THE ART OF SOFA SHOPPING
Designers weigh in on the finer points of selecting the right couch
Ask interior designers what the most important element in a room is and many will say that — after wall colour — it’s the sofa.
So how do you choose this crucial piece of furniture? Should you go for one big sofa or two love seats? What about materials, arm styles and the all-important question of how to position the sofa in the space? Start by thinking about the shape of the room, said Elaine Griffin, who helms design offices in Manhattan and St. Simons Island, Ga.
“In a long, narrow room, place the sofa along the shorter wall farther from the door,” she said. “This seems counterintuitive, but sitting it at the far end of the room on the shorter wall allows for way more furniture to go in front of it.”
If your space is small, she suggested a 72-inch, apartment-sized sofa with narrower arms. Pair it with slipper chairs, narrow armchairs or nice dining chairs.
Show off the proportions of a square room by floating the sofa and other furniture away from walls, Griffin said. She suggested dividing a room into “zones” when you’re uncertain about furniture placement, especially in an open plan.
Imagine drawing an X from corner to corner in the room and then a cross from the walls’ midpoints horizontally and vertically.
“Your sofa or sofas will sit either on or parallel to one of those lines,” she said.
Need to seat a large number of people comfortably?
“Sectionals deliver like nobody ’s business,” she said.
In small spaces, they can seat enough people to avoid the need for extra chairs. In large spaces, they can fill space without looking awkward. And in awkward spaces, you can install a sectional with an interesting shape, like one with a curvy back.
Christie Leu, a designer in Chevy Chase, Md., also likes sectionals.
“They aren’t all L-shaped,” she said. “You can get a pair of armless sofas and put a low table in the corner or you can have a ‘bumper sectional’ in a narrow room that will still provide seating, but not impede a view or weigh down a room with a heavy arm on one side.”
In choosing a sofa, consider how you will use the room, Leu said. Maybe you want to be able to converse easily, read and play games.
She’s a fan of single-bench cushions, so no one has to sit on a seam. And buy the best quality you can afford.
“As the price goes up, you’ll feel the difference between cushions and construction,” she said. “A cushion with good, hand-tied, coil springs and high-density foam will last longer than all foam, which will flatten in time.”
Leu doesn’t care for all-down seats “because no one has time to fluff them as often as they need it.”
Some other hallmarks of a wellbuilt sofa: hard, solid woods and joints integrated into the frame.
For sofas that will see hard use, choose a hardy fabric, said Courtney Thomas, based in La Canada Flintridge, Calif.
“We use lots of polyester and chenille blends for sofas where large families put them to the test,” she said. “Generally, synthetics endure hardship better than natural fabrics, which don’t hold up as well.”
She said her firm often Teflon coats fabrics for extra protection against stains and spills. She also likes Sunbrella upholstery; the outdoor fabric technology has advanced so textiles are softer and now well suited for indoor use, too.
Alison Pickart, an interior designer from Larkspur, Calif., advises against huge sofas.
“I don’t think you should ever have a sofa over eight feet,” she said. “Very rarely will more than two people occupy a single piece of furniture. Plus, if your sofa is too big, the opportunity for other beautiful and interesting accent chairs, ottomans, poufs and small tables diminishes.”
To facilitate conversation, Pickart said, furniture should be arranged so that people are at 45-degree angles from each other.
“So the best living rooms are ones in which occasional seating can be comfortably placed at both ends of the sofa,” she said.
And don’t forget accessories, said Houston-based designer Margaret Naeve.
“I love to style sofas with oddly shaped pillows and a colourful throw to add something unexpected that also ties into other elements in the space,” she said.