The sofa is like a unifying island in the middle of your sitting or living room. It sets the tone, as the room’s centerpiece.
It’s also a high-ticket item, so you want to get it right, as mistakes can be costly. How to choose a sofa: finding the right one for your home is a highly personal matter, but it’s one which should be guided by certain design principles to ensure your get the piece that’s best for its setting, while meshing seamlessly with your lifestyle.
Proportion
The room your sofa’s going to live in has everything to do with your choice. A large room can take a more substantial sofa. It can even accommodate a sectional solution, or more voluminously-proportioned offerings.
A smaller room lends itself to a smaller sofa, or course, but you can still manage a scaled version of a sectional, even if your room isn’t large.
Remember that it’s not going to be the only piece in the room, so scale it to existing chairs, tables and other elements in the environment to ensure the fit you get is right.
Lifestyle Considerations
Choosing the right sofa goes beyond form to function and that’s determined by you. If your sofa is going to be the focal point of a room in which you play games, read, or enjoy quiet family time, you’ll want something comfortable, with adequate seating to accommodate guests and other family members.
Television viewers will, of course, want to orient their sofa to accommodate viewing. It’s important to remember that the sofa will still be in use while you’re not watching, though. Other furniture in the room should relate to both viewing and non-viewing functions.
Lifestyle also determines the style of the sofa, which encompasses a sectional approach, but which should also factor into comfort.
Leather is great for rooms with fireplaces, as it warms to make sitting or lounging on it a cozy joy. Also highly adaptable to large families and heavy usage, leather develops a patina which can become an important element of the room’s relaxed style and is easy to clean.
Tufting and fine fabrics lend themselves more readily to formal settings and are especially at home in conversational areas, where guests, colleagues and business associates are entertained.
Speaking Your Language
The sofa you choose should speak your language, adding something to the room that’s readily discernible as your personal style. Saturated color and bold patterns have a place when it comes to sofas, especially if that’s who you are.
The sofa is a traditional fixture in living spaces. It provides comfortable seating and a design element that anchors and elevates a room to its full potential. Choose yours carefully and you’ve found an essential piece of the home living puzzle.
Michelangelo Designs
Michelangelo has been offering professionals in the Trade the cure for the common since 1985, with exclusively Italian furniture brought to these shores exclusively for the Trade.
We invite Trade professionals to contact us for an appointment. Italy’s riches await!