Contemporary Sofas, Southwestern and Mission Furniture -- Our California Model

The California model of contemporary sofas, loveseats and chairs is our most versatile, adaptable model. This furniture can go well in a family room, contemporary or Southwestern living room, classy sun room, den, home theater or business office, because of its simple lines combined with your choice of various wood finishes and a huge selection of fabrics. Extra-durable oak sofa frames, combined with ease of re-covering, make this model especially practical and economical in the long run. This is also our most pet-resistant (pet-friendly?) sofa model.

With or without the padded arms, this is furniture that's meant to be enjoyed and lived with, not protected from pets, kids and active users

At right: 76" California contemporary sofa, which becomes 80" if you include the overhang of the optional padded arm wraps. We also offer 85" and 94" sofas, as well as three loveseat widths and four chair widths. The distance between the arms is only 4" less than the above measurements, if no arm padding is in place, or about 8" less with the arm padding. The fabric shown above is one of our many patterned heavy-duty fabrics, some other examples of which are shown in the fabric section of this web site. The wood finish shown is our Medium Fruitwood. For pricing of this contemporary sofa design, go to the second page of this section and scroll down to just after the pictures.

This page shows only one of our several different models. If you came to this page without first going to our home page, you have missed seeing the selection of different models that we offer, as well as a summary of the many features to be found in our products that aren't available elsewhere. To go to our home page, click here.

If a sofa can't be re-upholstered at reasonable cost (most can't), it's landfill waste all too soon.
Over the years, is disposable furniture the right choice for your household?

When the picture above was taken, this Long Island family (including active children) had just received their first replacement cushions for the sofa on the right, 21 years after they bought it. As usual, the old frame needed no attention. (At the same time, they bought a new California model sofa, shown on the left.)

"Old" when describing a sofa usually means "shabby, saggy, and prohibitively expensive to renew." And that condition is often reached after just a few years of use; the value of the product is gone. But if you buy the right sofa, when it's old it will be comfortable, presentable, and yielding financial benefits -- major savings compared with the costs of repeatedly replacing normal furniture -- while the basic value continues for decades. It's a good investment, more secure than many, better for the environment and better for use of resources than most investments, and with non-taxable gains. The return is greatly enhanced by the fact that it also yields enjoyable use every day.

These customers chose our optional arm pillows, which many people refer to as bolsters. The wood finish is our Light Fruitwood, tinted a little darker to make it better match their 21-year-old furniture from us. All of our wood finishes show the graceful oak grain with less boldness than is often seen on oak furniture, making it compatible with more formal settings.

Notice the well-rounded corners and edges at all outer edges, and also the secure hand grip area that can help an occupant to get up. Also notice the absence of "welting" or "piping" (a cylindrical edge treatment found on most traditional sofa cushions). Such raised edges are usually the first thing on a cushion to become soiled and wear out. Also, avoiding that labor-intensive feature helps us to be able to offer replacement covers and cushions very economically.

The fabric shown here, a smooth, practical weave of 100% olefin, has been discontinued, as is unfortunately the case with most fabrics within a few years after purchase, but some yardage is still available as of September, 2008.

Furniture that's comfortable for big and small people

Many short-legged as well as medium-size people say that ours is the first furniture they've found in which they're comfortable. But taller people are also comfortable even in our standard seat depth, since they are heavier and sink farther back into our 8"-thick back cushions. (We also offer a 3"-deeper seat for the long-legged, but most tall people are happy with our standard seat.)

This Tennessee customer, when first inquiring, wrote, "My husband is 6’ and I am 5’2” and so we sometimes are comfortable in different furniture styles." They later came to our showroom, ordered, and a year after receiving this set she wrote, "Fred & I like our furniture very much.  It is holding up well and is comfortable! The wood finish is beautiful and compliments our room. Thanks so much for your help."

Shown: 85" California model sofa and 58" loveseat (becoming 89" and 62" with the optional padded arm rests), in Charlotte Fabric's 9052 Jade, with our Medium Fruitwood finish, in our standard 33" frame depth and 31" height, with our all-foam cushions.

Many thanks to our Knoxville customers for taking and sending us this picture. From what we've heard, 5'2" people aren't likely to look this happy when sitting on most furniture that's sold in normal stores these days.

Comfortable and beautiful doesn't have to mean impractical and quickly worn.

