Cushion Options, Characteristics, and Dimensions (in relation to human dimensions)

Almost everyone between 5'0" and 6'1" tall seems to like our standard seating dimensions, with a 31" top-to-floor back height (with 15"-high back cushions) and our 33" frame depth.. Taller people often like our 2"-higher back (33"-high) option (at $2 extra per inch of length), which is still not high enough for a headrest, even for most shorter people. We also offer a 35"-total height option, at $4 extra per inch of length. Most people seem to prefer the appearance of our sofas with the 31" height, but they often order a matching chair with a higher back. (For pricing and other considerations regarding back height options, see farther down this page.)

The front-to-back dimension of our standard seats is about 21", plus the 2" to 5" that one sinks into the back cushions (more or less depending on the sitter's weight), and almost everyone finds that depth to be comfortable. That particular seat depth is what goes with frames that have our standard total frame depth of about 33". Note, as explained below, that the adjustability of the optional puffy back cushions allows fine-tuning of the effective sitting depth. All models are available with a 3"-deeper seat (36" deep) at a surcharge of 25% of the base price, for the long-legged, for people who like more room to lounge in a sofa, or for better use as a daybed. At lower or no cost, greater seat depth can be achieved by merely pulling the seat cushions forward an inch or two, and also by ordering the puffy cushions and removing a little filling.

NOTE: If you came to this page without first having seen our home page, you have missed seeing pictures of our various designs, as well as a summary of their many features. For general information on our complete line of sofas, loveseats and chairs, go to our home page by clicking here.

A 30" frame depth is also available at a surcharge in those three models, for the short legged; at a lower cost, puffy back cushions can be ordered with some extra filling, to provide more forward support for the short-legged. People with normal legs should think carefully before ordering the 30" depth if their purpose is to save space, since it will normally be noticeably less comfortable for them. For a 30" frame depth, add 20% of the base price.

The length between the arms for our three-seat sofas is about 72", 81", or 90", depending on which length you order; if you order the padded arm wraps with the California, Florida, New Jersey or Maryland models, that would reduce those distances between the arms a total of 4", but only as long as the arm wraps are left in position.

Our standard cushions are medium in firmness, consisting of unusually durable polyurethane foam (6-1/2” thick for seats, 8” for backs). This filling allows most occupants to sink several inches into the cushions. But despite the soft reception for the first few inches, this cushioning resists progressively more as one sinks deeper, so you don’t get a feeling of hitting bottom on the padded wood support that is below the cushions.

People who have difficulty getting up from ordinary sofas usually like our furniture, with our standard seat dimensions and our standard seat support (thinly-padded wood below medium-firm cushions). People with back pain normally like our standard cushioning, but they often like our firmer option (at $2 per inch of frame length for seats or back only, or $4 per inch for both) even better.

Our seats are normally made as separate cushions, but the foam-filled seats on our standard firm base nevertheless provide a good, flat, medium-firm surface to lie on. (With our "puffy" seat filling and/or the webbing suspension, the surface would be softer and less flat.) This surface becomes roomier (25" wide with our standard depth, or 28" with our 3"-deeper frame) if you remove the back cushions. The seat cushions normally slope backwards toward the rear (just under 1" downward slope), but they can be leveled out with some foam pads or folded-up towels.

Why is this woman beaming? Well, we like to think it's because she had just received her Comfy 1 Virginia model sectional the day before this picture was taken. She ordered the "puffy" option for both seat and back cushions which, as you can see, have a very different look, as well as a softer feel. For many people, this type of cushion would require too much straightening up, but others like the casual, pillowy effect. We often sell this option for the back cushions only, providing the cushy look and the better molding to your back's contours while retaining the solider, more durable support of the foam-filled seats. This combination also minimizes the need to straighten the cushions, while still providing a relatively pillowy look and feel.

Our puffy cushions have high-quality foam cores, which help them retain their shape and support relatively well. Softness and roundedness are provided by polyester fiber with a down-like feel. Some people comment (when trying out samples in our showroom) that they get a feeling of the all-foam-filled back cushions' pushing back at them, compared with the more yielding reception they get from the puffy back cushions.

The fiber in our puffy cushions is partly in blanket form (for smoothness and shape retention) and partly in the form of small clusters, for easy adjustability of the amount of filling and for ability to shift to conform to the sitter's desired shape. All of this is enclosed in a casing with a hand-size slit opening at the edge that's just inside the zipper of the outer fabric, allowing easy access for adjusting the amount of filling (but not allowing filling to spill out)..

We have a strict policy against giving out information about our customers, but this picture and this customer's name (and our name as the source of her sectional) were already published in an article in a high-circulation national magazine; so we aren't divulging any secrets to say that this happy customer is multi-award-winning actress Mercedes Ruehl. (Photo reproduced from House Beautiful magazine, September, 2002.)

