I am so grateful to all of you for the overwhelming response I received from our family room reveal a couple weeks back! You guys loved this space so much and it’s evident by the comments, DM’s, and many in-person compliments – so THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU! This is just the motivation I need to get moving on a plethora of other home decor projects in our house so thanks again for that!

If you had a chance to read that blog post reveal (find it HERE), I mentioned that we had a professional La-Z-Boy designer come to our house for a complimentary in-home design consultation. This is a service that La-Z-Boy offers free of charge to their customers to best determine how your selected piece(s) of furniture will look in your space.

First things first though, I visited the Burlington, ON store to browse their selection of products, peruse fabric samples, and see the furniture up close. As you already know, my heart was set on the Paxton design from seeing it on social media (but I had yet to actually see it in person), so being able to touch and feel the model they had in store and see colour options was a huge help in solidifying my choice. I also met with the designer at La-Z-Boy Burlington, Tracey, who was such a pleasure to work with. Tracey really listened to what my vision was for the space, and she answered all my questions about the quality, fabric, and configuration options available. Even though they didn’t have the sectional on the floor, they did have the sofa and loveseat, which allowed me to see the overall lines of the Paxton – and of course I loved it as expected! Tracey even took out the measuring tape and mapped out on the floor for me the different sizes available for the sectional since we weren’t yet sure what would work for our space. We then looked at fabrics and as discussed in my last post I narrowed down the options to the iClean^TM fabric in Pearl – which couldn’t have been a better choice.

Since I was designing an entire family room, Tracey also assisted in selecting a pair of armchairs that would work with the Paxton design. I actually hadn’t done much research on chairs, so her expertise was such a welcome help, which eventually led me to the Avenue occasional chairs which I LOVE LOVE LOVE! She suggested an armless design to allow the eye to flow in the space since the sofa is of substantial scale, and we didn’t want to add unnecessary bulk to the room. We then looked at fabrics again for the Avenue chairs and I instantly fell in love with this iClean^TM cognac fabric that coordinated so well with the pearl sofa.

So we had determined we were going with a pair of Avenue chairs and the Paxton design – but hadn’t decided if we would go with a pair of sofas, or a sectional configuration. I was having a hard time visualizing which layout would work for our family room, and this is where the in-home design consultation was such a huge help (promised I was getting to the point of this blog post lol)!

Tracey and I set a date for her to come visit my home to help decide on the exact furniture configuration. La-Z-Boy will handle all of your design needs from furniture layout to full service design – depending on what your needs are. Once at my house, she measured out the entire space, took note of windows, shelving, and walls, and we walked through all of the options. She would later take the measurements back with her to the office and plot them into her design program. From there she presented me with customized design plans to visualize how the different configurations of sofa vs. sectional (along with the chairs) would look in our space. By seeing our family room in person she was also able to provide me with so many extra helpful tips and suggestions. We chatted about the overall design of the room, and she even recommended the ideal rug size, which I totally would have gotten wrong if it wasn’t for her!

It was a hard decision to decide whether to go with two sofas facing each other (like we’ve previously had), or to try out a sectional, which would be a first for us. I was definitely ready for a change so we decided on the sectional. But that wasn’t the last decision we had to make. The Paxton sectional is fully customizable so we then had to decide how many components we needed to maximize the space we had in our family room. Tracey gave me two digital drawings of different sectional layouts and it was so helpful to see how they would each look in our space. She also included different room views so we could visualize it from all angles. While we could have gone smaller, I really wanted to maximize the space and felt comfortable with how the 6-piece design would look in our room.

As mentioned in my last post, when the sectional was delivered I initially doubted whether or not we made the right decision because it looked SO big – but I’m very glad I trusted Tracey because she was absolutely correct in assuring me that the 6-piece configuration was best suited for our family room.

Shop the La-Z-Boy Avenue Occasional Chairs HERE

I think the free in-home design service that La-Z-Boy offers is such an amazing resource when you’re making this large of an investment. The cost of furniture can really add up (especially if you’re furnishing an entire house), so being able to have that extra piece of mind that you’re making the right decision BEFORE committing to your purchase is so helpful. Who wouldn’t want to see how furniture will look in their exact room before making a decision?! I also love that our designer offered us so many suggestions and options, and didn’t just tell me what I “wanted” to hear. She took my choices into consideration, but then offered alternatives so we knew we would be getting what was right for our lifestyle, our space, and our family.

Shop the La-Z-Boy Paxton Sectional HERE

If you’re starting to shop for furniture – whether it’s just one piece – or you need to outfit an entire home – I would highly suggest La-Z-Boy for their extensive selection of products, AND the service that comes along with it. Personalized design service (and complimentary at that) is something that doesn’t usually come with furniture purchases these days, but it made a world of difference for me and I know it will for you as well!

*This post is in collaboration with La-Z-Boy, however, all opinions are always my own.
*Photos by Darby Mitchell Photography