requesting advice for family room furniture selection/arrangement

[Branders]

Hello, I have spent many hours over the past few days reading the posts on this forum. I cannot thank you enough for the wealth of information provided here. I am shopping for a leather sofa and have been completely confused by all the terms used by the salespeople I have encountered. I don’t understand the terms they use when talking about leather, and I haven’t been able to communicate with them very well. This site has really helped me learn more about the choices available and what questions to ask when shopping. Thank you!

After 18 years, we are replacing the furniture in our family room. I’m posting today to request advice on selecting and arranging new furniture for this space. I am including a floor plan and photographs of the room as it is currently arranged. (Please note that the large recliner by the window in the photos does not belong in this room. It was moved in for a large family gathering and hasn’t gone back to its room yet.)

The furniture we have now was comfortable when we used the room for lounging and watching television. However, the deep seating is not conducive to the current use of the room which is for conversation and entertaining. We don’t like the large rolled arms on the sofa, loveseat, and floral chair (I never cared for the large pattern on the chair, but it came as a set). We have found that three people rarely sit on the two-cushioned sofa even though it is long enough, so we want the new one to have three cushions. Over the years this furniture has been in a variety of configurations. The current arrangement is comfortable for conversation, but may not be the best use of the space. We are preparing to have a covered porch built to replace the deck, so direct sunlight will not be an issue in the future.

We are currently thinking of replacing the sofa and loveseat with leather pieces, then selecting two chairs with fabric upholstery, but I have no idea what style chairs. We are undecided about having a coffee table or simply using side tables. I’ve never been sure which direction to place the area rug, or if it is the correct size and shape for the room.

There is only one store in our area that carries high end furniture such as H&M, but sadly they have a very limited selection. Our favorite sofa of the ones we’ve seen so far is the BY Richardson. My husband and I both think it is comfortable and looks nice. The overall length of the Richardson sofa and loveseat is comparable to the existing sofa and loveseat.

I welcome any suggestions on arranging the room, as well as specific pieces to consider. Thanks in advance!

[drcollie]

Your photos are so small I can't get a good feel for the room, sorry. It appears to be quite full, and you would probably like something more airy and not as heavy looking. I'm all about free space rather than overfilling a room. Your style looks traditional, and you can get some pieces that are lighter in appearance and still keep that look, such as the H&M Carmen or H&M Utopia sofas. I have a B-Y Richardson in my store and its fine, but lacks some of the style components of the Hancock and Moore pieces if that's important to you.

If you can, post larger size photos. Thanks

[wisejd]

Duane, I don't know for sure how to enlarge these photos on a standard PC, but on my MAC all I ever have to do is click once, and then click again on the resulting pup-up picture to be able to make the photo any size. When I read the room dimensions vs. the photos, it looked a great deal smaller than the dimensions would imply. I think their idea of going with a style with much smaller arms is a great first step. I also think if they need as much seating as they currently show (excluding the recliner) then deleting a coffee table is an excellent idea. No doubt, H&M choices such as you suggest would be gorgeous.

[Branders]

Thank you for your reply! We agree that the room is too full. Especially with the scale of the furniture we have. Those big arms really eat up a space! You are correct that we like traditional styling. We like older pieces and things with a history. But we like comfort, too.

I believe we sat on the Utopia sofa at our local shop. If it's the one we are remembering we preferred the feeling of a cushioned back to its back. I'll see if the have the Carmen in stock. We don't usually like a tufted back, but it's hard to tell on the screen. We both love the look of the Tides sofa on the website, very old world, but it's dimensions sound too large for our room. And of course we have no idea how it looks or sits "in person". What drew us to the Richardson was its comfort and scale. A lot of the leather sofas we've found locally have high backs and large arms, and many have deep seats. Some of them lean so far back that I feel like I'm sliding off. I'm frustrated that I can't find a wider selection of H&M near our home. By the way, the Richardson we sat on is in the lighter of the "married covers". That's one of the terms that brought me to this forum! Along with "family room leather" and "protective coating". What a long list of things there are to learn about leather.