The puffy cushion option adds $4 per inch of length for both seats and backs, or $2 per inch for backs only. A heavy-duty webbing suspension, for softer support below the seat cuhions, adds $1 per inch of length. For a heavier person (over 200 pounds) who wants the puffy seats, the webbing base may be the better suspension option, since the softer seats might let a heavy person hit bottom on the firm wood base. For detailed information about our webbing suspensions, see the note at the bottom of this page.

The puffy back cushions can be just as high as our foam back cushions, if they are given a little shaping by hand; and they will stay that way quite well if the sitter sits reasonably upright against them. But the top edges can also sink downward an inch or two if somebody (kids? heavy pets? lounging adults?) presses or leans downward on the tops. If that happens, it's easy to re-shape them; but you should be prepared to do that if the sofa will be subject to that kind of use (unless, of course, you prefer to leave them squashed down).

Ability to easily add or remove filling from these cushions can be helpful not only for adjusting to comfort preferences but also for compensating for possible packing down and firmness loss that can occur with use. Packing down of our puffy back cushions is unlikely to be a problem unless the cushions get heavy use. Seat cushions with this kind of filling might need occasional addition of filling for the first few years (once or twice a year?) even with moderate use. Another disadvantage of the puffy cushions is that the loose fiber filling is relatively combustible, compared with solid polyurethane foam filling; all of the filling in our standard (all foam) cushions passes the California 117 standard for fire-resistance.

Customers should be aware that the exposed corners of all cushions will be well-filled-out as of the time the furniture is packed up or delivered by us, but that some corners can become partly emptied of filling as a result of incorrect handling. This is especially true of the puffy filling, which does not have the constant outward push that characterizes the foam filling. Moderately careful handling (mainly, not grasping the cushions by the corners) will help prevent corners from becoming baggy. In any case, the problem can be remedied by unzipping and reaching inside a cushion (and inside the separate inner casing of a puffy cushion), grabbing some filling from a place away from the corner, and pushing it firmly out into the corner.

We do not offer cushions filled with down or feathers. Loss of height and support after extended use is a problem with that kind of filling. Also, given the concerns about a bird flu pandemic, avoiding products taken from fowl is a reasonable precaution, for the health of both the people making the furniture and for customers. And, according to Real Simple magazine (July, 2007, p. 132), "Today's synthetic fills are as comfy as down and feathers. Synthetic is an especially smart choice for pillows that experience a lot of wear and tear."

Other considerations regarding back height: About 85% of our customers choose our standard, 31" height (with back cushions just over 15" high), and that is what you see in almost all of our pictures. But, where family members are significantly over 6 feet tall, the 33" height (with a $2 per inch surcharge) provides better support (with 17"+ high back cushions, and 2" added at the top of the frame). In the picture shown here (sent by one of our customers in Michigan), the two male occupants are each 6'3", so the higher option is the right thing for this family.

Often people prefer the lower look of the standard, 31" height, and the surcharge for the higher back is also a consideration that causes some people to avoid the higher back. For those reasons, (1).we sometimes sell a set consisting of a sofa in the 31" height together with a matching "man's chair" in the 33" height; and they look perfectly compatible together; and (2) people sometimes choose an alternative way of achieving higher back support; if you choose the webbing suspension (at least for the seat where the tallest family member(s) will normally sit), the effective back support becomes higher; this is because the occupant's posterior sinks 2-3" farther downward, while the back cushion and the back of the frame stay at the same height off the floor. So the actual support comes higher up on the person's back. Also, you can achieve firmer support higher up the back, while keeping the same cushion height, if you order just the back of the frame to be higher (at half the regular charge for the higher back).

Are you looking for a headrest? Some of our customers who like a head rest place a toss pillow on top of the back cushion, leaning it against the wall behind, to serve that purpose. Don't think of the 33" height as something that can by itself serve as a head rest even for a shorter person, unless the person is very short (the young lady on the right in the picture above is 5'7").

The 35" height (with a $4 per inch surcharge) could come closer to being high enough for a headrest for some people, especially if combined with the webbing suspension, as was the case for the sofa shown here. The shortest person on this sofa is 5' 9" tall.

If you have a window that you don't want to have partly blocked by a sofa: We can make the back cushions any amount lower than 15" for a $30 charge per complete order (however, note that a back cushion height less than 15" might not provide good support for a 6-foot tall person). But keep in mind that the sofa height that we refer to is at the very top of the back cushions, several inches forward from the back of the frame. Looking downward from a normal vantage point (higher than 31"), a 31"-high top of a cushion (well forward from the window) would not even partially block a view unless the window sill is less than 29" above the floor.

