I currently my Mom's Henredon sofa in my kitchen.

{{gwi:1521970}}

She purchased this back in the early 70's. It did spend most of it's life in the living room, but I must say it's held up.
I like to buy things for life, I do not like having to worry about replacing things in the next few year. I recently spent over $3k on my family room sofa.

I would not spend the money on EA if your concerned about the quality. I can't speak from experience with there products, but if you worried I would look else where.

About the North Carolina pricing, you do not have to go North Carolina. If you find a piece locally, just email Boyles, Lex or Rose with the style number. They email you back a quote. If you prefer to shop local, ask them if they price match, you'll be surprised how many will.

rummy, why did you limit your search to just two brands?

I wouldn't go with EA. The quality seem to really have declined from where it used to be. As far as what John_wc is asking, do a search here on some of the threads that talk about vendor rankings and quality. There are at least 20 well known and widely available brands out there to check out.

Ditto what uafly said about NC, you don't have to go there to buy from them.

Thanks for everyone's input. I actually checked with Lexfurniture on the same Henredon sofas and they beat Boyles price by a lot so that the price diff is negligible at this point. I will go with Henredon.

Hi
Just here to correct comments made by
sister3
EA uses only hardwood, kiln dried, 7 ply, mortered and tenioned frames that are the best in the business.
They use 8-way machined tied springs that are many times stronger and have much longer life than hand tied.
Still a great value for families.
Also, they are bringing back luxury uphol. silks for light used or formal areas of the home.

Hi--I would not recommend buying EA furniture. I have a dining room buffet table that I purchased about 5 years ago. Almost immediately, the doors began to "stick" and the finish on top of the piece had an almost bubble like texture in places. The EA store sent a local furniture repair person who wanted to "redo" the entire top but I decided to not go that route. I thought the repair person would make more of a mess of it as I had heard negative things about his work.

Also, in case you missed the thread here, Rose furniture is closing its doors. There are also two other stores in the High Point area that are also closing. I purchased 4 rooms of furniture from Rose. My last piece arrived in August and Rose or the Stanley Furniture left out hardware pieces to secure the Cottage Revival table. Rose shipped the hardware pieces but will not send out anyone to "finish" setting up the table. Rose did give me the name of a local repair company. It's best to buy locally right now or from a reputable company on-line. BTW, I understand Stanley does not "like to deal with the consumer directly."

Wishing you good luck in finding a couch. My last couch stood up for 15 years through hard wear and tear with kids and teenagers.

I very much second checking out the Lee Industries furniture. I bought a wonderful armchair through Crate & Barrel which just finished their annual 25% off custom sale. They can order any piece on the Lee website for you. I was able to get an ottoman/table to match my sofa (bought from Crate last year) covered with some of the extra yardage. I asked also for castors to be put on the bench and for additional detailing with nailheads. Nothing was a problem, the upcharge was reasonable and even the custom details were 25% off. The only question they asked me was which size nailheads did I prefer?

The chair I purchased last year is lovely quality and value for the money I am very happy with it. Crate & Barrel stands behind every piece they sell. If there's a problem they deal with it or replace it. I had big problems with a bed from them which they had to replace 3 times (manufacturer's sku error kept delivering the wrong size) but they finally got it right and we love it

Furniture is too problemmatic to not deal with a place that will be sure what you get is just right. My Crate stuff was beautifully wrapped and delivered and unwrapped by guys with clean hands and great attitudes and put exactly where I want it. (And they take the wrapping away with them -- don't leave you with the garbage).

To me, that's service and worth a few extra bucks.

Here is a link that might be useful: Lee Industries

I currently have a Henredon leather Sofa and loveseat that is in perfect condition. I am moving and am not able to take it with me. It cost over $6500 8 years ago.

I don't know why anyone would select a EA. I know cost might be the reason, however durabiltiy and quality overpowers EA.

Consumers Reports did a "couch" rating about a year ago. Ethan Allen was #1 in quality. This was only for couches, not wood furniture.

"EA uses only hardwood, kiln dried, 7 ply..."

Just so everyone understands, "7 ply" means plywood.

"Consumers Reports did a "couch" rating about a year ago. Ethan Allen was #1 in quality. This was only for couches, not wood furniture."