I'm posting new photos. Hopefully bigger, but also with less furniture in the room and a different arrangement. If we can find the right scale of furniture, we would like to have two sofas or a sofa/loveseat combo and two chairs. Maybe a square table in the center of the room? But we are definitely open to other suggestions on pieces or arrangements. We want to find the right balance between having enough seating for entertaining without overloading the room. I agree with you about the style components on the H&M pieces. Let me know if the new photos are easier to see. I'm not sure what the upload size limits are for this program. It won't let me upload my original file sizes.




Thank you!

[Branders]

I'm adding a couple more photos.

[Branders]

I have no idea which sofa style I want yet, but after spending all day readings posts and looking at photos, I'd love to purchase a Hancock & Moore. And I'm head over heels with the Tiburon Java I've seen on some pieces. It's at least a start!

[Branders]

Thanks for the comments, wisejd! The piano takes up part of the room, but it's really the best place in the house for it. Those arms really close things in as well!

[Branders]

I am headed out to our local furniture store to see what they have on display from H&M and to check out some leather samples. I though I'd post a few photos of some pieces we have in the areas adjacent to our living room. I'm sure a trained eye will spot a lot of decorating faux pas, but maybe it will give an idea of the style of furnishings we like. We have a room upstairs with comfy furniture for laying around to watch TV, so the furniture we are seeking for the room in question only needs to be comfortable for sitting and not necessarily for lounging.

The dining table and chairs were purchased by my grandparents when they married in Atlanta in 1941. They aren't the most comfortable, but very sentimental. The other pieces are from antique stores and estate sales. Most of the things sitting around on tables and in the china cabinet are sentimental items as well.

Thanks again for sharing suggestions on particular pieces of furniture to consider, or alternate ways of arranging the family room.

[drcollie]

Much better photos and YES - the existing pieces you have (upholstery) are really dragging the room down as a whole, they have a very 80's / 90's look to them. I think you will find there are many, many pieces that will work in the room that will totally change the look just by streamlining the visual weight of the upholstery. Here's a couple ideas that won't take you out of the realm of traditional furnishings, but put space and air in the room because the styles are slimming, yet still full-seating.

Remember too, that airspace UNDER the sofa is one of those components to add visual space. The B-Y Richardson you looked at previously is low to the floor and that makes it look "heavy" in the room. My suggestion is to go visual space first in whatever new style you select, then target comfort afterwards. All too often, customers are so focused on the the "sit test" when they come in the store they don't consider how the space flows in their room. It's not that hard to find a comfortable sofa, but it's far trickier to get the space/proportion right. I can't tell you how many times we deliver furniture to a customer's home and my delivery guys come back and say "Wow, we really jammed that upholstery in there, it was way too big for the room".

Your room actually is very nice, it just needs to be de-bulked in the furniture. Here's a few to consider:

http://www.hancockandmoore.com/Produ...s/Ashmore-Sofa
http://www.hancockandmoore.com/Produ...s/Martini-Sofa
http://www.hancockandmoore.com/Produ...ugby-Club-Sofa

Most likely you will find your local dealer only has a few pieces of H&M, its pretty rare to find more than about half a dozen pieces at most dealerships (I keep closer to fifty styles of H&M in my store).

The large round table by the wing chair in your room is far too large, consider something practical with a much smaller footprint instead. Along these lines.

http://www.fauld.com/product/807/category/228

I'd skip a coffee table, and perhaps go this route if you want a piece between the fireplace and sofa:

http://www.hancockandmoore.com/Produ...cktail-Ottoman

Lastly, I'd not have a chair in front of your window. One chair (where the wing chair is) should suffice. Hope that helps. A professional decorator local to you can also help you with a great look if you want to go that route.

[Branders]

Thank you! I like your suggestions. Especially the point about considering the space under the furniture. You are correct that the local store has a very small selection of H&M pieces. I'm going to call around tomorrow and see what a road trip to Atlanta, Nashville, or Birmingham might provide. Unfortunately, your store is about 12 hours away or I would be trying out those 50 pieces! Thanks for taking the time to reply. You have been very helpful!