Furniture that's Cozy, Comfortable, and Home-like, yet Practical and Heavy Duty

This page deals only with our furniture in applications where extra-sturdy furniture is especially needed. For pictures and information about our furniture in general, including sofas, loveseats and sectionals in which design features, custom dimensions and/or maximum comfort are more important, please see our home page (if you haven't already) by clicking here.

If you need furniture for heavy use, you don't need furniture with frames made of "engineered wood", stapled together, which is most of the furniture that's available these days.

Shown here: 31" Custom 05 chair, 55" loveseat, and 79" sofa, in a microsuede from Charlotte fabrics, part of a large order in the Phi Sigma Kappa fraternity house at Lehigh University.

For details about how our furniture is constructed so as to withstand heavy use, with pictures and specifications of materials and construction, click here.

Please note: Just because our furniture is suited for heavy use, don't think that there is any sacrifice in comfort. Most people who come to our showroom say that our furniture is more comfortable than the furniture that they find in normal stores. We offer soft options in our cushioning and support, but most people say they like the greater firmness and the medium seat depth of our standard cushioning and suspension, in comparison with the too-soft feel, excessively-deep seats and poor back support in furniture that they find in typical stores.

This furniture is in the Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity house at the University of Florida, in Gainesville, and includes an 85" sofa and two 28" chairs in our California model, as well as a 24" x 48" coffee table, a 30" x 30" corner table, and an 18" x 24" end table (concealed).

The furniture shown here is in the waiting room of the District of Columbia Birth Center. Shown are 58" loveseats (becoming 62" including the optional padded arm wraps) and 28" chairs in the California model. Our most heavy-duty fabrics (such as the one shown) are solids or tweeds; but we also have moderately-heavy-duty fabrics in many decorative patterns. The fabrics section of this web site shows many of our heavy-duty fabrics. Swatches of any of those, as well as of many other kindsand colors of fabrics, are available on request.

The California model, shown here, is one of our two most practical models when you need to change the fabric (the Florida model is equally practical). Without the padded arm wraps, and with the optional all-wood backs, there is nothing to re-cover but the cushions, which are zippered. If you do choose the padded arm wraps, new covers can be applied to those fairly quickly, merely pulling off the old and tugging on the new, and fastening the velcro tabs. Of course we also sell complete replacement cushions, but usually the inner cushions (made of unusually high-quality filling) are good for at least fifteen years.

Our models with the completely-covered arms (the Virginia model) or covered frames (the Custom 05 model) can be re-covered much more easily than typical upholstered furniture, but obviously not as easily as the ones with the exposed-wood frames.

What could be harder on furniture than one family's active kids plus their visitors? How about a hundred teenagers a day? After 2-1/2 years of exposure to this kind of activity, our furniture is doing fine, according to the director of this teen center.

Shown here: Our Custom 05 model in the 97", 61", and 34" sizes, at Passaic Valley high school in New Jersey (purchased by the New Jersey Community Development Corporation). The sofa and chair are covered with an extra-heavy-duty 100% olefin fabric that is available in a wide array of colors. All of our models are available in a range of other lengths.

Note to people seeking furniture for human services, charitable or educational organizations and also those considering large orders: We can normally offer significant discounts off the regular prices, especially if you can order well in advance of when you need the furniture.

Special Needs: If any intended occupants weigh over 350 pounds or have been wearing out normal furniture at a rapid rate, we should do some extra reinforcement below the seats; add $30 for that reinforcement for a sofa, $25 for a loveseat, or $18 for a chair. If any intended occupants have the syndrome of "rocking" backward and are over 160 pounds, please let us know so that we can provide extra reinforcement to prevent problems that could otherwise result ($25 charge per piece of furniture ).
If incontinence or possible spills are considerations:
a) We offer a wide selection of heavy-duty, attractive vinyl fabrics and Crypton fabrics.
b) Liquid-repellant inner covers are $6 per cushion if you want to use a normal, porous cover fabric but want to prevent liquid spills from soaking into the cushion filling.
NOTE: With either liquid-repellant outer covers or inner covers, the tight seal that's required means that the passage of air in and out of the cushions will be very slow, causing the furniture to feel extremely firm when first sitting down, as well as making the cushions slow to regain their shape when a sitter rises. These effects can be reduced significantly as follows: Vinyl or Crypton covers can be unzipped several inches to allow more air passage; and holes can be cut in plastic inner covers near corners, where spills would be less likely to dribble down; we intentionally leave small gaps at all four corners of the inner covers for this purpose already, but bigger holes would obviously have more effect.
c) And for $10 extra per seat, we can make the support pieces below the cushions water-resistant.

