If you look at the manufactures suggested by spolina (Baker's Milling Road Collection, Hancock And Moore, Bernhardt, Lexington Brands, Swaim) then you can definitely buy below MSRP. Check Boyles in NC and Lexington Furniture Company in Lexington, KY. I have never gotten a better price locally. The best price has always come from these two stores. You just need to find what you want by looking in your local store, then contact Boyles and Lexington for a quote. I have purchased a Kindel dining room set; Hancock & Moore sofa; chair, & ottoman; Hickory Chair sofa, chair & ottoman; EJ Victor chair; Hekman table; Baker bed; Hickory Chair nightstands; Century sofa; Stickley desk; Wildwood lamps; and a Bernhardt bed in the past 5 years. Only the Stickley desk was cheaper locally as I got it on a double sale. The price difference depends on the brand. Manufactures by law cannot dictate the 3rd party retailer's selling price. The way they get around the law is to make it clear that they will not supply a store that sells below a certain minimum. They claim doing so ensures the "value" of the product brand. One brand my tolerate a minimum of 25% below MSRP; another will tolerate 30% below MSRP. Stores like Bassett and Ethan Allen hold the line on their price. If they have a sale, you get the sale price. Otherwise, the price is the price. Bassett will probably not give you the quality and look you are after.

My Flexsteel sectional has metal clips so the two pieces hook together. It's on a wood floor but it's against two walls so it's not going anywhere (it also weighs a ton). No recliners; we plan on a cat sometime soon and I once injured a cat by trapping it under the recliner when I closed it up, so I swore I would never own a recliner again. We did choose to use a larger coffee table because we needed the surface space, and the coffee table that had fit the regular couch just fine was too small for the sectional, both visually and functionally. Regarding measurements, our sectional sits in a corner against two walls. I simply measured the two walls and allowed a bit of space for small end tables, then hunted down a sectional that fit those measurements and wasn't too bulky for the room. Small-scale sectionals that aren't just two loveseats stuck together or a couch with a chaise stuck on (I find it very difficult to get out of the chaise) are not easy to find, but they're not ALL ginormous! Ours is something like 90" on one side of the "L" and 110" on the other. If you plan to "float" your sectional, get a roll of blue painter's tape and map out where your sectional's going to go, right on the floor with the tape, until the proportion looks right and then measure that; if you have the standard sofa-loveseat combo now you can shove them together into that space and get a rough idea of scale. The biggest "pros" in our house are that it wastes no space in our small living room - when we had a couch and loveseat, there was a substantial area in the corner that was wasted (furniture arms take up a lot of space) and we couldn't both stretch out to watch TV, read or nap while now we can and still have room for the dog. :-) The main con is that it IS a little bit heavy-looking for the small room, although cut-back arms, a relatively low back, and a slightly-bland midtone sage color do reduce the visual weight somewhat.

Just to update, we finally ordered a sectional from Century. It is L shaped with a loveseat on one wall and a sofa length on the other. The good thing is that it is 43" deep so it should be very comfortable to lay on. We chose a chenille type fabric in a greenish tone. We started the room's decor off by picking 2 oriental rugs and pulling colors from that. The sofa comes with 7 throw pillows, so I chose 2 different fabrics for 4 of those. We'll see if it works or not when it comes in! On another note, once we started to choose decor, we realized the color on the walls was pukey and we had to get the painters back to change from blue to brown. I'm so glad we did that. It really warms up a basement room with no windows. The lighting is what made color selection so tricky. Also in there, we got a leather recliner from Hancock & Moore. And the really neat looking Wisteria Barn door coffee table. Funny thing is that when it arrived, it really did smell like a...barn door! Fortunately that smell has disapated.

Hi DBug! I have the PB Square upholstered sofa w/ chaise and the PB Comfort upholstered sectional. The Comfort has deeper seating than the Square. If I remember correctly, it's only 5 or so inches deeper but made a difference to us as I wanted a row of continuous pillows to make it extra comfy. You kind of just sink into it. The wedge corner piece on the sectional adds to the comfort. My husband and guests on the taller side notice it is more roomy as well. Your comment about looking into slipcovered sofas reminded me that before I got the pb Square, I bought two of their slipcovers to put over my old sofas and they were great. Slipped a bit but they weren't made for those sofas. Have you seen the pb slipcovered sofas in person? They look nice and I'd bet they're wonderful! Good luck! Obviously I've spent way too much time obsessing over buying sofas so if you have any other questions on fabrics or configurations let me know! Got back on to add that even though their stuff can be expensive, the thing that always makes me go back is their customer service. The wedge's cushion on our newer sectional looked like the fabric wasn't sewn right as it was rather "loose" looking. They replaced it, no problem. I know other places have great service too but I'm a creature of habit and stick with something if I know it's good!