Another point with regard to the photo that is two pictures up: The number of seat cushions doesn't necessarily limit the number of occupants. Five may be a quick, once-a-year squeeze for the 85" three-seat sofa as shown, but four could last a while, especially if one or two occupants aren't full-grown. On our 64" loveseat, which has a full 60" of seat width, three can fit without a squeeze. But please note that sitting on the edge of a cushion with full adult weight is bad for the shape of the cushion if done steadily (we learned that from one of our customers who was retired and who sat for many hours a day on the same cushion edge). Our customer who bought the sofa in that picture sent an e-mail with the subject "so happy" and mentioned that "the cushions have comfied up just as you said and my husband comments on their nice sittability frequently."

The sofa above left was made 3" lower than standard, for a couple from India who were accustomed to sitting close to the floor.

The sectional on the right above was made 3" higher off the floor than our standard height, in combination with the 2"-higher back, for a 6' 7", 370-pound man (his wife, fortunately, was also long-legged). They also chose the extra-firm cushions, which are a good idea for a really heavy person.

Seat Height:.The seat cushions are normally 16 1/2" above the floor at the front, sloping downward about 3/4" toward the rear.
When comparing our 15 3/4" -16 1/2" seat height with the support you get from other furniture of a given height, keep in mind that one sinks down into our seats, with our standard padded wood base below, substantially less than when sitting on most sofas or loungey furniture; and our sofas and chairs are therefore easier to get up from than is typical upholstered furniture. However, the sitter (especially if a heavier person) would sink into our furniture more than when sitting on furniture that has thin cushioning, such as office chairs or dining chairs.

We can make the whole frame higher or lower, in our exposed-wood models only, for charges as follows: Any amount lower: $120 for the first frame and $25 for each additional frame in the same design. Up to 3" higher: $350 for the first frame ($500 for a sectional), and $50 for each additional frame in the same design. If you can come to our showroom, we could put various blocks under a chair to find how much higher you might want a seat. If you want to make a determination at home, you could measure the distance from the floor to the underside of your upper leg. We also have less-expensive ways of adding 2" or so of effective additional support height, as follows: (1) Glides on the bottoms of the legs can add 3/8" (at no charge); (2) the rear of the seat's support can be raised up about an inch, essentially levelling the seat (the customer could do this herself, with some old towels inserted below the cover of the seat deck), (3) firmer cushioning (at $2 per inch of length) would add about 1 1/2" of effective extra height, as compared with the standard cushioning, since you would not sink into it as far (but the effective support by the back cushion would then become less, since the sitter's resting position would become higher in relation to a back cushion that does not become higher).

Please note that it's good to turn your cushions over and rotate their positions occasionally to prevent distortion, especially if somebody tends to sit in the same place on a sofa regularly. Do this more frequently if a grown-up's weight is on a cushion's edge much of the time.

Cushions with dense, durable, very supportive filling may tend to feel overly firm at first, but will break in with use, like a new shoe. (If a cushion starts out feeling cushy, you probably wouldn't get good support after it had softened with use.) The softening can be greatly accelerated by having the heaviest available person sit up and down on the cushions vigorously for a few minutes. Also, medium-firm support is often firmer than what people are accustomed to; but, once they get used to it, people usually like it better (and their backs appreciate it also) compared with the saggy support of typical sofas. A California customer wrote, "We watched a movie last night and my back did not get at all sore. The back support seems quite good, unlike our old sofa which was great for leaning back your head but offered little back support. I note in your handout that the cushions appear firm at first and will soften up. They do seem firm when you first sit on them but this is simply a first impression and does not sustain itself during a sitting."

Details about our webbing suspension: It consists of two layers of high-quality, resilient, full-width synthetic webbing affixed to a sturdy oak frame. This frame is separate from the main sofa frame and is easy to lift out for adjustments, for repair, or for disassembling the frame for moving. (We can send you a sample of this webbing material at no charge on request.) If at any time you want greater firmness and/or higher support, old towels or other material could be inserted between the upper and lower levels of the webbing. The webbing suspension is covered by our standard ten-year warranty. NOTE: If you are ordering without having had a chance to come to our showroom, or without trying our sample cushion platform, keep in mind that you can easily convert from one kind of base to the other: You could get the standard firm base at first, and (if it still seems too firm after a couple of weeks) order the webbing suspension later, and simply lift the firm base out of the frame and replace it with the webbing suspension.

To return to the page dealing with the Florida model, click here. To return to the page dealng with the Custom 05 model, click here.To return to the page dealing with the California model, click here. To return to the page dealing with the Virginia model, click here. To return to the page dealing with the Maryland model, click here. To return to the page dealing with the New Jersey model, click here. To return to the page dealing with sectional sofas, click here. To return to the page dealing with the heavy-duty construction of our furniture, click here.

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