Great Room Layout and Picture

[kitkat]

Wow...Just finished reading this thread, and I can't wait to see the after photo with the new furniture!

Drcollie...Did I hear you say something nice about Chinese leather? East meets west...

Seriously, I'm going to follow this one to the end! Hope you're having fun with this because I bet it's going to be beautiful.

[aluebcke]

Duane...that's interesting that you say most people end up with their first choice. The one time I got my husband to look through the leather samples (probably 2-3 months ago now) he picked the Antelope 4x. I really liked it, too, but ruled it out due to the grade 4 price.

My daughter picked the lambskin, which feels awesome....but that's obviously not going to happen (not with a grade 5 price, 2 kids, and a dog).

kitkat, glad to hear you're following my thread. This forum is awesome! Did you find the other posts on the Sundance sofas? I believe you're considering that one.

[aluebcke]

While I'm eagerly awaiting my grade 4 samples (Capri and Antelope), I thought I'd post our "nearly final" layout and get some opinions.

We're definitely doing two Sundance sofas parallel to each other, an Author chair, and two author ottomans.

We're debating whether one of the sofas should be the 110" width (vs the 84" width) and whether to increase the sofa depth on one by 4".

In the attached, I've included the 110" sofa with the 4" greater depth.
Dimensions:
Large Sundance 110" W x 50" Deep
Small Sundance 84" W x 46" Deep
Author Swivel Chair 37.5" W x 42" deep
Author ottomans 27" W x 30.5" deep

We were lucky to find the standard 84" Sundance at a dealer....the depth was okay (better than most for us), but we'd prefer it a little deeper for lounging.

I'm concerned that the 110" sofa may be too wide, and increasing the depth may be too much for the room.

The room is 16' deep and 18' 8" wide. Note that the 2'11" measurements on the bottom right and left in the layout are columns. Also, the picture posted as a Word document and the proportions look off....room is wider than deep. Not sure why this happened....but I'm sure it's my horrible refurbished computer.

Any opinions would be greatly appreciated.

Final_Final layout two sundances author.doc

[drcollie]

Hi Amanda,

I have concerns about that 110" Sundance being modified to 4" extra depth. Its going to be MASSIVE and heavy as lead. A standard Sundance needs a 35" door opening, you'll have to have closer to 39" to get that big hawg in the house...do you have that much egress? That sofa will be around 300 lbs as well, so lift time by two guys is very limited.

You'll have a big expense on that piece in a GR 4 and I'd hate to have you buy that custom and then discover there is too much bulk in the room - you'd be one unhappy camper. Also, when you add 4" in depth, you change the visual weight of the piece and it may lose its svelte lines and form. You have to be careful when modifying a piece because of that, or else you risk having a $ 7,000 mistake in your room. That 110" Sundance in stock configuration is a mighty large piece already - give it careful thought before you customize it. Based on my experience with two of these in a room and an Author chair with some ottomans, I'm going to discourage the custom aspect of it all just because of the bulk of all these items together. We will build it the way you want it, but lay it all out in the room with cardboard templates to be sure...and check that egress! Personally I'd not attempt that massiveness in any room less than 21' x 21', and at 16' x 19' I have a lot of concerns about over-bulking the room with upholstery. I tend to err on the side of being conservative and preserving walk space (unlike most furniture stores that will sell you everything to fill a space if it means more dollars in their pockets).

To give you an example, I have a 20' x 23' family room in my house and I have a pair of 83" Leathercraft sofas in it, with an H&M Sadler Recliner and a square 38" coffee table. We can carry one more upholstered chair in the room (replaces the black windsor you see) and sometimes cycle one in and out of that spot by the fireplace, but that's about it. Here's a photo of my room which is larger than your space and yet has smaller furniture in it:

http://www.myfurnitureforum.com/show...e-Dyed-Leather

Review the scale again before you make a final decision. If you want extra deep, I think stay with the 84" Sundance, and if you want the long 110", maybe keep it standard depth. Measure twice, buy once!

[aluebcke]

Duane, I can't tell you how much I appreciate your honest opinion! I almost called to tell you

I have some reservations on this as well, and keep going back to your comment not to "overfurniture a room".

I'm going to have my husband read your post....and then we'll lay it out in the room again (this time with cardboard and not just tape).

Our current furniture is larger than typical (sofa is 95"W and 38" deep, coffee table is 30x50) so we keep thinking a 110" Sundance is not that much bigger, but I think we're underestimating the impact an increase to 110" x 50" would be.

Also, there are columns between the kitchen and great room that will limit the walkways if we put a 110" sofa in the room.....to about 3 feet. This seems too narrow.

