check out Lee industries & cisco furniture. I used to buy sofas from cisco when they were a start up company & they would do a lot of custom details (like bench seat or slipcovers). http://www.leeindustries.com/ProductShowThumbs.asp?id=101149117103177074142188090140238211183003042225189245094105076191040148021085180223&pg=all&kw=&w1=&w2=&d1=&d2= http://www.ciscobrothers.com/_catalog_81978/Sofas Quatrine would do bench seats & slipcovers for any of their sofas. http://www.quatrine.com/slipcovered_furniture/francis.htm On the lower end, I have seen similar at Crate & Barrel http://www.crateandbarrel.com/family.aspx?c=931&f=35203 HTH

I just bought, but haven’t received yet, a five piece Radley sectional from Macy’s since it was really marked down for Black Friday. I had been searching online for months and also at other furniture stores and everything was huge! Size-wise this was the only one that would fit in our space, got decent reviews and at the store I was able to try it out and found it very comfortable! Ordered it in a warm, dark brown Java color. Going into the store is great because the sales people are super knowledgeable about how you can refigure it. It’s not a really high end couch and probably most of the time we’ll have it covered in throws- but frankly, I wanted something not too froufrou since we have dogs and a new grandchild. I did buy the 5-year warranty that covers just about anything from stains to a cat tearing it up with its claws, or so said the sales lady. Anyway, I’m excited about it, so we’ll see!

I attempted to purchase a customized U-shaped sectional with a chaise on both ends. An L shaped Madrid style sectional costs $3041. I wanted to have another chaise added to the other side of the sectional so that I would have a U-shaped sectional with a chaise on both ends. The price jumped to $7,831 just to add an additional chaise to the other side of the $3041 sofa. That is an increase of over 157%. For the extra $4,800 I could have bought two L shaped sectionals and put them together and made one huge U-shaped sectional. All I wanted to do was have them add one more chaise to the other side of the $3,041 sectional. I was very disappointed and declined to go any further as I had to come to terms with price gauging. Their products look absolutely gorgeous, but I refuse to be taken advantage of.

Our fabric was a smooth microfiber in a light blue, so not the same they offer now. We do not have any pets, just 3 human animals 3-9 :) So generally no adult wants to sit in the armless areas. When it’s just me, I try to sit on either end so I can drink my coffee next to a side table. I sometimes sit in the corner so I can stretch my legs out. Now our girls will happily sit in the middle sections and obviously having the room to lie down for movies is great. I wouldn’t say the middle sections “annoy” me as we’ve been quite happy with the Radley this entire time. But now that we’re ready to replace I’m going with two sofas to “optimize” the seating options for more armed seating, if that makes sense. One thing to note is that our family room is the only sitting/living room on our main floor so it has to be used for both conversational entertaining (sitting upright) and lounging. If you’re shopping for a room that can function only as a movie/lounge space, then go for a sectional. If your room is dual purpose like mine, then consider two sofas.