Fabulous Tillary

(Psst: If you want to see how this sofa is holding up, check out this review.)

I pulled the proverbial trigger on a big purchase this week, and in 2-10 weeks the West Elm Tillary Sectional will be ours. Delivery timelines are sometimes very mysterious.

Making this purchase has been a whirlwind of indecision, complicated by the fact that the dog ate my fabric swatches, that our living room is impossibly large, and that couches of any design can cost a lot of money. All of those complexities were complimented by the fact that I was able to convince people, like helpful Cait, and my own husband, to test out the Tillary 8-piece Sectional in-store for real-life butt-on-fabric reviews. Though it was more adaptable than we anticipated and I haven’t actually seen it yet for myself (!), we kept coming back to it as being the right fit for our space. There are surprisingly few reviews for the Tillary online, a few rave and a few poo-poo, but one thing seemed clear – the fabric and form of West Elm products are popularly noted for holding up well over time.

With respect to the Tillary, consider a few things:

• Sized as a 112″ x 112″ L-shape, one side is approximately  18″ longer than our current couch, and given the sectional quality, it’ll seat more than 2x as many people when it comes to entertaining.
• It is only 27″ in height, floor to the top of the back cushions, which puts it 1″ lower than big living room picture window. No matter the configuration, our couch will not block our view, and this was an important consideration.
• The pricing was right: Normally priced at $2,500 (or $3,000+ when you consider taxes and shipping), West Elm couches are currently subject to a 15% off promotion. In addition, I was able to layer on a 10% movers discount that came in the mail, bringing the total price down closer to $2,200 all fees included.
• The back cushions are moveable, which is definitely something that held us back for awhile, but in the configuration we have in mind, most of the cushions will be against a wall. And as a friend pointed out to us, the back supports can easily be moved by our kids for extra floor lounging happiness, and practicality is #1. We are a couch fort loving family.
• This sectional will break up our ginormous living room in a practical way, forming a comfortable space for entertaining, working, and playing by the fireplace. Note: This will not cater to our TV-watching mega-lounging area of the room, that’s a whole separate endeavor.
• I thought I was vehemently against anything microfiber. Until Pete brought home the swatches. And then we both fell for Heather Gray (we think and hope that’s the one in the top right, because we bought it). The microfiber has a really nice low-pile terry cloth-esque nappy texture, not the microfiber suede that my mind immediately goes to. I had really been pushing for the Goldengate, Dandelion, or Poppy in the Performance Velvet fabric, but I actually liked the feel of the fabric less in person, it’s the very light gray shown in the first row).

We’re happy that we are getting the Tillary for a very mid-range price when you consider the wide range of sofas that we considered–all of which we feel fall into the “modest and affordable” category, not to be confused with the “OMG” category in which sectionals easily range from $6,000-$12,000–because $2,200 for a gigantic sectional is actually a great deal. Our price allowance also required us to consider that in the case of the non-sectionals, we would have probably purchased two units or complementary chairs to just to fill the space in the room.

If I learned anything from my first big couch purchase a few years ago, it’s that I am fine with a low seat (our current couch is 16″ off the floor and the Tillary is about the same), I love a deep seat (the current couch sports 41″ overall depth, with 24″ of seating depth), and I did not want tufting on the seat at all (crumbs!).

In narrowing it down, here are a few that we considered (links at bottom of the post):

We spent a lot of time exploring the IKEA sofas during a recent trip. The KARLSTAD is a natural go-to by many, but I’m still skeptical about how well it holds up over the years, and I couldn’t be convinced that the scale was right with the chaises and not a formal “L” shape. The KIVIK is a model we really like, but we like it best at the loveseat size (it may end up being the right fit and price for our TV watching area). The SÖDERHAMN is one of IKEA’s newest models and one that Pete had been pushing for; what we didn’t like was the fact that the back cushions were oddly undersized. Oh, and more importantly, when we visited SÖDERHAMN in person, the base cushions were butt imprint central. BUSTED:

How funny is it that when I bought this West Elm area rug at the beginning of the year (before we were moving) and was also inspired by the color of the room, that I would end up buying the same couch that was featured? Things come full circle. And we obviously love West Elm very much.

Interested in any of the couches shown above? Find them here: Tillary 8-Piece Sectional, West Elm // Taylor, Thrive Furniture // SÖDERHAMN, IKEA // Fillmore, Thrive Furniture // KIVIK,  IKEA // Bleecker, Happy Chic by Jonathan Adler, J.C. Penney (*Currently 40% off! So cute!) // Nixon, Thrive Furniture // KARLSDAD, IKEA