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

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!

Attachment 9004Attachment 9003

Hello JSouthHampton,

It sounds like you have a very exciting space! The first thing I noticed is that all of your seating is pointed towards one focal point, away from the windows, and facing directly at the TV/fireplace. That is the ideal arrangement for watching TV, but may not be the ideal position for enjoying your view or a conversation. I'm wondering if it would be possible to turn the recliners so that they are away from the walls, facing each other and perpendicular to the sofa, like this:

Sofa
--> <---

Fireplace

Or keep your current arrangement and add two more smaller accent chairs along the sides of fireplace, facing the sofa like this:


\ Sofa /


/ Fireplace \


(please excuse the poor images!)

Of course, I don't know what other furniture you have in there, etc. so this could all be wrong.

The second thing I thought of is more my personal taste. I like mixing light furniture with dark and wish I had done it more when I purchased stuff for my living room. I love natural brown leather and earthy tones as well, so My SO and I bought complimentary chocolatey brown leather seating. And a dark brown wood coffee table. And a dark brown wood console table. Pretty soon, everything was brown, brown, brown and driving me nuts. I love leather but the one regret I have is that I didn't mix it up with the off-white linen upholstery that you've probably seen a bajillion times in rustic/farmhouse designs. If I could do it again, I'd do a light linen upholstered sofa + leather recliners, or leather sofa + linen upholstered recliners. It gives you the flexibility to do more with your living room. Now, whenever I pick out accessories or accents, I always have to think "how do I lighten things up"?

Finally - if you or your husband is tall, bustle back is the way to go. My SO is 6'2 and swears by bustle-back because it allows him to move the cushioning up just a little to where it's most comfortable for him. Most chairs we looked at are designed for shorter people.

Well thought out post, and it deserves a comprehensive answer. Any chance you can take (4) photos of the area as it is now, one shot from each corner during daylight hours? That really would help me get a perspective of the room and spatial requirements.

And you are right, Firemen DO love their recliners! Myself and a couple of pals donated a brand-new Bradington Young 4114 leather recliner to FDNY Engine 74 on the Upper West Side last Christmas. One of the firefighters who I know from a motorcycle forum were saying they needed a new one as their one in the break-room was falling apart, but they didn't have any money to replace it. Well, I guess they had some cash in the kitty but used it to help a fellow firefighter in need rather than buy a new La-Z-Boy. So a couple of buddies and I chipped in and we shipped one up to them unannounced, the truck just showed up with it on December 24th and I think they were surprised. They sent me lots of swag in gratitude. I have the stickers on my motorcycle panniers. I guess they give their fire stations pet names and logos in NYC - lol. Works for me!

Attachment 9005

Attachment 9006

Hi Jenny! I feel like you're my design soulmate—I completely agree with everything in your reply. However, for practical reasons alone our choices are somewhat limited. I've always loved the romantic notion of chairs by a fireplace, however, upon our hearth sits a 70,000 btu Jotul woodstove that heats the main area of our house (we use wood and pellets alone for our heating source at this time). It is HOT next to that thing. Some good advice—don't wear yoga pants and stand next to a wood stove for too long, the elastic will start to melt and that's a weird burn to try to explain (true story). But, I love the thought of having an occasional chair to put in that area during the summer months. Maybe I can find another H&M that would fit that bill hmmmm? I also completely agree with you about mix and match leather and linen, definitely my first choice. I too tend to end up choosing too many browns and neutrals. Case in point: we just found a huge dark brown Restoration Hardware trestle table on craigslist for a STEAL. Tried pairing it with wooden chairs in a similar tone but it just looked dreary and heavy. Pairing the table with lighter colored wood, distressed provincial style chairs with light linen backs and seats—bingo! Never would have thought those two styles should be paired but its perfection.  We've been considering doing a leather sofa with fun fabric recliners but unfortunately husband has severe allergies to just about everything. He vacuums our sofa daily. We don't have curtains or drapes and have torn out every ounce of carpeting in the house to try to help. He's been through rounds of allergy shots. I'm thinking maybe all leather might be the kindest choice for him. I keep telling myself I can always use fun throws and pillows to lighten up the space. Thank you so much for your input!

Duane—that's awesome that you guys donated that recliner! That must have been the BEST surprise. I'm not sure what the NYC rotation is but our department here works 24's, much more pleasant if you have comfy place to rest your bones in between calls! Our guys have two rooms full of Bob's recliners from "The Pit," not pretty but they get the job done. Firefighters also love their stickers, I'm surprised my husband only has one department sticker on his bike. His helmet, on the other hand, and our refrigerator…

I've attached a few pictures, but unfortunately our space difficult to photograph due to its narrow nature and the filtered/diffuse sunlight. Sorry about the poor quality! Please also consider that we are under renovation. The floor is just the slab of our foundation, we haven't installed the new flooring and we have yet to paint, replace the window and sliding doors, and install the new trim work. On the non-angled wall that makes up the side of the closet/chimney area stand our antique judge's wardrobe (underneath the antique flag, *firefighter's are also extremely patriotic) which will remain. On the opposite wall adjecent to the fireplace is an angled wall with the door to the closet/pantry (strange set up I know!).

Thanks in advance for your help!!

Attachment 9007
Attachment 9008
Attachment 9009
Attachment 9010
Attachment 9011

A couple of quick thoughts on this layout, and then I want to study it some more.

* Sun Bleaching could be a real issue on any burnished or aniline leather, those windows appear bare and I assume they are not Low-E Glass or tinted?

* The Utah with a Pair of Recliners will work as good as anything in there, though I'm not a big fan of lining up pieces as if they were in a theatre. Still, its workable. If the recliners were not required, than we could do a really large, rounded sectional in that space like these...but let me keep thinking....

http://www.taylorking.com/product.asp?PID=5516&CID=2

https://www.centuryfurniture.com/pro...82614&section=

What about the H&M Evening Angular Sofa? Use an ottoman with it and then pair it with some smaller scale chairs near the fireplace. Just some thoughts...

Thanks for everyone's suggestions! Thought I had posted a picture of the fireplace but I had not. Again, please excuse our unfinished space. Other than the heat factor, the other issue with chairs next to our fireplace is that on the right side it would pretty much be sticking out into the center of the room and on the other the wall angles back and is where the door to the closet sits. Our whole house is angles like this, let me tell you-- we are used to being creative with furniture placement! We are currently trying to get away from sectionals and get husband a recliner due to his back pain, but I suppose if we could find just the right one, it might be worth reconsidering!

Attachment 9014