You really have to sit in the furniture that you are considering purchasing. The cheaper furniture lines will have compromises in either materials or workmanship. There is also a good primer here from drcollie (Furniture 101?) , serch his thread out here. I have read that there are some good furniture manufacturers in south Cal; maybe EliteLeather or ArizonaLeather. Then you could find somewhere in Tx that you could sit in the pieces that you want. What I have read, you might want to consider a protected leather because of your dogs, the better leathers may be too fussy. hth

Did more research (bradington-young) and am corn-fused. Yeah, I want leather, however, it too is vulnerable to wear, tear, fading, etc., and I'm including the pure aniline leather (top grade) which is not recommended for animals, stains from spills, etc. I will be using the sofa everyday and evening. SOOO here's the question: To fabric or not to fabric (recliner) sofa? My biggest concern is spill-staining as I have friends who are professional klutzes and drop/spill/break is their middle name...me 2! This probably sounds nutz but so far all my decisions on my remodeling have been spot-on and so it goes for the sofa & chairs. Just thought I'd throw this out there and the last thing I wanna do is go on a tangent but that's how things get distilled for me. Thanks everybody for the great feedback so far and by far this site seems to have the best information. Price is a consideration. Am willing to spend up to $2k for the sofa and about $800 per chair. If you're going to recommend a fabric, a little explanation would help. J/L

Thank you all so much for the advice and information. I think you're right that I really need to sit down and think about this purchase more, rather than just jumping in feet first because of the "good deal". It sounds like if I like it enough to be the largest thing in the space, it will work with what I have and it will be a great quality piece. But, if I find myself doing this for the deal, then maybe I should reconsider and look elsewhere. Thank you, my3dogs for the pictures of the H&M September sofa in a darker color. I have to say, I'm liking the style a lot more seeing it in the darker color. Though I do still have similar concerns about the "heaviness" of the sofa. Wow, runninginplace, that's a really lovely sofa. I thought Thomasville was on par cost-wise with H&M. Maybe I need to do more searching locally to see exactly what is available and what I can find on sale. That's a great point about the fact that I'm considering the "life" of the sofa in my house.

Well, something's got to give. Either both girls get a recliner and parents are SOL, or you choose a layout that is attractive and sensible for the room as a whole and no one reclines lol. Or only those with a medical need recline ;) The first pic you posted in the last batch, with the two white sofas and two grey chairs, would work really well in your room. One of the chairs could recline. If you wanted you could use a sectional in place of the two white sofas. That's similar to what I was suggesting above. If you have an ottoman to put your feet up on would your younger daughter feel that was fair? Or would it make your husband more comfortable with saying, "life's not fair kid"? NOT giving parenting advice here.