Our Atlanta-area customer was first attracted to our furniture for its practicality with pets, but after receiving it she commented that she was especially pleased with both its appearance and its comfort. Shown above: A heavy-duty, stain-resistant fabric from JF Fabrics (this particular one has been closed out but others with similar characteristics are currently available in a very wide range of colors), with our dark walnut finish. The all-wood back, as shown, adds to the price compared with the fabric-covered back, which is standard.
Almost 1-1/2 years after delivery, our customer wrote, "I just want to say that I love the sofas and chair. They have truly proven to be pet-friendly and durable. I will definitely purchase from you again. Thanks for a great product."

If you like cushiness at the arms and a medium arm height, this model should satisfy you, if you order the arms to be padded. The padding is included with the basic price for the furniture (for pricing, see at bottom of this page). If you prefer the most practical surface (polyurethane-finished solid oak) at this high-wear location, and/or the most convenient, secure hand grip, order just the finished wood arm tops, at the same price. If you like it both ways at different times, order both the padded arm wraps and and the finished wood arm tops (at a $50 additional charge), and just slip off the padding units when they aren't appropriate. And keep in mind that our padded arm wraps are far more practical than normal upholstered arms; the envelope-like fabric covers are easy to change, since they are just pulled over the padded plywood forms and then fastened down at the underside edges with concealed hook-and-loop (Velcro-type) tabs.

The chairs shown above are both in the 28" width, becoming 32" with the optional padded arm wraps. These chairs are also available in 31", 34" and 40" widths, and all are 32 12" deep, significantly less bulky than most lounge-type chairs.

Not bulky, and not squishy-soft

The Washington, D.C.-area couple who bought the set shown above were especially attracted to what our furniture isn't. Until finding us, they had searched extensively and found only furniture that was (a) too bulky to fit into this room while providing the amount of seating space they wanted, and (b) too soft. With our non-bulky dimensions, choice of several widths in each size category (including 76" sofa, 52" loveseat, and 28" chair, shown above), and frame depth of only 32-1/2", their space problem was solved. Our firmer cushioning option satisfied their other concern, although even our standard cushioning and support are firmer than average. Both of their fabrics (chosen from our swatch books) are heavy duty. All of the furniture just above is in our 33" height; most people choose our 31" height.

If natural scenery is a major part of your decor, notice how well real oak wood and the unobtrusive simplicity of our designs can blend with such a setting.

The fabric shown here (in a central Virginia home) is from Barrow Industries. Various collections of theirs can be seen in our showroom, in many fabric stores, and on their web site. (See the "Fabrics" section of our web site to see how to get to that web site as well as to see many other fabrics online, after which you can request swatches from us of some fabrics that interest you.) The set shown here consists of a 34"-wide chair and a 64" loveseat, both in the 31" height, with the light fruitwood finish.

We don't just sell furniture, we sell happy comfort. Isn't it nice if the kids can enjoy themselves on the furniture without mother having to worry unduly about its being stained or worn out prematurely, since it's so relatively easy and inexpensive to get new covers for this furniture? Customers expecting heavy use often order an extra yard or two of fabric, to be able to replace individual covers without having to re-cover an entire sofa; with most fabrics, one yard of upholstery (54"-wide) fabric is sufficient to replace a pair of covers for our padded arm wraps; arm covers for the Virginia models require 1-1/4 yards for a pair. One yard is sufficient to re-cover one cushion in all but our widest sizes, and in most fabrics; some fabrics require more, for matching a pattern or for turning a pattern in the desired orientation.

In addition to ease of replacing covers, the life of the fabric on our furniture is enhanced by the fact that all cushions can be turned, to present a second usable side. And the padded arm wraps on our California or Maryland models can be switched, left to right, in about 20 seconds, so that a worn or soiled front end can just go to the rear of the opposite arm.

See how perfectly our furniture can fit into a sunny room. Since long-term direct sunlight can cause fading (and even disintegration of the fabric in the case of cottons), ease of replacing the fabric on our furniture is an especially important feature in such a room. (Drapes and/or protective film on windows or skylights can also substantially reduce problems from sun exposure.)

The delightful picture above was kindly sent to us by a customer in Wisconsin, who wrote, "...Thank you so much.  We love it!  You can see that our children love it too. ...  It's everything we expected and more.  I easily put the loveseat together by myself before my husband got home from work!..." Shown here: 58" loveseat in standard 31" height, with our Golden Oak finish. This fabric is one of our stock patterned fabrics, which are available at little or no charge above the base price.