Egress is not a problem. We have double front doors and a 51" W hallway from the front door to the great room. Of course, just because we can get it in, doesn't mean we should.

I know you mentioned that one of your customers increased the depth by 4" on the 84" Sundance. How did this look? Any issues with the changing the visual weight of the piece, or the design look? We'd lay this out, too.

If we increased the depth by 2" only, would the custom charges still apply? Not sure this would be worth it, but want to consider all the options.

[drcollie]

I want you to be happy with your purchase, Amanda! I know its a large cash outlay and want to work with you to 'get it right' rather than just ordering it for you. I go into a lot of homes, and see a lot of decorating disasters - so when I *think* I see something coming that isn't going to look one hundred percent, I'm going to let you know so you can re-evaluate before you spend your hard-earned money on it.

There's a BIG difference between a 95" Sofa that is 38" deep and a 110" Sofa that is 46" Deep. I think you would be shocked if you saw them side-by-side. That 46" depth adds a significant amount of visual mass and bulk, moreso than the length does. Imagine the sofa you have now and make it 1/3 larger in appearance, that's what you are going to get just in the stock form, and I'm afraid that at 50" deep it may simply be too much.

I called H&M and they have made the 110" Sundance before with a 4" Depth increase, but I can't recall having sold that one and if I did it was a drop ship and didn't come by the store. There were no notes in the H&M computer files on a + 2" Depth, but the only way to do it is extend the frame or make the back cushions less deep. I think you can take 1" to 1.5" out of the back cushions without much of an issue, but 2" might be too much. Custom charges apply for either, to do the cushions is inexpensive, frame mods are not!

[aluebcke]

I see your point on the difference in size....looking at the footprint of each sofa, the 110" Sundance (with 50" depth) is 52% greater in square footage than my current sofa. That helps put it into perspective, as does your pictures. Thanks

One more question: If the custom charge is $900 to make the sofa 4" deeper, since I'm already paying a custom charge, can I also make the width a bit larger (say 96")? Or would that be two separate custom charges? No worries if you don't know....let us lay it out first before you waste you time calling H&M.

[drcollie]

I'd have to check on the mods again with a call, they only figured it up on the 110" for depth. For the smaller one, they would have to recompute it all. I'll be glad to find out for you, just let me know the specs.

[hglaber]

Also, if you want an even better idea of visual weight rather than raw dimensions, get some file boxes or coffee tables or whatever and put your cardboard layout on them to get them off the ground. They look a lot bigger when they take up 3D space, rather than flat on the floor where you don't brush/bump/trip over them as you navigate the room.

Of course I've only done it with chair and small sofa models; supporting a cardboard Sundance could require some complicated logistics.

[aluebcke]

We're going to try out the cardboard method this weekend. hglaber....thanks for your suggestion about getting the cardboard off the floor. We'll give that a try.

The new leather samples came in the mail today. And the Capri feels fabulous! It's super soft and has some nice variation...I can't imagine how great it feels on a whole sofa. The butternut and harness are very nice, but I think they may be too light for us. We really like the Capri tobacco. Duane, I can see why the Capri butternut is your favorite. I keep looking at the butternut sample, but I don't think it works in our room (with the green walls and red rug).

We also received the Antelope samples, and Quintessence. While I like the Antelope, I'm questioning whether we want to pay a class 4 price for a protected leather. It is very soft, but the Capri is a bit softer and has a more matte finish.

I tested the samples (along with some of the old leathers I liked) with butter, olive oil, iced tea, coffee, yogurt drink, and windex. The tea, coffee, and yogurt weren't a problem for any of the samples, but the butter, olive oil, and windex stained a few. Here is what I saw on the leathers I tested:
* Quintessence - worst of the leathers tested. Olive oil and windex soaked in and stained the leather (as expected)
* Weston - staining wasn't as bad as Quintessence, but some olive oil and windex staining
* Atticus Java - no problems, everything wiped right off
* Ryan Chesnut - windex was a problem, everything else wiped off
* Capri - no problems, but I'm not sure I left the windex on for long enough (I may try again)

I'm very surprised the Capri did so well. I expected some staining.

Duane, have you had any experience with the Capri in terms of how it will hold up to spills/stains? We don't allow eating in the great room, but the kids cheat at least once or twice a week (mostly with snacks like chips or fruit rolls).

Also, we have a small dog that is not supposed to be on the furniture.....but he does jump up there occasionally. But I'd say he doesn't lay on the sofa for more than 1-2 hours/week.

Still considering our budget, too. Anyone with the promotional leather, Portfolio? Duane, can you please give me your feedback on this leather? I've searched the forum and cannot find much on it. If you have a picture of the Portfolio tobacco or Portfolio harness on a sofa or chair, and can post it, I'd appreciate it.