Vivi, I am about to order a King Hickory sectional, but have not yet. I have checked out the quality of their construction first hand though. You can see in the link King Hickory uses solid or gold standard construction techniques. But I test out the furniture on the showroom floors to make sure the construction is solid. Two tests (of many) for "solidness" of construction are: 1. Lifting the couch off the ground by one leg. The second leg should lift off the ground almost immediately (1 inch maximum). The King Hickory does as well or better than every couch I have tested, regardless of price. Layered plywood frames on some other manufacturers have to be lifted 2-4 inches before the 2nd leg lifts. This amount of flex is not good. 2, Wiggle the arms to see if they are solidly attached. Again the King Hickory does great. Kiln dried hardwood, double doweled, and corners braced makes for a solid piece of furniture. I choose the loose box welted cushion. l wanted the flexibility of taking the cushions off the couch for more room when laying down on the couch at night when I have insomnia or when our adult kids come for a visit. Also the loose cushion allows you to easily have it refilled or reupholstered down the line without having to bring the whole couch or have the upholsterer make a visit. Flipping the pillow over is also a big plus if you have a tough stain. I am not affiliated with King Hickory or the furniture trade in any way. I am just a working stiff who values bang for his buck and quality construction. I will say the Smith Brothers pieces I checked out also seemed well built but a bit more expensive and did not fit our space. From what I read Lexington is rated A+ by the BBB and responds to all customer concerns. You will want to read and follow their instructions carefully before accepting or rejecting delivery (check for damage). The delivery company will reserve the right to fix any damage. Also their delivery times tend to be longer because they wait until they can fill a truck before they send one across the country. If you need a local store to hold your hand through the process they are probably not right for you. You need to know the exact model, fabric, options etc before you buy. But in my case they will likely save me $1,600 on a King Hickory factoring in delivery and taxes. $7000 seems a bit high to me for upholstery. But perhaps the larger footprint of your sectional and the premium fabric bring the price up. We chose the Bentley which is customizable. For 3 pieces (sofa, curved corner and love seat) we are looking at $3,400 to $5,100 with tax and delivery depending upon the retailer.

Suzie, I actually think that is how mine worked. The "girls" sort of gave me a wish list and I found a dress that worked reasonably well within the parameters. I wouldn't compromise on color. That dicates so much, flowers, etc. I think brides sometimes don't think through the dress thing very well. I was in a wedding many year ago, when I was in my early 20s. The bride shopped with the tallest, thinnest girl when choosing dresses. Mistake. She chose a dress that made that girl look like she had a figure she didn't have. But I had a figure and didn't need help looking more hourglass. I'll never forget it-portrait collar, tiny waist, flouncy peplum at the hips and a pencil skirt (did I mention hot pink?). I didn't look bad per se, but I definitely distracted attention from the bride and other girls. I looked va va voom. The MOB was less than pleased. I wish I looked like that now! 18 year later. The worst dress that almost was didn't happen because the wedding was cancelled by the groom (I felt badly for my friend, but was SO GLAD I didn't have to wear that dress in public). It was a few years later and I was a little heavier. Black and white satin mermaid/cha cha style. Truly horrifying. I looked Anna Nicole Smith (except brunette) from the fat years. Ridiculous. But the MOH was a wisp of a thing and it looked charming in a sort of trashy way on her. On me it was just trashy.

If only it were that simple. My poor DH took the job in NYC following his divorce because he took a bath. His ex-wife got 65% of their marital assets (including most of the retirement funds), and his obligations included an $8,000/month fixed and guaranteed child support/maintenance payment, as well as 100% of the boys' college tuitions. He also had agreed to pay reduced maintenance upon his ex-wife's remarriage. She had already had her next husband lined up in DC, and she told DH she would need the additional maintenance (in addition to the child support) in order to stay in the Chicago area until the youngest son graduated. She reneged on that and moved to DC when she married last summer, and that's why the boys came to live with us, but she still gets her maintenance checks. The reduced maintenance runs for 3 years of her marriage or until youngest son graduates, so she synched her remarriage to get the maximum maintenance. Anyway, DH took the job before I was in the picture, and I think most divorced dads in that situation would just start a new life in their new city. My husband choose to keep his post-divorce apartment here so that he could come home on the weekends and be with the boys. He had tried to find a similar position in the Chicago area, but there just wasn't anything. So now DH commutes. He's usually home for 3 or 4 days on the weekends (yes, he can take long weekends, the flip is that he works 15 hour days while in NYC), and he does take time off during the school breaks (all winter break, spring break, and several weeks in the summer), so he does spend time with the kids. The irony of all this is that youngest son, during his recent tirade about how he doesn't want to live with us because of all our stupid rules, said he would follow his BM's rules because, as he put it, "No offense, dad, but I respect mom more than I respect you." This would be the mom that took off for DC and dumped him off with us. Go figure. I should also add that my ex-husband (my daughters' bio dad) is a lawyer who returned to Israel. Try collecting child support from that. So my DH supports all of us. I once had a conversation with DH's ex-wife about how we actually have 5 college tuitions to pay for, and she said, "But DH doesn't have to pay for the girls' college!" She was really surprised that he would, and thought that he shouldn't, but that is the kind of dad my DH is. I guess because I was raised by my stepdad, with a totally absent bio dad, I don't think anything unusual about this. Now that youngest son has opted to return to living with mom, our fixed and guaranteed child support/maintenance payment is $6,000/month, oldest son is in out-of-state private college with $40,000/year tuition, of which we pay 100%, we are still saving for college tuitions for younger kids, as well as for our retirement. My daughters are actually good girls. They are excellent students, involved in extracurricular school activities, they stay out of trouble, and were pretty upset by what happened with the step brother. They didn't want him to leave our home, and they think he's "dumb." I think the biggest difference between them and their step brothers is that the girls have always known what the rules were, and what was expected of them. I can't imagine my 14 yo ever skipping class (she is a straight A student), yet the boys were always doing that when they lived with their mom. I will share a funny story about BM. When oldest son first left for college, it was right after her remarriage and move to DC, so she was no longer receiving child support. She visited son at school, bought him 3 expensive NorthFace coats (we had bought him a new one before he left for school, we didn't realize he was going to need 3 more), and then called me to tell me she would need a reimbursement check. Her reasoning? Well, she was no longer getting child support. Never mind that she was still getting $2,000/month maintenance. I told her that oldest son was over 18, so no one gets child support for him, and that if any of us buy him something, it's a gift. She then said, well, she didn't want to ask for reimbursement, but her new husband thought she should. What a jerk. When I think of that compared to how DH treats my daughters, I have to feel sorry for BM, as well as my stepsons. What was my point? Oh, yes. We have a lot of financial obligations, plus my stepson DOES NOT want to live here (so long as I am here). He just wants to be able to "stay here" when it's not convenient for his BM. So I'm not sure that, at this point, my DH's 100% presence would make a difference.

If you ended up buying one, I would love to know h it has been working for you. I am thinking of ordering the 260-10. They tell me it is being discontinued as of the 29th. I like it because of its loose back cushions and the deep skirt, which I think is the part they are discontinuing. And it should be made to last according to the way they say it is built. The fabric I was considering is 434502.