Best Burrow Alternatives

About Albany Park

Darryl Sharpton sold his first sectional as a student at the University of Miami, then went fourth round to the Houston Texans in 2010 and spent five seasons trying not to think about furniture. It didn't take. "I always intended on starting a furniture company after playing football," he told us. "In fact, I was impatient and tried starting a furniture company while still playing the NFL."

He retired in 2015. Two years later he and his wife Jessica went looking for a sofa for their own home and came back with nothing but a grievance. Every showroom overpriced. Every catalog a thousand near-identical options. Anything actually good, months away. They founded Edloe Finch in 2017 and launched Albany Park in 2019 on a single bet: fewer sofas, done properly, shipped in boxes a person can carry upstairs.

That bet still holds. The sofas arrive in boxes you can carry up a stairwell and go together in about ten minutes, which sounds like a small thing until you've tried to get a traditional one past a landing. Three lines now, the Kova, the Barton and the Lido, each in enough configurations to fit a studio or a family room, and every piece built to order.

The Kova

The flagship, and the one our testers keep ending up on. Deep seats, forgiving foam, and a modular layout that stretches from an 86" sofa to a full pit. Box cushions hold a crisp line; pillow cushions give you the slouchy look.

The Barton

The tailored one. A classic three-seat silhouette with neat corners and deep seating, plus a matching armchair, chaise sectional and storage ottoman.

The Lido

The small-space answer. At 75" it fits apartments where a sectional would swallow the room, and the mid-century legs keep it visually light. There's an 86" version and a chaise sectional if you've got more wall to work with.

Shipping, returns and warranty

Free white glove delivery on every order, a $149 value, with a crew bringing the piece inside rather than leaving boxes on your porch. Everything is built to order, so expect one to two weeks. Returns run 30 days with free pickup and a 20% fee, so order the free swatches before you commit. Frames are covered for life.

Joybird believes in creating handcrafted furniture from the finest materials, at fair prices. Each piece of furniture starts as a raw material and is transformed to the exact specifications you want. Joybird’s stylish designs are inspired by the Mid-Century movement of the 1950s and 60s, from designers such as Frank Lloyd Wright, Cara Greenburg and Eero Saarinen.

At Joybird you can pick up big-ticket furniture items as well as a wide range of home decor products including rugs, throws, lighting and wallpaper.

Started in 1997, Blu Dot was founded with the goal to bring good design to as many people as possible. After graduating college friends Maurice Blanks and John Christakos were looking for modern home furnishings and found that the things they could afford they didn't like, and the things they liked they couldn't afford. The pair teamed up with Charlie Lazor to start Blu Dot to craft modern furnishings at affordable prices.

Blu Dot operates out of a studio in Minneapolis, and everything it makes and sells is designed in this studio. It also has retail stores across the US in New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, Austin, Seattle, Portland and Minneapolis.

With a mission to make beautifully designed, affordable furniture, Sabai uses sustainable materials and ethical manufacturing to create every piece in its collection.

It offers three products: The Essential Sofa, The Essential Sectional and The Essential Ottoman. Each product is fully customisable, allowing you to choose the fabric, legs and cushions on each, so that your furniture is unique to you. They also promise that each item maximises comfort, is kind to the earth and is easy to assemble.

Sabai uses environmentally friendly fabrics, made from natural fibers and recycled water bottles, FSC certified wood, certiPUR-US certified foam, and recycled fiber pillows. Its boxes are also 100% recycled, and no plastic is used in its packaging.

Growing up in what they describe as a ‘hippie household’, Travis and Ryan - two brothers from Sacramento, were raised to understand the importance of using clean, eco materials and living in an environmentally friendly way.

After a few years of college, they discovered a passion for furniture and began working in the furniture industry. The more they learned about how furniture was made, the more their conviction grew that it is vital to use eco-friendly materials and local manufacturers. Taking this premise, they built Medley Home - a place that tailor makes its furniture - allowing them not only to use ethical and local materials and manufacturers, but also to provide furniture that is perfectly designed to suit you.

Selling beautiful furniture for all around the home, including beds, sofas and tables, Medley Home has a focus on sleek designs and high quality pieces that are perfectly made to suit your home.

The Inside is a direct-to-consumer home furnishings brand taking the decorating experience online. Founded by Christiane Lemieux and Britt Bunn, the company offers unprecedented access to inspired design at the most compelling prices.

With its supply chain fueled by digital printing and made-to-order manufacturing, The Inside offers customers the ability to personalize their pieces with more than 100 iconic fabric choices. The assortment includes beds, headboards, pillows, chairs, ottomans, cocktail ottomans, benches and more. Free shipping, one-to-three week delivery, and 30 day returns. The company’s mission is to make home your most meaningful place – because real life happens at home. Real life happens on The Inside.

Encompassing all styles, from Scandinavian to farmhouse, AllModern knows that great home decor and furnishings shouldn’t come at high prices. They also know that you want things delivered quickly and easily. That’s why it aims to get you the best prices, with the fastest shipping possible. Thousands of items arrive within just 2 days - even sofas!

Its site allows you to easily search for almost any item of decor or furniture - with the option to simply browse freely, or the ability to search by your preferred style - be that bohemian, industrial, minimalist, or anything else.

Offering free delivery when you spend over $35, they offer an enormous range of items, encompassing everything from bathrooms to bedrooms. Prices for its sofas - as an example - range anywhere from $239 to $4,326, with hundreds of options to choose from.