Furnishing new place help

[NYCmanhattanite]

New to the forum and need some help narrowing down my options to furnish a new apartment in NYC. Leaning in the sectional realm given the constraints of our small building elevator or braving 5 tight flights of stairs. I did my fair share of research here on the forum to educate my self on the topic of furniture, the most reliable manufacturers and prices. Though I realize some of the post could be outdated for current prices.

I would like the piece to last at least 15 yrs give or take. So leather seems to be the most logical but I understand this could get pricey and balloon out of my budget at approximately 8k with some flexibility. Lead time could also be an issue, would prefer not to sit on an air mattress for 5 months waiting for it to arrive.

I have looked at the Milan line from h&m. The closest design to the style I’m after. It seems they offer options for configurations but I don’t believe this falls under the town and country program but rather a separate program for this line. Curious to know if the Milan program has similar leather tiers to choose from as the town and country to make it more economical or am I dreaming and this is just out of my budget?

Considering a MD31(best case scenario) and MD42 configuration in grade 1 leather. In what leather grade do you start to see the aniline leathers?

Fall back would be a fabric upholstered piece from TK. I like the suasalito and adelle line. I was given a quote by strickley’s here in the city for similar configurations (sofa and chaise) for 11k and 10k respectively in grade 42 fabrics.

This is further demoralizes my quest to that elusive leather sectional. Should I look at other manufacturers? BY? MarQ? Someone closer to my range?? Any advice is greatly appreciated.

https://www.hancockandmoore.com/Docu...chure_2022.pdf

https://www.taylorking.com/furniture...ory=sectionals

https://www.taylorking.com/furniture...ory=sectionals

[drcollie]

You're scaring me with the "small building elevator", and the very first thing to do is make sure you can get your selection into your apartment. How big is this elevator? Very few delivery services are going to climb 5 tight flights of stairs. I have sold a lot of furniture into New York City and sometimes things don't go in, then you have a real problem. We have had to steer customers to this business on more than one occasion and they are not inexpensive. https://drsofa.com/locations/new-york/

The H&M Milan series is large, I don't see it going in a small elevator, and it will bust through your budget as well.

www.simplictysofas.com is the safe bet. Their furniture is designed to assemble after its all in your place. And it will hit your budget target point. I don't think a sectional in leather that will fit for $ 8K or less is really do-able. Depends on the components of that sectional AND your elevator size.

Taylor King is taking forever to deliver furniture, scratch them off the list if you have a 4 to 5 month target time or less, they will be double that time.

Bradington Young is probably best to try to target a small sectional for $ 8K, but again - need to know that elevator size openings (and ceiling height / depth) and the configuration you want.

[NYCmanhattanite]

Thanks drcollie for the quick reply.

Elevator size is as follows. It’s also the most restrictive point to get inside the apartment.

The narrowest point of entry is W28”xH82”, this is at the door.
The cab dimensions are W42” x D42” x H92” once inside.

The stairs are:
W36” clear with ceilings at 108”. Intermediate landings are about W72” x D36”
These look more forgiving in terms of dimension restrictions getting up to the unit

Once there the entry door is W32” x H82” and possibly can gain 1.5” if it take the door off.

I checked BY and liked the Hanley line but also looks like a tight fit.

I checked out simplicitysofas, thanks for the reference. I will need to dig in a little more but it seems they don’t list their leather options on the site. What is your impression in terms of quality and customer service?

[Danw99]

28" wide elevator door?? Oof that will be tough. To be ADA compliant I think it has to be at least 36" but I guess it is old and grandfathered in.

[drcollie]

Ho boy, nothing large is going into that elevator, that really is small. Challenging.

Stairs are not too bad, but then we have a 32" door into your place, that's limiting as well. The Simplicity Sofa product is the sure bet, and I have had conversations with Jeff Frank who started the company (and you will find older posts here on the forum about his company if you do a search). I have not seen their product in person, but it is niche for complex deliveries such as yours.

Taylor King makes a smaller scale series call Cozy, and this sectional is 31.5" high with the back cushions off, but the legs do not come off. They are currently running 5 to 6 months delivery (I spoke with them today to get that measurement). You can configure these with different arms and bases to create a more modern look. The price in entry grade leather is $ 12,822 before shipping costs. The same unit in Portfolio GR 1 fabrics is $ 4,674 before shipping costs, so there is a big price variance in fabric vs leather.

I'm not going to have anything for you in the $ 8K range in leather.

https://www.taylorking.com/furniture...cozy-creations

[simplyjeff]

Re: NYCmanhattanite
All Simplicity Sofas furniture, including sectionals of unlimited size, will fit through 15" width doors, stairways and elevators. Your situation is exactly what the furniture is designed for.

Simplicity Sofas temporarily dropped their leather offerings during the Pandemic when their order backlog went over 18 months. The leather will be returning to the website soon, after the pricing is recalculated and leather swatches are ordered. All leather pieces are personally sewn and upholstered by the factory owner. Everything is custom-built one piece at a time.

The current estimated production time for a leather sectional is 6 - 8 weeks after the leather is received.

If you want to get a jump on this, check out the in-stock leathers at Optima Leather website. That is Simplicity Sofas' primary leather supplier.

In the past, Optima's Royalton, Corinne and Classico collections have been the most common leathers ordered by Simplicity Sofas' customers. You can also choose from other Optima collections but prices may be higher (or lower) than the three mid-range collections named.

You can order swatches directly from Optima. At this time, that will be faster than waiting for swatches from Simplicity Sofas, but you will also have a larger selection to choose from. Optima normally sends swatches only to business customers, but just let them know you are working with Simplicity Sofas in the Notes section of the order form.

If you want to know more about how Simplicity Sofas furniture is designed and built, check out Does Simplicity Sofas furniture really last forever?

The furniture really is built to last a lifetime. Simplicity Sofas builds its own frames and cushions. The frames are solid oak. Standard cushions are 2.5 density Ultracel foam (a foam brand second only to Qualux in quality.) There are 2 cushion upgrade options: a slightly softer 2.5 density foam which uses memory foam as a wrapper instead of the standard dacron polyester fiber, and a Spring Down option.

All three cushion choices will last 15+ years for most people. All seat and back cushions are removable and reversible. (Very few manufacturers are still making reversible leather cushions.)

Over the past few years, Simplicity Sofas has experienced some customer service and shipping challenges, but there has not been a single complaint about the quality or comfort of the furniture since moving to the current High Point, NC factory location in 2017.

I am the former owner of Simplicity Sofas. I retired last year and sold the company to Sergio Diaz, who has been in charge of Simplicity Sofas' manufacturing since the company first opened in 2007. Sergio built every piece of Simplicity Sofas furniture himself during the company's first 3 years, and still does all the leather pieces personally.