Sofas shipping for the sofas the easy way

Every room demands an individual approach when it comes to positioning furniture, including sofas. Having great items that you love is not enough; for your living space to be both functional and appealing, each piece in it has to work together to create the whole.

So, when designing your room, a good question to ask yourself at an early stage is: “Where should I put the sofa?” or, in the case of larger spaces: “How should I place the sofas to create the right kind of space?”

In larger rooms, placing sofas against walls can often be an undesirable choice because, if you do this, you miss an opportunity to create a multi-purpose living area. Also, bringing your seating further into the room is more likely to result in a warm and inviting ambience. In fact, each area of a larger space can be defined very effectively through the positioning of the furniture and, better still, you can combine this with clever use of rugs, i.e., a separate rug for each functional space. For example, you can place your sofas and/or armchairs around the fireplace or the TV, and have a separate dining area behindthe sofa.

Moving sofas away from walls isn’t only a good idea for big rooms, as Herald Homes design expert, Deb Nelson, explains in Great Solutions for Small Spaces,when responding to a reader’s dilemma regarding their compact living space:

“I’d like to see you reposition the sofa and I have an idea that can also provide more storage. I’ve noticed you have very little free wall space, so the one wall you do have free should be used to maximize storage. I’m suggesting a full wall of white bookcases, then I would place the sofa in front of this… This doesn’t work for everyone, but it can be a great solution for small spaces.

You won’t have too much room between the back of the sofa and the lower wall storage, so place items you don’t need to access every day at the bottom. Above the back of the sofa you can place the things you need access to regularly, and fill them as much as you can.”[Read the full article here]

As Deb Nelson intimates, it’s not to everyone’s taste and it won’t work in every room. Tall bookcases in small rooms can easily shrink the space even more. On the other hand, some people love the sense of cosiness that this brings to a home. So this approach is certainly worth considering, especially if you have a shortage of storage space.

Whether you’re looking for sofas online or in a showroom, the best advice is to have a clear note of the dimensions of your room and your existing furniture, which will not only increase your chance of making a great purchase, but also provide an opportunity to really think about the best positioning for the sofa or sofas you intend to buy.

Reporting in the Tribune at SanLuisObispo.com, Rebecca Juretic recently pointed out:

“Today’s eclectic interiors are liberating – but deceptively tricky to get right, according to Jason Ortiz of San Luis Traditions.

In the 1980s, everything matched and came in a set,” he said,Now you can mix styles and old with new, but you can definitely make a mistake just throwing things in randomly.”

To satisfy customers’ yearning for a range of looks, San Luis Traditions offers more customizable lines. To help them… (interior designers) Ortiz and Allegra Marquardt often work in tandem to find the right mix of pieces for a client.”

Ah, yes, the 1980′s. Indeed, in those days, things were much more straightforward for the average furniture buyer.You didn’t go out to buy a sofa – you went straight for the 3-piece suite! One three-seater settee and a couple of armchairs…simple! Check out this fab ad from 1987 to see how times have changed…

Though creative souls are no doubt happy with the latest trend to mix and match, there are just as many who are bound to be more than a little bewildered by the wide range of styles and coverings on offer.In an ideal world, those who feel somewhat challenged by choice when it comes to purchasing a sofa would automatically engage the services of an interior designer, but the cold reality is that the majority are likely to go it alone, with a significant number making bold choices that don’t quite achieve the result that was intended.

So, if you’re looking to bring a new sofa and/or other seating options into your home, but display limited creative flair, how can you mix and match safely?

One great way to achieve a unique look is to opt for a leather sofa in a natural shade, and choose an armchair or two in a patterned fabric. If you choose a simple style of sofa, you will increase the possibility of a successful result, no matter which armchair style or pattern you choose.

You can add to the look by adding coloured cushions to the leather sofa.If you’ve used a pattern on the armchair, then choose one of the main colours from the pattern and opt for plain cushions in either the same shade, or one that is complementary rather than a clash. Then you can use this colour in other accessories to follow the theme throughout the room.

When it comes to neutral colours for sofas, it’s easy to pass them off as bland, but if you get creative with cream or beige, and add texture and pattern to your room using cushions, throws and rugs,  your living room can look absolutely amazing!

If you opt for a neutral shade and choose not to add a stronger colour through accessories, then your sofa may not be your focal point, but this can be a good thing.Very often, focal points compete in a room.For example, if you have a stunning fireplace, do you really need to have an attention grabbing piece of furniture in another part of the room?