For pricing of this model, scroll down to just above the bottom of this page.

Just as a frame enhances a picture on a wall, our custom-finished hardwood frames add contrast and appeal to a sofa.

If it's important to you to have the right colors or the right pattern or texture in your fabric, keep in mind the benefit of our essentially unlimited fabric selection, compared with the smaller selections available with most furniture; our wider range of choice is especially important if you aren't content to limit yourself to the colors that are considered to be in vogue this year. And if you want to change your decor a few years out, consider how easy, inexpensive and environmentally responsible it is to just change the covers on this furniture, compared with the very great expense of re-covering (or replacing?) typical furniture.

All three pieces above are in our medium russet finish and standard (31") height. The fabrics are brushed cottons, which, like velvets, corduroys and chenilles, show natural light-dark variation with use.

It's hard to tell that the 76" sofa above was about four years old when the picture was taken; our satisfied customer ordered the 64" loveseat and the chair a few years after the sofa. Some of our customers say that our furniture still looks brand new even after ten years of heavy use, but that's usually only if they chose one of our extra-heavy-duty fabrics; with lighter-duty fabrics, it would often need replacement covers to make it look brand new after ten years. Also, keeping it new-looking depends on rotating and turning the cushions occasionally or frequently, depending on use.

Cat owners, notice all the places in the picture above that would be scratching opportunities on normal furniture, but not in this case. Cat owners usually choose the optional all-wood back, as shown, if the furniture will be away from the wall. If you look near the left side of the picture, you'll see the tail end of a frustrated feline, making his exit. Poor thing. Maybe the scratching post will have to suffice.

(The photo above was kindly taken and sent to us by one of our North Carolina customers. What a pleasure it was to receive this in the e-mail one morning and to be able to share it with the people who make the furniture.)

Shown at left: 58" California model (62" including the outside of the arm padding), with the 33" height. People with active pets really like the practicality of this furniture, because the locations that are most vulnerable to wear are either solid oak with hard, smooth, well-finished surfaces or are relatively easy and inexpensive to re-cover. If a dog's rubbing against your furniture causes the fabric to soil, think how easy it would be to keep this polyurethane-finished hardwood clean, by comparison. And with our huge fabric selection, it isn't hard to find one on which a pet's hairs will be less conspicuous, or less likely to stick. Because of the ease of re-covering, people sometimes feel free to choose one of the softer, more decorative (and less durable and cleanable) fabrics even when their furniture will be exposed to heavy wear.

This Sacramento, California multi-pet owner chose the all-wood backs and a heavy-duty, darkish, randomly-patterned floral from Robert Allen for best hiding the expected soil from her animals. The chair with its back to the camera is in our 40" width (44" including the padded arm wraps), which is just wide enough for two average people with no space between them, with a 27"-square ottoman.

Practicality and heavy-duty construction don't have to compromise aesthetic standards.

Practicality with dogs was especially important for the Maryland couple who bought this set, including an 85" sofa, 58" loveseat, and 28" chair, all with the standard 31" height, plus two 18" x 24" end tables, with our dark russet finish. Their fabric choices were two of the many colors in a faux suede pattern (from Duralee) that is unusually heavy duty, stain resistant, and anti-microbial (but also rather expensive -- it adds $368 to the price of a sofa).

Just because your dog plays in dirt doesn't mean he has to be banished from your sofa, if you have the right sofa.

(Our hats are off to our customer for taking and sending us these nice pictures.)

Simple lines, unlimited fabric selection and ease of re-covering allow a flexible fit of this sofa model into Southwestern, Mission, Shaker, Arts and Crafts, or almost any decor that doesn't require fussy ornateness. If you anticipate re-decorating, or eventually moving to a place where a different style will be appropriate, keep in mind the adaptability of this furniture, resulting from the ease of changing covers. (The fabric shown here, in an Atlanta-area customer's home, was found by her in a local fabric store, and is used for a second set of covers on top of her basic covers.)

If you want ordinary furniture, go to normal stores. If you want something different, please consider what we have to offer. In addition to the appearance, the couple who ordered this set also liked the good support and the fact that its non-bulky dimensions fitted well in the limited space of the condominium to which they had recently down-sized. About six months after receipt, this Maryland customer wrote, "Your furniture is great! Both comfortable and attractive."

