: https://imgur.com/a/hKgjx1N

If this link doesn't work please let me know.

Thanks in advance for anyone who responds to this. Just writing this out was useful exercise for organizing my own thoughts.

EDIT: I figured out how to insert images directly into my post.