It’s More Than Just a Couch

Choosing a coach is an endeavor. In furniture stores, it’s easy to feel pressured into purchasing a couch over your budget or ending up dissatisfied because the limited selection required you to compromise on features. This is where online furniture retailers provide the benefit of being able to browse and narrow your search parameters based on your specific demands from a much larger selection. Free in-home delivery is a significant perk, too. Before you dive into all these options, however, it’s helpful to have some basic guidelines in place to direct your search and help guarantee you find the best couch for you.

Start with size. A couch that’s too big for your space will instantly make the entire room feel cramped and overcrowded, even when it’s empty. More than anything, you want your living room to feel comfortable and welcoming since it’s the place your family goes to relax around small terrariums and unwind. A couch that’s too small creates the opposite issue since your family won’t have enough room to sit together and get comfortable. Measure your room to be certain you have the correct dimensions. Keep in mind that size is about more than just the footprint of your sofa. You need to consider the vertical height and the orientation of the couch within the room. Check that you won’t block any air vents, outlets, or even windows as you think about where the couch will be arranged within the room. Masking tape on the floor or carpet is a helpful way of visualizing how the couch will fit within the space. Try to avoid creating any bottlenecks leading in or out of the room, or awkwardly diving into the space. Even a large room can feel oddly disjointed or fractured if the furniture is misplaced.

Next, think about additional features. A couch is more than legs and cushions. Depending on your situation and your family’s lifestyle, you might benefit from specific extra features more than others included in certain sofas https://www.1stopbedrooms.com/living/living-room-furniture/sofas. For instance, you might include a reclining feature to keep your teenagers from constantly kicking their feet up on the coffee table. Be careful, however, to account for the additional space required for features like reclining, since the couch will need to be able to extend fully for the reclining feature to be usable. An ottoman with additional storage inside might also be a way of keeping a smaller living space decluttered, by serving as a place to stash throw blankets or board games out of sight.

When thinking about which features are most useful, it’s equally important to consider the materials used to construct the couch. Of course, the choice of materials will be dictated by your current lifestyle. A family with small children and five dogs, for instance, will need the most durable fabric or leather to hold up to hard wear and tear to stop it from becoming a Waffle ball field. Tight-weave fabrics and leather, especially, are easier to clean and resist tears. The manufacturer tag will include information about how best to clean your couch. It’s important to set a routine schedule for cleaning your couch since this will extend its lifespan and prevent needing to replace it too soon. In addition to the cover material, look for supportive cushion materials, too. One of the longest-lasting combinations tends to be heavy foam seat cushions and down-back cushions. The foam retains its form well under significant weight and the down can be fluffed back into shape easily.

Then, you can begin to consider your style preferences and how your sofa will fit in with the existing design of your living room. A simple design and neutral color will likely match most spaces. However, your sofa is also capable of enhancing the room as a focal point, rather than fading into the background. Especially if you are starting with a blank canvas or completely redesigning a room, starting with a sofa means you can set the entire tone for the space based on the style and color you chose for your couch. If you are fitting your couch into a furnished space, this process looks a little different, and it is important to try to match tones and styles with existing décor to help the room feel cohesive. You don’t want your new sofa to stand out for the wrong reasons.

Finally, keep your budget in mind. A large piece of furniture like a sofa is a long-term investment, so it’s usually smart to spend a little more to get the durability and features that will add value for your family and ensure your couch lasts for years. However, overspending on a couch is likely to make you enjoy it less since you will constantly be worried about damage or misuse. A couch, at the end of the day, should provide comfort. It’s difficult to truly relax when you’re worrying about spills. As you begin your search, try to keep each of these elements in balance and you can be confident that you will find a couch that is the best fit for you.