Our heavy-duty fabrics come in a good selection of colors and patterns; but if medium- and lighter-duty fabrics are OK for your needs, there is a huge range of fabrics available with interesting, colorful patterns and pleasing textures. You can find a vast arrary of fabrics at stores or on the internet, any of which can be sent to us for making your furniture, as long as they are at least 54" wide and suited for upholstery use.

The California model is solid oak at all the high-wear locations and at the structurally-important places. The panel that fills the space between the front and back posts, below the arm top, is oak veneer on 3/4" hardwood plywood.

At left: 52" loveseat (56" including the overhang of the optional padded arm rests). The 52" size has 24"-wide cushions, which are quite adequate for two adults, making this size (including its 33" depth) a very compact place for seating two people. However, notice that a toss pillow or two can take up a lot of the room on this seat. If you want to have room for pillows plus two adults (with some space between them), you should consider one of our longer loveseats.

At right: 28" California chairs with casters, allowing them to be brought up to a dining table or card table, as well as being used as lounge-type chairs. Our chairs, being solidly made, are fairly heavy (about 65 pounds each), and so are not easy to move, once assembled. Casters can take care of that possible problem for a total surcharge of $35 to $45 per chair (depending on load-bearing capacity). The casters come in a "bright brass" finish to go on a rug, or with brass metal parts and black rubber wheels to go on a floor. We don't recommend them for sofas.

These chairs are obviously bigger (as well as more expensive) than normal dining chairs. But they could be ideal for relaxed dinners and after-dinner conversations, and for serving two purposes in a living/dining area with limited space. (The setting above is in the San Francisco bay area, where space is at a premium.) The chairs shown above are in our standard 28" width, but we can also make them any amount narrower at a modest surcharge; as well as wider at higher prices. To see one of our extra-wide chairs, click here.

If you look closely at the picture above, you might notice wrinkling at the corners. This customer had us over-size the covers slightly, to make it less difficult to remove the covers and replace them. (She planned to wash the covers, which is NOT recommended for most upholstery fabrics.) We are happy to over-size the covers at no additional charge, but be aware that some wrinkles will be inevitable, and that it still won't be very easy to remove and replace the covers, because of the substantial, dense cushion filling. Also keep in mind that, if you wash or dry clean the vast majority of upholstery fabrics, it is at your own risk; the recommended cleaning method in most cases is to use upholstery shampoo while the covers are still on the cushions, or to have it done by a professional cleaning survice.

People often aim for contrast between their fabric and their choice of wood finish. The greater the contrast (our blonde stain is shown on the left), the more striking the furniture will be. Sometimes people prefer lower contrast, on the other hand, for a more understated look (see the chairs in the picture above, as well as the set below).

Shown at left, in another San Francisco-area home: our 94" length in the standard height, becoming 98" with the padded arm wraps. A month after receiving it, our customer commented in an e-mail, "my new sofa is a big hit with the family! ... This one is warm and inviting.... The red simply makes us feel chipper!" We can satisfy your desire for bright colors or almost any color, in a way that most of our competitors can't or won't. And we have a very good selection of fabrics in almost any color that are also heavy duty (as determined by industry standard tests) and soft. But we offer all kinds of fabrics: many of them are not heavy duty, and some of the most durable ones are not soft; we select swatches to send to customers based on the preferences they express, and we try to indicate wear-resistance and fiber content in notes accompanying the swatches.

The Maryland couple who ordered the set on the right, in our 94" and 64" lengths, were looking for furniture that would stand up well to their family's use, for the long term. They came to the right company.

The fabric is Charlotte's 2334 Cocoa, a 100% nylon microfiber, which is very heavy-duty and very cleanable (with water-based cleaning solutions). The wood finish is our Medium Fruitwood with the alternative formulation that minimizes boldness of the oak grain. The other options shown are standard height, standard seat depth, standard foam cushion filling, padded arm wraps, all-wood back (at a surcharge), and toss pillows in a fabric specially selected to go with colors in the surrounding decor. We are happy to offer suggestions for matching toss pillow covers as well as for your basic fabric, if you let us know which colors appeal to you and/or which colors will be in the surrounding decor.

In e-mails right after and a month after delivery, our customer wrote, "The couches look and feel terrific" and "We love our new furniture and so do all of our visitors and family."

