Regarding Jonathan Louis- A lot of what Macy's sells are his designs. The reviews at Macy's rave about them. I have been looking at him too and I am also in the sectional market. What a long haul it's been! Regarding sofa's vs sectionals- Perhaps if design is your only consideration. We are a growing family that actually uses our living area. Design is very important to me but so is comfort and being able to enjoy my family. Many design elements in a room demand the need to consider a sectional in order to provide both comfort and function. I am not interested in the ability to re-arrange furniture since I have decided a sectional best fits my design and fits the function of my room. Perhaps if I was not confident in my design style and long term goals I would buy a sectional to fill a room, but most people considering a sectional have given the idea a great deal of thought since sectionals are limiting and a great deal more pricey than a sofa and a couple chairs. Hope that answers your question on why some people prefer to purchase a sectional.

I would recommend staying away from CR Laine. I purchased a CR Laine sofa through Hickory Park Furniture in Hickory, NC, and it has been a losing and miserable situation since. The sofa itself looks nothing like the photo CR Laine has to represent it. CR Laine even admitted this to me and told me there are supposed to be additional links with photos of the sofa but that there are not for this sofa, but they tell me I have no recourse through them and must go through the seller, Hickory Park. I did so. At the time of the sale, Hickory Park told me to make sure I knew what I wanted, which was of course dependent on them since they are supposed to be the experts and advisors, because I would have no recourse once the sofa was in production. This was a lie. When the sofa arrived, I was horrified. In addition to be profoundly ugly and not looking at all like the photo, the cushion Hickory Park advised me to get based on what I told them I wanted was completely wrong, which CR Laine also told me was the case. CR Laine: "The Hamilton cushion was absolutely the wrong cushion if you told them you wanted a firm and resilient cushion." But lo and behold, the cushions Hickory Park advised me to buy was - surprise, surprise - the most expensive cushion. When I learned I did have recourse, from CR Laine, by filing a complaint with Hickory Park, I did so. I explained the delay was because they had told me I had no recourse at the time of the sale but had just learned that was not true. I also explained that the sofa was used by one person for only five months and is in brand new condition. Hickory Park's manager literally laughed at me, said due to the time lapse, they couldn't do anything for me. But they caused the time lapse by having told me at the sale I would have no recourse if I had any problems! His argument was like someone killing his parents then pleading for mercy on the basis of having been orphaned. All of the problems with the sofa lie with both the seller and the manufacturer: Hickory Park Furnituer and CR Laine. But it is me, the customer, who will take the loss for THEIR lies and misrepresentations and wrong advice. Hickory Park offered to replace the cushion. Useless, since I told them I had ordered a new sofa from Hickory Chair before I knew I could file a complaint about the CR Laine. Notice he simply ignored that info., along with a lot of other info. he simply didn't like. The CR Laine sofa is lightweight, which likely means it is not make with hardwood. It is a hideous design which does not show up in the photo, and CR Laine even acknowledged it's a strange style. The Better Business Bureau down there was useless, as all BBBs are. Likely they are paid dues by both Hickory Park and CR Laine (indeed, the manager from Hickory Park referred to the BBB "mediator" by her first name. There is no mediation here. Buyer beware. Stick with Lee or Hickory Park, and as customers, we have to do all of our own research because salespeople are no longer knowledgeable and are under pressure to just make the sale and will give you wrong information if that is what it takes. Totally, 100% miserable experience with Hickory Park Furniture and CR Laine.

To start, I am in Interior Design with 15+ of dealing with furniture as low quality as Ashley to some of the higher end pieces in the world. I have owned several Bassett Pieces thoughout the years and they have held up fantastic! Unlike some of the comments on here I'd like to state that rougher you and your family is on furniture the shorter the life span. It seems like common sense, but I've seen it all. Bassett has 3 quality levels: Entry (2-5 years), Medium (4-8 years) and highest (8-15+). so if you're looking to cheap out, don't expect a lifelong sofa. I also cannot stress this enough, ALL FABRICS PILL, with the exception of the ugly microfiber(P.S. probably one of the worst materials to put on your sofa, btw). However, Bassett is very clear about the materials that go into making their fabrics. So either do research on material (cotton, linen, polyester, olefin, etc) or ask your sales person, I am sure they'd be happy to show you the contents of the fabric. Lastly, remember that most people on these theads usually are unhappy about something. so you're only seeing the negatives, because most happy customers do not leave reviews. I am leaving this honest review because I too have had a framing issue with one of my sofas, however I understand that some accidents may happen during transporting, and the furniture is HAND MADE people, no one is perfect 100% of the time. Are you? Please make a smart purchase, and take a deep look into your family and how they treat furniture before deciding what quality you want .

Thanks so much for all the replies so far... I knew the list was too long and somewhat messy since some of the listings with someone's name may be people/designers who have contracted with another manufacturer to produce a line with their "brand/name" stamped on it instead... but when I posted on the furniture forum I didn't get many responses when just asking for quality, so I thought it might help to have a list to jog some responses. Reviews mean a lot to me when making purchasing decisions, and I am coming at the upholstered world with very little knowledge. A few years ago after a lot of research back then, I purchased our first two pieces of upholstered furniture that were not "hand-me-downs" or cheap college purchases, and I went with Lee Industries. Unfortunately I think we only sat on that sofa and beautiful chair two times before we found out my husband's job required a major move, and since we had purchased them during a promotion, we were able to get most of our money out of them through Craigslist, which was better than paying mover's to transport our things and pay for storage since we'd be landing in a partially-furnished rental for the first year. Since then I have read a lot of conflicting Lee reviews, including on GW/nowHouzz, and so it feels like starting over, but I'm still leaning that way. I tend to like to spend money on experiences vs. things, so I really want to get as many decades out of our furniture purchases as possible, even if paying a little more on the front end for quality to make that happen. Though a poster above was spot on - they just don't make 'em today like they used to, do they... I wish they did! My favorite chair in our house is from my husband's 87-ish year-old-grandmother, and it was second-hand when she bought it many years ago, so I guess it's third-hand by now. There are a few stains, but it sits perfectly, and I would never recover the embroidered linen on it unless it wears through - I can't even imagine what that kind of fabric would cost today. Re: case goods... I know my standards on that front are only because my parents own a small mom-and-pop store in the Midwest that sells solid wood case goods, mostly Amish-made. While it isn't all my style, that is how we ended up with hand-me-downs, and so over the years my Dad has drilled into me to look for solid-built, solid wood quality. If not for the family discount on that front, my preferences might be different. To answer the question above about veneer - the reason why I excluded veneer is because they don't carry anything with particle board or veneer, but I also want to avoid veneer because in our current rental, two side tables that are not ours have nicks through the veneer that reveal the mdf or particle board underneath, and they just aren't wearing like the the 10+ year old coffee table we got from my parents, which still looks pretty perfect. Our pedestal breakfast table is the same one I sat at for dinner each night as a child, and other than the fact that it has been refinished once and that oak is currently off-trend, it looks pretty indestructible. I wouldn't pick the oak today, but the table has a nostalgia that will keep it with us. I hope to update the look a bit with upholstered chairs around it. If I could edit the thread list down after the fact, I would, but unfortunately it looks like the time window for changes has passed. Thanks again for all the reviews so far, it really helps to know what has worn well and what to look for... sounds like I may need to start looking at some estate sales and craiglist ads too...