CR rated three brands as "Best Buys": EA, Flexsteel and Broyhill. They tested a very short list of sofas and included no upper middle or high end brands.

I was in the Ethan Allen store and was told by a saleswoman that all of Ethan Allen's sofa were 8 way hand tied, including the one I was interested in. I went back on another day to look at the sofa again as it was a top contender, and another salesperson was helping me, this time. She said that it was "not" 8 way hand tied, but sinuous coils or something, and from what has been posted on line about what to look for in a quality sofa, they say sinuous is the cheapest sofa, and not one that would hold up well over the long term.

Since we can not actually see the inside of what we purchase, we are counting on the sales person to know what they are talking about. I would have been really miffed if I had paid $3,000 for a cheap, sinuous sofa.

When I was in the store yet a third time, I came across the original sales woman. She asked if I had made a decision on the sofa. I said I liked the sofa, but was concerned about the quality in comparison to others I was considering. She again stated that this was a top quality, 8 way hand tied, sofa. I asked if she could show me anything that was in writing that stated that this particular sofa was 8 way hand tied. I mentioned that another salesperson believed it was sinuous. She left for a while and finally came back and said it was sinuous, and still tried to sell me on the quality benefits of a sofa built with sinuous wire.

Would it hold up? Who knows? But I do expect sales people at a store the caliber of Ethan Allen to know the products they sell, and to know the difference.

Seems you cannot always trust the sales people and even some of the information posted on this forum. Here is an actual response I received today about a particular upholstered sofa when I emailed Ethan Allen directly:

"I am writing to you in response to your inquiry regarding the Hampton sofa and chair. The Hampton is produced at all 3 of our U.S. locations Chino, CA., Maiden, NC. and Eldred, PA.

Our frames are 7/8" laminated hardwood panels that are dry kilned and the joints are mortise and tenon joints.

Our seating system is a unitized coil spring system.

Our standard cushion construction is: 2.3 density HR foam that meets all Cal. 117 fire code regulations with a 6 lb super soft foam topper and bottom wrapped with a 1 ounce polyester fiber wrap enclosed in a non woven ticking and the back pillows are a polyester fiber filling in a non woven ticking; there is also an option upgrade for a featherblend cushion.

Legs are solid hardwood attached with a hanger bolt and screwed to a tee nut. "

I speak from personal experience. I own a 23-year-old Henredon bedroom set, a 20-year-old Ethan Allen formal dining set with upholstered chairs, 10-year-old EA coffee table, 5-year-old EA sofa, chairs and ottoman, and just bought new EA chairs for the kitchen table. I love them all. They have all withstood the test of time.

The quality of the case goods of both Henredon and EA, as well as a few Harden pieces that I have, is indistinguishable to my eye. The EA upholstered furniture still looks and feels fabulous after many years of hard use.

Ethan Allen is very good value, especially since they seem to have lowered their prices. I love the quality of Henredon, but I can never seem to find anything that fits in with my ecclectic style. EA always seems to have more choices in styles, finishes, so I can cooridinate with existng furniture. I buy for keeps so every new thing has to work with all the old stuff.

I've detected changes in EA over the years, but nothing that has deterred me from buying from them.

Bottom line is, get what you like the best. You can't go that wrong with either company in my opinion. Here is one place where you can choose style over substance.

Given what bnicebkind posted about being told by an EA saleperson that EA sofas are made with sinuous springs, I wonder if EA is playing word games. I have seen the term "sinuous coil springs" used on various websites. I am not sure what that would look like to be honest. Perhaps a coil spring without vertical displacement capabilities? I am NOT saying that is the case with EA only that something does not sound right to me personally.

DCollie can you comment on this?

Henredon is good furniture, but be warned A LOT OF IT IS MADE IN CHINA now. We walked into a beautiful showroom at Thomasville Furniture in Raleigh NC and bought a Henredon leather couch in November 2012. It is April 2013 (5 months!) and we are still waiting for our couch to arrive from China (which we were not told it was being built overseas, we assumed it was made in N.C. We finally got a loaner from the company and I am very pleased with the quality. If you purchase Henredon, ASK WHERE IT WILL BE MADE. If there is an option to pay a little more and have it made locally, do it....unless you truly are in no hurry to receive what you pay for up front.

This post was edited by cholcomb77 on Sat, Apr 13, 13 at 11:03