Q: Why should we pay more for this than for normal furniture?
A: These products will usually be less expensive than ordinary furniture in the long run, especially if they are given heavy use, because they don't wear out like typical furniture. With solid oak at locations where ordinary sofas usually wear out first, and with our wide selection of heavy-duty fabrics, our furniture will usually look good long after ordinary furniture has become shabby. When our furniture eventually needs new covers or cushions, replacing them is relatively easy and inexpensive. Also, the very extensive customization and hand craftsmanship that goes into this furniture simply can't be available at costs similar to those of mass-produced products. For more details on this subject and on the costs of our small-scale custom manufacturing, click here.

Pricing of the California models: (Keep in mind that the overall lengths quoted would increase by 4" if you choose the optional padded arm wraps):
Base prices: (10% Discounts are available: See below. Also, if these prices are outside your budget, keep in mind that our Florida model is just as practical as the California model, almost as durable, has similarities in appearance, and is much less expensive):

Sofas: 76" - $2780; 85" - $2990; 94" - $3230. (The distance between the arms is only 4" less than the above measurements, if no arm padding is in place, or about 8" less with the arm padding.)
Loveseats: 52" long - $2415; 58" - $2540; 64" - $2670.
Chairs: 28" wide - $1720; 31" wide - $1790; 34" - $1890; 40" - $2090.
These prices include 10 to 15 base-priced fabrics, a fabric-covered back of the frame, either a padded arm top or a finished oak arm top, the 31" back height (measured floor to top, shown in almost all of the pictures above), the 33" frame depth, and any of our standard wood finishes. If you want both a finished wood arm top and the padded arm wrap on top of that, add $50.

There is a huge selection of high-quality fabrics available within $175 above the base price for a sofa, or within $125 above the base price for a loveseat. When we send you samples, we will indicate pricing information for those. If you provide your own fabric, the price would be reduced by $40, $30, or $20 for a sofa, loveseat, or chair.
The 2"-higher back adds $2 per inch, a 4"-higher back adds $4 per inch, and a 6"-higher back adds. $6 per inch.
A webbing suspension, for softer support, adds $1 per inch.
(For detailed information about our standard and optional heights, cushion types (including "puffy"), firmnesses, seating dimensions and frame depths, with information about price effects of the various options, click here ).
An all-wood back adds $2 per inch of length. Note: If you want the added practicality of an all-wood back but don't like the additional cost, keep in mind that we offer a matching leather-imitation vinyl-covered back at no surcharge; the faux leathers these days are often hard to distinguish from real leather.
Toss pillows or arm pillows are $40 per pair, plus $0 - $20 or so for fabric.
Non-standard dimensions: Special lengths: Add $90 to the price of the next longer length, or (for extra-long) add $350 plus $16 per inch to the longest standard size. For a 3"-deeper seat and frame, add 25% of the base price. For a 30" frame depth, or for having the entire frame made higher or lower, click here. .

We do not presently charge sales tax on orders shipped or delivered to points outside Virginia (although legislation is pending that could, at any time, require us to collect other states' sales taxes; and many states expect people to remit tax to the state in the amount that would be charged on an in-state purchase.)

Delivery in the D.C. beltway-Charlottesville-Richmond-Annapolis area would add $65 to $110, packing and shipping to the U.S. west coast would add 18% of the base price, and delivery or shipping to other locations in the contiguous 48 U.S. states and southeastern Canada would be somewhere in between depending on distance from north-central Virginia; for shipments outside the above areas, please call or e-mail for quote, indicating nature of potential order.

Discounts /completion times: Our standard completion time is five to six weeks.* If you can wait as much as six months, we deduct 10% off the base price of the furniture. But, to repeat, our standard completion time is five to six weeks. Since our sales levels fluctuate considerably and unpredictably, we offer discounts to customers who don't expect their furniture soon. This provides a backlog of orders to keep our people working during lulls in sales levels; and it allows easier handling of the full-price orders when we have a surge of them.
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*Our "normal" completion time is subject to change if we receive a surge of orders, which can happen at any time (but we would make that clear when an order is placed); this tends to happen especially in the last months of the year. If you can plan farther in advance of when you really need the furniture, it's better.

To see pictures of our next design, the Virginia model, click here. To see pictures of some of the fabrics that are available on this furniture, click here.
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