Christie, Charles Schneider Furniture is one of the last great American furniture brands left. I do not know why they are not better known, but they should be. They are now making American made leather with memory foam cushions, it is so comfortable to sit and lay on. They still bench make each sofa by hand and to order. Are you are person who would ever reupholster a sofa to save it from a landfill? If so Charles Schneider furniture makes the only frame and cushion cores that are truly capable of being reupholster. Make the upgrade to the blue gel foam cushion it is not that much more for a sofa that will last 20 years. I don't know if the links below will help. You cant buy from their website and it doesn't have dealer locator for some stupid reason(might be why no one on the east coast has heard of them) so I attach a FB page that does. https://www.facebook.com/pages/Memory-Foam-Sofa-Store-Locator/608669305813102 Here is a link that might be useful: store locator

Wellington, Im glad to here your experiences and that you have more knowledge compared to most retailers. And you make some good points and some that are not correct. Example is the link to the Chesterfield sofa. First how to you think they attach the row of buttons thats along the front edge of the seat, thats the first row just above the top seat border? I direct you to your site here: http://www.wellingtonsleather.com/furniture-catalog/sofas-a-loveseats/ball-in-claw-leather-sofa-detail.html I can just about guarantee that this sofa does not have coil spring 8-way hand tied seat. Thus not every sofa has 8-way tied spring coil seating. You mentioned using metal rods instead of twine. Metal rods is not exactly the correct terminology, its metal prong buttons and when a manufacturer (McKinley Leather is one and a number of others) that pre-tuffs; they either use the metal prong buttons or a pre-tied twine in a loop to a length that matches the thickness of the poly and using a slited plastic washer to hook and hold in the button. You said you never heard of "pre-tufting a seat. Pre-tufting is where they glue a piece of FLW or propex to the bottom of the foam that is pre-bored for tufting. Then someone, not an upholster, lays on the material (fabric/leather) where the position of the buttons is already marked by the cutter. This person then locates this mark on the material, takes a prong metal button and pushes the button through the material, through the hole in the foam (this hole must align with the correct mark on the material, through the FLW and bends over the prongs to secure the button into the foam near the bottom, doing all the buttons this way is how you make a pre-tufted seat. This person also folds over each pleat to finish up. Then all the upholster has to do is place it over the springs and staples down along the edges. Saves quit a bit of time and labor costs. This is how most major upholstery manufacturers do their button tufting. As far as how good 8-way tied spring coil seating is, its only as good as they the manufacturer makes it. Please know that the springs are held together with twine. Twine being a string. String can break. It breaks much easier than metal. Thats just the laws of physics. I have seen 100 times more often repairs done on 8-way tied spring coils that are being reupholstered than repairs done on no-sag springs. No-sag springs that are 8 to 8.5 gauge will not ever break or sag. Thats been tested by many of furniture labs. The issue with no-sag springs is how their fastened and what their fastened to. I have seen many times where no-sag springs have either pulled loose from the frame or the frame that holds the no-sag spring is broken. But its never the spring itself. Their is no better seating than a 8-way hand tied coil seating with a spring-edge front. Its the most comfortable, evenly support across the seat and will go a long ways in helping seat cushions hold their front edge shape and increase their life. The problem is very few manufacturers still make a spring-edge front any more. To make a spring-edge front requires at least 3 times longer than a just tying the springs directly to the top edge of all the seat rails. The image you show is close to being correctly tied. The twine should be knot tied at every point, its not in the image, its just every other point on the spring is knot tied. Now they do drop down on the last ring of the coils along the outside edge, thats good. Also should never be less than 4 rows deep and have a slight crown in the center. And this is where now so many upholstery manufacturers, in their spring-up department have gotten away from tying correctly, the way it should be done. The tying it the quickest and easiest way possible, just so they can use the term "8-way hand tied coil seating ". In a nutshell your sitting on the string/twine and not the springs. A seat thats flat with no ride, meaning its so firm that it offers little comfort, so your just sitting on the cushions and the twine, until the twine finally gives out and breaks. My point is don't always buy into the 8-way hand tied coil seat advertising as thats all it is: advertising. Now my case in point for a button tufted seat using no-sag springs. The fabric, buttons with the twine, dacron fiber, poly (foam) and springs should move together as one unit. TOP TO BOTTOM. And that won't happen if you try to button tuft a hand tied coil spring seat. Because the coil springs at the bottom do not move. And thats where you tie off the buttons also, at the bottom, unless of course its a pre-tufted seat. I strongly suggest that you connect with the upholster on this and come and see him actually build a tufted seat. Maybe take some photos and post them here.

I love brown with navy. This PHOTO is a bit over the top, but illustrates the richness of this color combination. I am so bored with gray and greige. You could do a print on the ottoman and the chair, but it might be better to find an area rug that you like first. For instance, when you redo the colors in a bedroom, it's easier to match paint to the linens than the reverse. I think it would be similarly easier to match upholstery fabric to a rug. Something like THIS with THAT perhaps?

For years I had high end furniture that was a pain in the neck to take care of. As we got older we decided that there was no point on spending that kind of money. We finally bit the bullet and went to IKEA. What a relief not to have to worry about cleaning spots, wine drips, appetizer spills after a party. We also have 2 cats and a very furry dog. These have slip covers and I just take them off and into the washer and dryer they go. If I have time I’ll but them right back on, if company is coming I put on the second set that I bought for next to nothing. Best of luck to you.