Sorry you are going through all that hassle!

I cannot imagine buying anything that I have not tried out in person.

Rant away - shopping in general has become a PITA for me, so I get it. Can't believe at one point shopping was actually fun - seems a long time ago!

Who did you order swatches from? Have you contacted them to ask what the hold up is about? I've never had to wait that long so I wonder if maybe the request didn't go through.

Kellie, where are you located? We needed new furniture and we drove to a store owned by a gentleman who used to post here. He was a tremendous help to us and we found several pieces that worked for us. I also bought breakfast area chairs from a local/national chain and two arm chairs from another local store.

Do you have any nice furniture stores close to you that have samples of leathers and upholsteries? Even if they have a limited amount of a particular line you at least have something to look at regarding quality and you may find the perfect item. If you don't have anyone local you may want to drive a reasonable distance to see what is available.

You are looking at Bradington Young for a sofa, right? I love the quality of my BY chairs but I know you still want to be able to test drive for comfort!

I think I ordered the swatches from the gentleman who used to post here (if we are referring to the same person). He has been fantastic, so I have a feeling that the request to Bradington Young must not have gone through. I sent him an email this morning so hope to hear back soon. Unfortunately I am far far away from his store (which is in VA if we are talking about the same person). There is a very large and very overwhelming store located here in KC where the service was frankly atrocious. I was able to sit on a BY sofa there (although not the one that I was interested in ordering) and was told that "it was the last one so I had to put my order in TODAY if I really wanted it". I don't respond well to that type of sales pitch so really don't want to go there. There aren't many other local stores that carry BY and if they do they may have a single piece of their furniture.

I did order (and paid for) my carpet runner from big furniture store I mentioned above over a month ago and no word on it. Originally it would be a week to come in, a week to be bound. Then it would come in 11/8. We've called a couple times and .... nothing.

I am just in a decorating funk. I'm in the "well if it is this hard to order things, then why even bother" state of mind.

kelli, it is frustrating, I know. But hopefully in the end you will be happy with your purchases.

We have been purchasing a lot over the last 8 months for our home. Not just furniture but lights, carpets, etc. 9 out of 10 arrived either late or were incorrect. And, like you, I order from reputable places. It doesn't matter!! So many people just yes you to death or don't respond at all. Very, very frustrating.

I do hope that when it all gets here that you relish every moment sitting on those couches!!

Kellie, yes the same person and his furniture forum is awesome. We ordered our HM chair the middle of September and is scheduled for delivery on Sunday. We purchased our sofa off his showroom floor and his delivery people delivered it the same day. We are two hours away from him. The armchairs from a different store were also ordered mid September and delivered very quickly even though they were custom. The dining chairs from E A took forever but I am very happy with all the purchases and hope that I love the HM chair as much as I do the sofa.

So sorry that it is so frustrating! I live in an area with a lot of stores and showrooms but it is still difficult at times to get information and orders in a timely fashion. If you are anything like me you have this vision of buying furnishings being fun until reality sets in. Try to keep the faith that it will all be worth it when you're done!

I agree. I was looking for the chair/ottoman or chaise for my bedroom for so long, but everything was too huge or too uncomfortable or too expensive or no showroom models, or lousy fabrics, etc. That's why I went to craigslist. I figure if it's cheap enough, I can reupholster and save money. I can try it out ahead of time, get exactly the fabric I want and I won't have to wait for the tree to grow before they cut it down to make my chair! And the older furniture tends to be smaller so it fits my house better.

If you like your sofa and the frame is in good shape, you might consider reupholstery...

I think the whole furniture/fabric industry now operates with minimal inventory. It has taken 3-1/2 months to get fabrics from Lee Joffa and Schumacher. Now waiting on the drapes to be made. It takes lots of patience to get things done!

I would love to know the name of the store in VA mentioned here....is it in metro DC? If so, not far from me....thanks!

Oops...meant to continue in my last post.....Kellie...I did buy a sofa and chair without trying the actual pieces but something similar....Smith Bros...it was a bit of a leap of faith but worked out OK.

Kellie,
Have you gone to Traditions in old Overland Park?

Check it out.

Julie O

I've been waiting on leather samples for BY and one other brand for six weeks now, so I feel your pain.
The thing is, I wrote to the store in NC, and got in touch with a saleperson, telling her we would be making a trip to NC next spring, and that we would be buying chairs, maybe a sofa, some occasional tables, etc.
She was all helpful and wanted to order samples for me. I had told her that we wanted to actually see and sit in some of these pieces, as there aren't any stores in this area at all that have anything in stock. So what does she write back?
She writes that she'd be happy to order for me whatever I want, but that I should plan to see the actual furniture in stores closer to me. AGHHH. There aren't any! Period.
I still don't have samples. So I wrote 2 days ago asking about what happened to the samples. No response.
The furniture mart in NC is a long full day drive from here. I'm supposed to drive up there, just to place an order but they don't have floor samples either? I don't get it.

I find the whole thing very frustrating. I understand that the BY leather chairs are supposed to be comfortable. But is it unreasonable to want to see one?
Kellie, I totally get your frustration.

I don't think there is any problem in naming stores here. The VA store in the above posts is The Keeping Room in Alexandria, VA and the owner is Duane Collie. He posted here for years and is well known. You need to check out the store at www.thekeepingroom.com and that will also link you to Duane's furniture blog at www.myfurnitureforum.com which has everything you will ever need to know about buying furniture. Duane answers any and all questions and is a delightful person. We have ordered from him and it was a great experience.