Semi-attachment of cushions: If kids' taking the loose cushions off the furniture is a problem, we can fasten them down ($12 per cushion) in a way that still allows an informed adult to remove and turn them, thus still permitting good utilization of both sides of the covers and cushions, as well as still allowing changing the covers years later.

Notice that all exposed edges and corners of our furniture are well rounded. Also notice that the arm tops of our California and Florida models have overhanging edges, making them easy to grasp by somebody who needs a good grip for getting up. Also, with our firmer-than average support (in our standard cushioning), people find it easier to get up from our furniture than from typical furniture.

The 240-pound autistic teenager here had the "rocking" syndrome, which we hadn't heard about until a year or two after delivering this sectional. At that time we found that there was a place on our frames that is vulnerable to that kind of activity on the part of a heavy, active occupant who sits in the same place all the time. The problem was taken care of with use of a repair kit we sent his parents (at no charge), but we appreciate it if customers tell us beforehand about likely exposure to that kind of behavior and order the extra reinforcement to prevent expected problems.

If your fraternity or other heavy-use organization is ready for something better, and for something that will stand up to hard punishment for decades, we have what you need.

Shown here: 76" Florida sofa, 52" loveseat, 28" chair, 24" x 48" coffee table, and two 18" x 24" end tables, in one of our extra-heavy-duty fabrics, part of an order delivered to the Theta Xi house at Virginia Tech.

(If this room looks bare for a fraternity house, and not very "lived in", it's because the renovators had just driven away when we pulled in with this furniture.)

If you need furniture for hard use, it probably doesn't pay to buy normal furniture.

This loveseat is part of an initial purchase from The Learning Tree, Inc. of Alabama, a school for children with "severely challenging behavior." Just six months after receiving the initial order, when preparing to purchase an additional sofa and loveseat, the ordering official commented that the first three pieces had already held up better than any other furniture they had ever had. (And we know that its useful life had only just begun.)

They order their furniture to have reinforcements for rocking backwards, for flopping and heavy weight, and for incontinence (the supports below the cushions are also made to be water-repellant), and with extra padding in case of head-banging. The fabric is a heavy-duty virgin vinyl from Charlotte Fabrics, which (like urethanes) is especially resistant to splitting. We offer some urethane fabrics that are even more resistant to damage than the virgin vinyl that is shown. Especially if biting on the arms is a possibility, we also recommend separate arm covers to go on top of the basic fabric for extra, easily-replaceable protection at that location.

Their person who has assembled the furniture from us said that that was easy to do.

Practicality suited for hard use and liquid spills by a rowdy bunch, yet with cloth covers, on its way west

Please excuse this quickie snapshot of part of an order for the Delta Chi fraternity house at the University of Southern California, taken in our workshop just before packing it to be shipped out. Shown: 76" Florida model, with extra-heavy duty olefiin fabric (available in a wide selection of colors). The customer ordered liquid-repellant inner covers to prevent spilled beverages from seeping into the cushioning material inside. This was done with some concern that the inner covers might detract from the comfort or appearance, but the advisor who ordered it said several months later that the fraternity members hadn't even noticed anything unusual about the sofas. This appears to be a good way to get much of the practicality of vinyl covers together with most of the appearance and feel of cloth covers, as well as providing the super durability of some of the woven fabrics we offer.

Other kinds of practicality for use by the handicapped, on its way north
The New York State organization (Mary Cariola Children's Center) that ordered this and other furniture was founded to take care of handicapped children with challenges so severe that other residences couldn't be found that would admit them. They tried out our semi-attachment option for the cushions and found the results with the test piece to be "great" after two weeks. They then finalized an order for additional pieces done that same way as well as with all of the extra reinforcements for special needs.

Vinyl or urethane fabrics also go well with our exposed-wood models, for even greater practicality in caring for the handicapped. In addition to excellent leather imitations, they are also available with decorative patterns.

Many vinyl fabrics can be subject to cracking, but if you make sure that it is specified to be 100% virgin vinyl (or urethane, which looks essentially the same as vinyl), our testing indicates that cracking should not be a significant problem.

