Seating and storage are the most important elements in furnishing your living room. Shop carefully to ensure this room is comfy, practical and stylish, whether you’re relaxing, entertaining or catching up with re-runs of Grand Designs.
By Andrea Dean
Sofa Types
Back in the seventies and eighties, a three-piece suite was regarded as the epitome of sitting room chic, but these days a sofa with complementary - rather than coordinating - armchairs or a modular seating system is far more fashionable.
Standard sofas come in a range of shapes, from classic Knowles and Chesterfields to modern boxy, shabby chic or even bespoke designs. With modular systems, you can choose from a range of seats, corners, arms and footstools which slot together to form a sofa tailor-made for your room. These elements can be arranged in any configuration, and are often designed to go round a corner, though due to their size, suit larger rooms better.
Whatever type of sofa you decide on, make sure it suits the proportions of the room – a large space needs larger furniture as smaller pieces will look lost, whereas a compact room will seem cramped if you choose furniture that’s too big, and two small sofas may look far better than one large one.
All sofas consist of a frame, springs or webbing, padding and cushions, though you’ll obviously pay far more for an investment buy that’s hand made, using top-quality materials, and built to last a lifetime. However, you can pick up a perfectly decent sofa for just a few hundred pounds, and at that price you won’t mind replacing it after a few years.
The best sofas have frames made of hardwood which is dowelled, screwed and glued in place, with individual coil springs sewn in by hand, are padded with natural materials and usually have feather or feather and down cushions. Cheaper sofas have softwood frames which are glued rather than screwed, serpentine or zigzag springs, or even rubber webbing and are padded with foam. Cushions are made from feather and polyester fibre or foam – not as luxurious, but they recover their shape more quickly.
Velvet, leather, tweed and cotton are just some of the choices you’ll have for the cover, but bear in mind the type of use your sofa’s going to get – removable, machine washable covers might be a sensible choice if children and pets are going to be climbing all over it.
Where possible, try before you buy, and if it’s an online purchase, check the company’s returns policy - ideally you want it collected free of charge if it needs to go back. And ensure that the sofa can physically fit into the room as there’s nothing worse than having to return a much-coveted buy because it won’t fit through a narrow doorway or staircase.
Upholstered armchairs are made in the same way as larger sofas, though you might prefer to invest in a statement chair – perhaps a one-off that catches your eye, a design classic such as a Barcelona or Egg chair, or a luxurious chaise longue that you can stretch out on. And don’t be afraid to mix old and new, as vintage furniture buys can complement a modern scheme beautifully. One word of warning – statement pieces need plenty of space around them, so if your living room is on the small side, go for a compact fireside or occasional chair, instead.
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