Kellie, I received swatches from Duane within days of my request so I think the problem with you getting yours must be on the B-Y end.

Please nobody take this as a complaint about Duane or The Keeping Room. As I mentioned earlier he has been fantastic, and said he had to order the swatches. I, too, assumed that it was a problem on BY's end or a problem with delivery. For some reason I have had problems with both USPS and Fed Ex finding my address despite the fact that my street only runs few blocks and is easily found on GPS. If anybody is in the market for leather furniture, I would certainly recommend contacting him. I browsed his website for many many hours in researching which brand to buy, a wealth of knowledge. This is more of a general rant about this entire not fun process. Isn't shopping supposed to be FUN!

Marji - based on your comment it does seem to be on the BY side. I honestly don't mind waiting for them to construct my sofa, but this delay does give me a bit of second thoughts. I will say, I have sat in a couple BY chairs and on one sofa and they were incredibly comfortable. It was what led me to their line in the first point.

Julie - I did go out there and looked around, really nice store. The carry Stickley, and the salesperson was remarkably helpful. At that time, they didn't have what I was looking for in a leather option. Once I get the sofa selection squared away, I am thinking I'll go back for the chairs in fabric. Either that or Nell Hills. I could certainly benefit from a face to face consult with a designer. Plus its a reason to go to Penzeys, The Tasteful Olive, and El Salvadoreno.

joanie - I looked at Smith Bros too, very very nice construction. Happy to hear that you had a great experience with ordering sight unseen! The one sofa that we were able to try wasn't quite deep enough for my 6'1" husband. Which stinks to write off the entire line on the one option, but I'm not sure how else to do it!

Chispa - patience.....ahh, yes, patience. And wine of course.

Annie - I'll look into that for the chairs as my room is on the smaller side so smaller items would likely work best. Although I don't know that my Craigslist is as great as some other locations. Well, that and my eye isn't as great as some others. For the sofa, I wanted leather so was hoping to order from one of the more reputable leather manufacturers (maybe I need to bite the bullet and look at Hancock Moore)

MarinaGal - yep it is the reality vs the illusion that is getting to me. Plus I feel like I am just losing my momentum with the days going by.

Holly - you MUST show a pic of your chair when it arrives. As I mentioned above I am wondering if I need to dig up some extra money and just take a look at the HM. I obviously know that they are top of the line for leather, but it just seemed a bit out of reach.

Mamorella - you FEEL my pain. Let's just hope it is all worth it in the end!

Jan - Glad to hear you love your BY chair!!! I'm in Kansas City, so not many other cities around that may an item for us to try. Maybe i can talk my husband to a drive to...

Kellie, you could ask Duane if he has any floor samples of HM chairs or sofa. Our Teton was from his floor. I wanted the Sanctuary sofa but when DH saw this sofa that was the end of that. I have to admit that though it totally changed my vision I love the sofa now and I am so glad we got it.

If you remember what Smith Brother sofa is too small for your DH you could go to their website and peruse the dimensions for other sofas to see if there are some larger models. HM furniture is usually a larger scale so would fit your DH well.

I was in VA and thinking of stopping by his store, and he said that his selection of BY on his floor was very limited. I haven't heard back from him yet on the status of the swatches so I may move on to Plan B. I found another local store that carries BY, HM, and some of the chairs I was looking at (Taylor King). I have no idea what they will have for me to try but figure I could at least get my hands on the leather swatches. I really didnt' want to waste anybody's time on helping me if I was planning on possibly buying elsewhere, but I suppose if I do find a really helpful salesperson it would be nice to order locally. Plus to have a "designer" to help me put things together would be nice.

so wish me luck.....

Good luck.
BTW, I don't think it's on BY part, the delay on swatches. I just got an email from the woman in NC. She dropped the swatches she had collected in the mail Thursday. She's still waiting on one from Thomasville. I asked for BY, and one from Sherrill. She added a couple of other furniture lines she thought we might like.
I'm looking for navy blue leather, and interestingly she noted in her email that she thinks all the companies are sourcing their navy leather from the same place. it's all identical.
I hope they come Monday.

Kellie, Duane has a lot of furniture but I think a majority of it was HM. His store is very neat so would be an interesting stop. He is close to Mt Vernon also so you could make it a great day trip.

Holly - I live in KC, so a daytrip to VA is quite a trek. I was going to stop by the store when I was visiting a friend in VA, but didn't make it. And I knew that he had limited BY on his floor anyway.

Marji - we actually were able to check out samples of the BY leathers! And they carry quite a few lines of chairs that we were looking at as well, so can look at fabric too. Please share once you get your samples! I think we are in the same boat of where we are in the decorating process so can commiserate.

My shopping trip today was .... dare I say....pleasant? We found a very helpful salesperson who LISTENED and made suggestions. She is coming over for an in-home consult this week, so that should be very helpful. And, I may be back at square one sofa wise to where I first started out....a tight back in a smaller size. She kept emphacizing that scale really important, which I agree with but didn't know how to make sure the scale was right. I still didn't get to sit on the sofa, but she took us around to different styles on their floor to see what we liked as far as seat depth, back height, etc so feel a little better about buying untried based on that.

Here is a link that might be useful: Sofa

Duh, I am such a knot head, of course a day trip is out of the question!

I am so glad that you had a helpful salesperson. That can make all the difference. I love the sofa that you linked. You have great taste!