Comfort, Cleanliness, and Community, in a Caring Facility, combined with unmatched durability and practicality. This picture of a 110" x 110" Virginia model sectional sofa was taken just before packing and shipping it to Carondolet Manor (an elder care facility) in Kansas City, Missouri.

The official who ordered this had expressed concern about comfort for elderly residents when first inquiring, and 1-1/2 years after delivery he said that it was working out very well. His was a very reasonable concern, since most furniture in stores these days, from what we have heard, is so deep and so soft that short-legged and elderly are uncomfortable and have difficulty getting up. Not so with our sofas and chairs, with their medium-firm, non-sagging support and their less-deep-than-typical seats..

A sectional sofa is an ideal furnishing for promoting contact between people, which increases contentment and also (accordiing to studies) personal well-being. Obviously, if hazardous bacteria or viruses are present, contact can be a double-edged sword.

Given the normal health concerns at such a facilty, the fabric selected was one of the "Crypton" line, with anti-bacterial properties as well as being water-repellant and stain repellant. But many of the Crypton fabrics are also very attractive, not at all institutional-looking. We can also treat the frame below the cushions to make it repellant to liquids that might be spilled and run off the cushions. The cushions can be removed for cleaning below, and even the support panels below the cushions can be easily lifted out for more thorough cleaning, all the way to the floor. For more frequent, quick cleaning below, it's obvious how easy it is to reach below with a mop or with the wand extension of a vacuum cleaner.

For this sectional, we also made the back cushions to be semi-attached, instead of being loose, which is standard.

While your fire and rescue people are on call to risk their lives for the community,
don't they deserve to relax on comfortable, nice-looking furniture that stays that way?

Above and right: Our California model seating, with matching tables, at the Manassas (VA) Coles District Volunteer Fire and Rescue Squad's station. When we were taking these pictures almost two years after delivery, the people there said they were quite pleased with the furniture. Very little needed to be done, mainly tightening some screws that mount the table legs, and replacing a few covers that had had holes poked by sharp tools worn by the firemen. The officer in charge commented about how our high-density cushioning maintains its support through heavy use, in contrast with the cushioning in cheaper furniture.

Since this station is located near our workshop and showroom, their officer was able to come check out our products personally before ordering. But we also sell a great deal to organizations that are very distant from us, sending out fabric swatches and wood stain samples for them to select from. This furniture is in one of our extra-heavy-duty fabrics, available in an excellent range of colors, and with our Light Fruitwood stain.

Something that didn't show up in these pictures: There were many black boot marks on the wood surfaces, which were rather noticeable on this optional fairly light fiinish. They were generally easy to remove by rubbing with some cleaning fluid (leaving our polyurethane finish on oak wood still in good condition). But you might consider the advantage of choosing one of our darker stains to help keep such marks from showing up conspicuously.

Looking at the picture of the second room, you can probably guess where the wide-screen TV is located. This squad could have found furniture that was less expensive in the initial price, but not in the long run. And that's not even considering the extra value of providing real, lasting comfort and pleasing surroundings to the personnel who are on call.

At right: Our California sofas in the drivers' lounge at the Montgomery County (MD) RideOn bus depot, after about five years of 24/7/365 use, with 300-lb drivers among the many steady users. We must acknowledge that a little straightening up was done before shooting this picture. (In addition to loose, reversible cushions as shown, we also offer cushioning that is fixed in place.)

Notice that the cushions, after all the years of hard use, are still in good condition, as a result of the high-quality polyurethane foam filling we use, without the usual polyester fiber that packs down with use..And there are no springs to sag.

The 85" sofa and 54" loveseat here are in a residence managed by Supportive Concepts for Families, of Lewistown, PA, and are covered with one of our extra-heavy-duty tweeds. Almost three years after receiving this order, they called back to order a set for a second residence, mentioning that the earlier furniture had held up well under heavy use.

Another customer said that they had previously been going through a new sofa every few months with her very active, mentally-challenged adult son. After eight years with one of our sofas, that sofa finally needed some major re-work, but large parts of it were still usable (our frames are made of components that can be replaced, by simply unbolting and then bolting the new parts into place)..

To see details of how this furniture is made, with pictures and specifications of materials and construction, click here.

To see some of the heavy-duty fabrics and other fabrics that are available with our furniture, click here.

To return to the Comfy 1 home page, with access to pages for our individual models and pricing (bearing in mind that discounts are often available for larger orders from organizations), click here.