How To Choose The Right Sofa

Challenging and definitely exciting, finding the right furniture for your home is not something to be taken lightly. There are several factors to consider and your patience and creativity will be tested in this project.

But this article will focus on choosing the right sofa for any part of your home or perhaps an office space you own. Interior designer Radah from Singapore shared some of the things she considers before making a decision about which sofa to buy for her clients, “I first ask of course the dimension of the space where they want to put the sofa. I often visit the space personally too just to make sure I know what I am dealing with. I also ask for the budget of the client so I don’t under- or overspend. We discuss what color and size should be bought—and if we want it to be the focal point of the room. It may appear simple, but choosing a sofa is not as easy as it sounds.”

On questions of whether you should choose a light- or dark-colored sofa, Diana Hathaway Timmons of The Spruce - Make Your Best Home has this to say through her article How to Choose a Sofa Color, “Once you decide if your sofa will be an accent or neutral color, you'll need to decide if your sofa will be light or dark. Your floor color has a big effect on choosing the right sofa color. If you're considering a potential sofa sitting on your floor, will it float on a sea of dark wood flooring or carpet or will it blend into it? Because a sofa is traditionally large and upholstered, and most fabric absorbs light, it can darken a room considerably. A trick I use when considering a new sofa color is to find a sheet or blanket in a similar color and drape it over the existing sofa. This gives you an idea of how the color will look, and if the sofa will be too dark or too light for the room. If you’re putting a dark sofa on a dark floor, it will appear to disappear into the room. If you would like to use a dark sofa on a dark floor, you should try to make it more visible. A dark sofa with metal or light wood legs can create visual space between the sofa and the floor. The use of a lighter rug under the front of your sofa can separate the dark colors and make the sofa color pop. A light wood or metal coffee table could also help to define the sofa from the floor. A light-colored sofa has different challenges from a dark one. The biggest challenge of a light sofa is staining and wear. Before selecting a white or light sofa consider how the room is being used now, not how you hope it will be used. If your dog is like mine and believes that a sofa is just another large dog bed, then you would probably not want to put a white sofa in your living room without some serious retraining. If your sofa will be used by kids and pets, and you still love the idea of a light sofa, then washable slipcovers are a stylish compromise.”

Kyle who just recently furnished his entertainment room in his flat in Singapore believes that he found the best sofa, “My concerns were these: it has to be silky black; it has to have a good back support; it should be long and wide; and it has to fit in my entertainment room. I don’t care about the price actually because I wanted something that will last long, and I actually saved up for this because I wanted to invite friends and families to just hang out in my place.” Kyle mentioned how fun it was to look for a sofa in Singapore, “There were a lot of options to choose from. I enjoyed window shopping before I finally found the one.”

The furniture’s orientation is another important factor, “Decide exactly how the sofa will be oriented. Successfully organizing a living space starts with analyzing your lifestyle. What do you do the most in that space? Do you like to wind down in front of the TV? Make sure your couch faces that direction. Love hosting game or wine nights? Create a semi-circle (or even full circle) around a central table. Does your family use the living room to lounge, relax and read? Surround your sofa with chairs and cushions to create multiple seating areas that can be enjoyed individually, or as a large group,” wrote Vanessa Brunner for http://houzz.com’s article Six Tips for Choosing the Perfect Sofa.