In this video, 60-minute makeover star designer John Amabile gives some great advice on how to make the fireplace your focal point and situate the other furniture around it.He also has reiterates that cream doesn’t have to bland, and you will be able to see different textures and patterns of cushions to emphasise the point.

We absolutely love the different patterns on the cushions, including floral, stripe and a textured design with dark piping.They worked extremely well together on the sofa, adding to the impressive, luxurious look of the whole room.

John Amabile makes the important point that, when designing a room, it’s important to think about how your family likes to relax and advises viewers to “go for well made frames, comfortable fabrics and deep seating”.It’s great to position sofas and armchairs so everybody can sit down and converse with ease.

The design was certainly in the detail in this fabulous room, even down to the glitz and glamour of the wall art, which added a little contrast, and we think that a feature wall with a textured paper may have had similar impact.

As the man said:”You can be bold, it’ll look brilliant – and it’ll never be bland!”

We’ve found some fantastic armchairs and accessories that will give you a living space fit for a king – of the jungle, that is!
It could be argued that all leather furniture has more than a little animal about it, but here we’re looking at designers who take their inspiration from the furry – and, indeed, the fluttery…

Take a look at this fabulous Kimberley Zebra Print Armchair below from Notonthehighstreet.com. With its furry velvet upholstery, silver frame and regal style, it’s sure to become a real conversation starter and add a ‘wow’ to your room.

Quickly returning to something a little more traditional, we didn’t think we could miss out this Cowhide and Leather Armchair, which is another funky offering from Notonthehighstreet.com.

Cushions are a fantastic way to bring nature into your home. Check out these two from Amara with a bold, butterfly design. Both sizes are available in the black and the white options.

On the left is the Light Feline Cushion by Sonia Rykiel Maison, with the Dark Feline Cushion with red piping in the centre. These are fun for coordinating with other accessories in the room, because there are other piping options, including pink and turquoise. The cushion on the right is the Rue de Seine design, also by Sonia Rykiel Maison. Like the butterfly designs above, all are available from Amara.

Another great way to add animal inspiration to your room is with throws. Here are a couple from Occa Home. Left is the Faux Fur Brown Bear Standard Throw and the beautiful Sobel Vilde Faux Fur Throw is on the right.

Finally, here’s a lovely offering from John Lewis is the wonderful Brink & Campman Spheric Zebra Rug in Midnight, which means we’re back where we started – inspired by the Zebra!

The Brink & Campman Spheric Zebra Rug is also available in Grey.

Sofas are available in a wide variety of colours these days, but what makes a specific sofa colour attractive to buyers? Cindy Hodnett, Upholstery/Style Editor for Furniture/Today, has posted an interesting article suggesting that furniture colours that are particularly appealing to women tend to be those that have been fashionable in their wardrobes a couple of seasons earlier. She writes:

“Think about this – orange was one of the hottest colors at Miami Fashion week in 2010, and female attendees at the 2012 Tupelo Market had an overwhelmingly positive response to (a) tangerine sofa. In Las Vegas, the orange Aquarius chest elicited countless “oohs and ahhs” in the Lexington Home Brands showroom and is reported to have been inspired by Hermes signature Birkin handbag in a similar shade. Female consumers become comfortable with many of these colors through their wardrobes, and then they’re eager to bring them into their homes.” [Read the full article here]

We think she’s made a very good point, but it leads us to wonder why women who are willing to make a bold statement in their attire take so long to be bold with the same colour in their living rooms! First thoughts swing towards the reason being the level of investment involved, yet some women happily spend hundreds of pounds on designer brands that they know will be out of fashion next season. So is there a perception shared by society in the UK that sofas should be more long-term investments than clothes, regardless of the cost involved? And, if this is the case, then why?

We believe the answer may lie in the fact that fashionable clothes are easily forgettable – whereas fashionable sofas are definitely not! Indeed, once fashions change, it’s easy to hide clothes at the back of the wardrobe or slip them into a charity bag if you’re run out of space (possibly due to past investments that failed to survive the short term…), i.e., ‘out of sight, out of mind’.

However, sofas are rather more tricky to dispose of and, for that matter, it would take a bit of planning to sneak a replacement into the house. After all, though it’s not guaranteed he’ll notice a change in colour/style, there’s a pretty good chance your other half will pay attention pretty sharpish if the remote control slides off an arm where it used to sit comfortably for the whole evening!

Finally, it’s time for a singalong with Ray Davies and the Kinks. This trip back to 1973 is surely worth a couple of minutes of anyone’s time… so enjoy!