Eyes open when buying a sofa! From the seat height to the size of the cover – this is how you find out which couch suits you and your apartment.
Who doesn’t love coming home to the couch? But the purchase of a sofa needs to be carefully considered.
Furniture stores and catalogs offer a wide range of two- and three-seaters, with or without an integrated récamiere, but as a sofa bed? Cold foam upholstery or spring core? Leather, velvet, or Alcántara cover? Not to mention the numerous manufacturers. Before you get started, you should ask yourself the following crucial questions so that your new couch will not be a wrong purchase.
1. Who will use the sofa for what?
To begin with, ask yourself what type of sofa you are in. Do you watch TV on it or receive guests for tea? Do you like to put your legs up while reading or watching TV? Then a récamiere or chaise longue is recommended. Or do you need a place to sleep for overnight guests?
In short: Who will use the new upholstered furniture, when, and how? But think primarily about your needs and not those of your visitors. After all, you will spend significantly more time on the sofa.
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2. Where should the sofa be placed?
Whether it will be a two- or three-seater, a corner sofa, or one with sliding lounge elements depends on the size of the room and its layout. An XXL sofa landscape looks great in the furniture store – but in smaller rooms, it can also look oppressive.
Ask yourself if there is enough room to move freely around the room with the sofa in place. You may also want to add a coffee table. Or how much space the sofa will take up if you use the fold-out bed function. Many manufacturers offer modular systems that allow you to expand your couch as you wish, depending on your needs and use.
3. How tall are you?
Factors such as seat height and depth should be considered before you buy. What you choose should depend on whether you use the couch more for sitting or lying down. Basically, getting up from lower upholstered furniture is of course more difficult than from higher ones. But on the other hand, lounge comfort is greater with such sofas.
Tall people need higher sofas with more seat depth – and older people also find it easier to get up from a higher model. Ideal seat heights are between 43 and 48 centimeters, while seat depths vary between 55 and 62 centimeters. Ask your local dealer for advice and, if possible, have your body measurements taken. You should try it out anyway!
4. What must be able to withstand the sofa cover?
Size and shape are a done deal. But what should the cover of the new couch be made of? From fabric or rather from leather? Think carefully here. In the end, the effect and practicality of the sofa stand fall with it.
With textile covers, there is a wider choice of patterns and colors. There are covers made of wool or cotton, which are naturally stain-resistant. In addition, there are many high-quality microfiber fabrics or blended fabrics, which are particularly durable and easy to clean. Such synthetic fabrics are especially suitable for a household with rambunctious children, pets, or many guests, as they are easy to clean and maintain. Patterns or a coarse structure also conceal small stains.
Also, ask about the light fastness. This refers to the ability of a textile to retain its color even when exposed to sunlight.
Also, very important: When buying, ask whether the cover fabric can be removed and cleaned. High-quality sofa manufacturers sometimes even renew the upholstery and suspension if the couch is getting on in years.
Leather is not only visually but also haptically an experience. Nevertheless, you should keep in mind that leather is a natural product, and liquids (including body sweat!) can soak in quickly and leave permanent stains.
With impregnation – which, by the way, a microfiber or wool cover is also happy about – you can prevent and prevent direct seepage for the time being. On the other hand, a real leather couch is only really beautiful when it gets a patina. For those who like that, a leather sofa is great.
5. Do you want to make a statement with the sofa – or rather with accessories?
For some sofa covers, you have to be bold. With a gaudy red, fresh blue, or patterned cover, you have to pay a little more attention to the rest of the color concept of the room. Used correctly, however, such a couch is then a real eye-catcher. However, you should really like the color, after all, on the one hand, it is a large, dominant surface, on the other hand, you usually keep a sofa for several years.
On a couch in a neutral color, colorful cushions can always set other great accents – and be replaced quite quickly.
6. How solid is the sofa made?
But appearance is not everything, as we know. Because a good couch also depends on inner values. These refer to several aspects of high-quality models.
The supporting frames of professionally crafted sofas are usually made of solid wood and combined either with webbing or with a tightly stretched wave springing. The seat and cushions then consist of a multi-layer cold foam upholstery, cold foam encased in fine upholstery (for example, feathers), or elastic molded foam, depending on the choice.
Not only with mattresses but also with sofas, there are different degrees of hardness! As a general rule, cold foam cushions are somewhat firmer, whereas upholstery in combination with springs increases the feeling of sinking in.
7. How does the sofa feel?
To separate the wheat from the chaff, try it out. If you only buy a couch over the Internet, you always run the risk that it won’t fit your habits and needs in the end. So make sure you find out as much as possible about the dimensions and material properties before buying online.
Buying a sofa, of course, also depends on special requirements and your life situation. If you love to change, you can also go for a simple and inexpensive sofa, which may remain in good shape only for a few years. Models with a long life are correspondingly more expensive – but just an investment that pays off.