The quality of a sofa, involves many factors. In order to make a truly better sofa, we focus on achieving all of the goals below.

Nicely refined proportions are something you will often see in non-custom furniture because they have the benefit of making many revisions before finally settling on a final production dimensions. However you will often make compromises on other things like choice of fabric, overall dimensions, ergonomics, etc. Because custom sofas are all “one-off”, there are no “do-overs”, we have to get it right the first try - easier said than done, but something we have perfected. We have designed, built, and then studied, thousands of sofas and sectionals over the last 15 years, and feel we are in the top few when it comes to design proportions.

It’s shocking how many sofa manufacturers don’t sit on their own sofas after they make them! They often only assess the aesthetics of their furniture, rarely the comfort. As absolutely crazy as that sounds, it’s a phenomenon we have witnessed first hand too many times to count over the last 15 years. In fact many factories have a “no-sit” policy on finished sofas, fearing they may somehow get dirty. if you ask them to test-sit their own furniture, the most common response is a baffled and confused look, as if to say “why??”. The byproduct of this is that most don’t really understand what makes a sofa comfortable or not. It’s akin to a chef who doesn’t taste his own food, and yet this is industry standard.

We use 100% Alder (hard wood). Avoid weaker pine or plywood, or MDF frames, which describes virtually every sofa coming from China - even higher end brands.

Lower quality sofas often are sewn with basic single-stitched seams vs our stronger top-stitched or double stitched seams, both requiring double the labor of single stitching, because every seam is sewn twice. Top-Stitch and Double Stitch Are not only much stronger, but also look much richer. In addition, we use only very specialized high-end commercial sewing machines made in Germany, ranging in price from $5,000-$20,000 each. After trial and error we have determined that these are the only machines capable of handling heavier materials and maintaining consistently clean stitching. Many companies don’t invest in such high-end machines, rather opting for low-end $1,000 machines, and are willing to accept lower quality stitching finish than we are. Lower quality stitches will be wavy in some areas, vary in individual stitch length on heavier materials because of weak feed mechanisms that are not strong enough to force heavier materials through the machine at a consistent speed, and cheap machines use only thin, cheap-looking thread stock.

This is the first impression quality, including straight stitching, smooth upholstery work, properly filled and sized cushions, straight legs and bases, etc

This is probably the most important for longevity, because the highest quality true HR foam that we use will not wear out and loose support like lower grade foams. There are 3 levels of foam quality used in the upholstery industry, each indicating the weight of a cubic foot of foam. The heavier the foam, the higher the rubber content, and thus the more resilient and long lasting it will be. 1.8lb (lowest), 2.0lb (medium), 2.2lb+ (highest, what we use). If you have done research, you may have heard the term “HR foam”, meaning High Resiliency. Within the industry, the term HR is used exclusively to describe the highest quality, most expensive, longest lasting 2.2lb+ foams. However since there is no way to police the use of this term in marketing, we we have unfortunately seen the term “HR foam” dishonestly used on almost all competitors sites, despite them using lower grade foams. The reason we know what our competitors use is because we actually inspect our competitors products in person, either in stores, by purchasing them, or at times when we remove them from a customer’s home when delivering one of our new sofas. In fact, we are aware of only a very small handfull of companies in the industry using true HR 2.2lb+ foam, you could count them on 1 hand and still have some fingers free - why? Because it’s incredibly expensive!! The cost of using true HR foam in most cases makes the seat foam the most expensive component used on the sofa.

This might sound like an odd term, but it’s a very critical component to quality sofa design. Elements include double sided vs single sided cushion covers. Double sided cushions are not only far superior for the obvious reason that both sides can be used, but also that they can be rotated, which is essential to maintain balanced wear on the cushions and keep them looking new. Without regular rotation, cushions (specifically back cushions) will become asymmetrically worn, which will permanently distort their shape. Another is attached vs removable cushions. Removable cushions allow you to unzip and wash the covers, in many cases making them appear virtually near new again.

This is complicated because in many cases it’s not about better or worse, but different. Different environments necessitate difference fabric characteristics. If you have a cat, you are generally better with tighter woven fabrics or a microfiber, that are harder to snag and easier to clean hair off of. If you have no pets or children, you may choose a dressy, basket weave, nubby fabric that could easily be snagged and pulled if it were in a home with cat, and would be near impossible to clean pet hair off of. If your sofa is in a window that gets lots of sun exposure, a fade resistant or lighter color fabric is a must. If your sofa doesn’t get direct sun exposure, fade resistance doesn’t need to be one of your requirements. These are just a couple of factors that must be considered when choosing an appropriate fabric for you sofa. Virtually all companies have access to quality fabrics, but educating customers about what fabric characteristics might be better or worse for their environment can be the difference between a long lasting sofa and a happy customer or an angry customer who feels like they’ve wasted their money.