What is the perfect sofa?
Tuesday, 7 August 2012
For many of us, the living room is the one of the most important and relaxing parts of the home: a comfortable space where the mind can switch off and the stresses of everyday life can drain away. Although there are plenty of places to relax in a house, who wants to perch on a dining chair when your sofa is calling you from your living room? It’s standard practice to get in from work, sit down on the sofa and switch off.
The importance of the sofa has been examined by several studies over the past few years, including a 2008 study - commissioned by social networking site alljoinon.com - that discovered that the average Briton spends a staggering 49 hours a week on the sofa. That’s equivalent to around 17 years of a person’s lifespan.
Regardless of the arguments against spending too much time sitting in front of the telly, it’s clear that the comfiest seat in the house commands some respect - especially if so much time is spent sprawled out on it.
So, what defines the perfect sofa? Here are our three tips, in order of importance.
1. Comfort
Firstly, and fairly obviously, it’s of primary importance to make sure that a sofa is comfortable, as it’s probably the place where people spend the most time relaxing in the home - especially if the previously mentioned stats are to be believed.
That said, it’s remarkable how many people focus on design before comfort, that illusive comfy spot is difficult to find.
One way to avoid this scenario is to always try out a sofa before buying; not fleetingly but extensively, and from all angles.
As well as being comfy, for many of us a sofa should, ideally, be long enough for a blissful full-body sprawl, so this aspect should be tested out too, even if looks a bit embarrassing when you do it in the shop.
2. Design
Design is important: a sofa should look nice. However, a sofa shouldn’t just look nice in isolation from the rest of the home, it should fit in and become an intrinsic part of the home’s personality: it’s not necessarily a good idea to pair a minimalist new sofa with a traditional oak dining table
, for example.
It’s easy to forget that great interior design and decoration is a skill, often requiring a natural ‘eye’, and as much as some people have inexplicable fashion sense, other people can have terrible design sense.
Hiring a flamboyant Lawrence Llewlyn-Bowen-esque stylist can be expensive, so to help make a decision about what sofa to buy, it can be worthwhile bringing along a friend whom you think has a natural flair for interior decoration.
3. Price
Everyone loves a bargain, and the sofa will feel even comfier if you can smugly lie back in the full knowledge that it has only cost a fraction of the original price, or - sometimes even better – a fraction of the price that your friends or neighbours have previously paid.
Luckily, there are some great sofas for sale at Harveys
and other furniture sellers at the moment, online and on the high street.
Those are our three tips on what makes the perfect sofa, but ultimately the decision sits, slouches or lays with you.
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