High Sofas, Chairs and Loveseats

We can make any of our furniture (sofas, loveseats, chairs and ottomans) higher than normal. But many customers tell us that our standard sofas and chairs, even when not made specially high, are much easier to get up from than are most sofas in stores these days, because of the firmer-than-average support included with our standard products.

Note that this page deals only with making the entire frame, including the seat, higher off the floor. The backs can be made higher as a completely separate option; for more about optional higher backs, click here.

With our standard frame heights, the seat cushions are 16 1/2" above the floor at the front, sloping downward about 3/4" toward the rear. However, with our standard (padded wood) base, as opposed to a suspension that sinks down and up, our 16" seat height is much easier to get up from than such a height would be on most sofas.
(But you shouldn't sit on a desk chair or dining chair of a certain height, with thin padding, and think that our standard support would feel that high; the sitter, especially if a heavier person, would sink down into our thick cushions more than when sitting on furniture that has thin cushioning.)

 

The sofa on the right was made with a frame that's 2" higher than standard (in addition to having the 4"-higher back). This option is fine for taller people (the shortest person on this sofa is 5'9" tall.), but even short people who have difficulty getting up from a sofa or chair often like one of our higher height options also.

We can make the frame of any model higher for charges as follows (for less-expensive ways to raise the seat height, see farther down this page): Up to 3" higher: $175 for the first exposed-wood frame ($350 if a sectional) or $400 for a Custom 05 model ($580 if sectional), and $110 for each additional frame in the same design. 3 1/2" to 6" higher: Add $110 to any of the above amounts.

We can make the whole frame lower, in our exposed-wood models only, for charges as follows: $90 for the first frame and $25 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, but bear in mind that you would sink into the seat cushion at least an inch (with our extra-firm cushions) and two or three inches with our semi-firm or standard (medium) cushions. Also, we have a sample seat that we can send out to you that can be put up on risers of different heights to determine the ideal height for you. You would be expected to pay only part of the shipping charge -- a total of $40 for customers in Eastern and Central time zones, or $80 in Mountain and Pacific zones, payable in advance, and the charge is creditable toward the cost of an order placed.

The chair above was made 6" higher than standard for a woman who has special problems getting up. She wanted this to be "counter height", as when sitting on a bar stool, a height that she likes. But this height is not for everyone: Comfy 1's owner, who is 6'1", finds that his feet don't reach the floor when sitting on furniture of this height, even when wearing shoes with 1" heels.

If difficulty getting up is a concern, notice that the arm padding shown here is optional, and movable. Since the arm pads don't provide a good grip, the occupant may want to move them a few inches toward the rear, which would allow the hands to securely grip the wood arm tops, or else possibly just do without them.

This loveseat and ottoman were made 3" higher than normal (along with a 4"-higher back, and extra-firm cushions), for a tall customer.

 

If you have questions and don't want to keep going through this website to seek the answers, please call 1-800-659-0436, leaving a message and a number to call back if we aren't there at the time. To send e-mail, click here.

 

This sofa was made 1 1/2" higher than standard, and the seat was also made level, for a customer who has difficulty getting up.

 

 

 

The sectional on the left 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).

 

 

Less-expensive ways to raise the effective sofa or chair height:

(1) 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 sheets, blankets, towels etc. inserted below the seats; ($15 charge if we raise the rear as part of an original order),

(2) we can also provide some little feet that can be added onto the bottoms of the legs, which can add 1" to the height ($12 for a set of four); see pictures below; thick glides could also add a little height, either when added directly to the bottoms of the legs or if added to the bottoms of the little add-on feet;

(3) we can provide an extra (covered) plywood layer to go below the seat cushions, adding about an inch to the seat height (it could add more with blocks placed belowit). This would costs $25 for the covered deck for a sofa and some blocks to go under it, plus $40 or more for packing and shipping; and

(4) our semi-firm cushioning (at $2 per inch of length for seats or backs); firmer seats would add an inch or two of effective extra height, as compared with the standard cushioning, since you would not sink into it as far.

This Florida model sofa was made at the standard height. But our customer, who has sciatica, lower back pain, and rheumatoid arthritis, had difficulty getting up from it, so she added the little feet together with the glides, plus the covered plywood layer below the seat, plus levelling the seat.

She kindly sent us these pictures so that our other customers can get an idea of how the sofa looks with these adaptations, when sitting on a low-pile carpet. The thicker the carpet, the less the added-on feet would show.

 

The extra plywood layer below the seat cushions creates a small gap between the bottoms of the seat cushions and the top of the front rail, as you can see in the picture. Obviously, the more blocks you put below that plywood layer, the larger the gap would become. If the gap becomes objectionable, a fabric-covered strip could be inserted at the front to fill the gap.

Our customer says that, for somebody with lower back pain, she would recommend ordering the sofa to be made 2" higher, for greater ease of getting up. But if your problems are not serious, you may be happy with the standard height, since people sink into one of our sofas (with our standard padded wood base) less than into typical sofas. And, as you can see here, the seating height can be raised later, with only minor appearance changes, if you decide to do so.

To go (or return) to the page that deals with dimensions of our furniture in general, click here.

To go (or return) to the Comfy 1 home page and much more information on our various designs, quality features, sofas, sectional sofas, and prices (on individual product pages), click here.