Sofas shipping for the sofas the easy way

Ciaran Jones reported recently for WalesOnline that a ‘just wed’ couple, Paul and Linda Portman, had experienced every bride and groom’s worst nightmare.

The report states:

“The pair were devastated when they arrived at the four-star Novotel in Schooner Way, Cardiff, after their wedding on Saturday to find their room had been given away.

Paul, 37, told the Echo the pair ended up spending their wedding night on separate sofas.”

It seems that their booking had been cancelled by mistake and there was, in effect, ‘no room at the inn’.Whilst we have every sympathy for the couple and wish them all the best in the years to come, it occurred to us that a sofa bed could have been the answer to their prayers.Let’s face it, a wedding day is a time to celebrate with family and friends how you feel about the person with whom you’ve chosen to spend the rest of your life.So long as you’ve got a chance to snuggle up with the one you love at the end of your special day – or any day, for that matter – then who cares if it’s not in a swanky hotel?

It is an unavoidable fact of life that things often don’t happen as you imagine they will or wish them to, so it’s a great idea to have a contingency plan wherever possible.For this reason, when buying a new sofa, it’s worth considering a sofa bed option.Sofa beds do tend to be a little more expensive, but often not as much as you might think, especially if you bear in mind that you are buying a wonderful piece of multi-purpose furniture and, also, a separate sofa and bed would probably come at a higher price.

It’s also worth noting that sofa beds can be very comfortable these days, to the point where some people choose to use them on an every day basis, particularly those with compact accommodation where they need a multi-purpose room, e.g., students.

On the other hand, though a sofa bed would definitely provide you with enough room for romance, we acknowledge that even the hottest passion might cool down a bit if you need to make the bed first…

If you’ve spent the summer lusting after a control freak with intimacy issues, I would say this… put the book down, girls, cast aside any playroom fantasies and think about how shades of grey could help liven up your living room instead!

Since ‘Fifty Shades’ has swept across the UK like a whirlwind, ladies of all ages appear to be pretty receptive to the idea that grey definitely does not equal dull. Yes, there’s always a risk of grey dominating your room. However, if you play a good game, you’ll soon uncover a compliant side – submissive even – and find out how you can use grey to create whichever ambience you desire in your home.

We often talk about browns, beiges and creams as neutral shades, providing a stable basis for building colour into your room through walls or accessories such as cushions, curtains or rugs. However, grey can give you an excellent neutral base, too, and can be extremely rewarding to the eye if you know what to do with it.

There are many different shades of grey and a huge choice is available in sofas. Take a look at this dark grey sofa from Feather and Black.

This retailer has a choice of sofa bed styles in Charcoal, such as the Traditional George Sofa Bed above. This would fit well into many colour schemes and would be especially in rooms where you might be used to having, say, a black leather sofa, but have decided you want a softer feel for the space.

This Abingdon sofa in misty grey from Made.com is a lighter shade than charcoal yet still a strong base colour.

Here’s the John Lewis Options flare arm sofa in Eaton Grey, which is another rich shade that you can purchase in a range of different styles.

And finally… check out this video to see a real life example of how you can use colour with a dark grey sofa.

We’ll look at what you can do with some lighter shades of grey in a later article.

The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee celebration at the beginning of June marked the start of the most amazing year for the UK – and, despite economic doom and gloom, the party shows no sign of ending.

Yes, it’s less than a week since the London 2012 closing ceremony and there’s no sign of enthusiasm dwindling around the nation just yet for all things GB. We’re still having our photos taken with gold post boxes, buying 2012 memorabilia and, with the paralympics just around the corner, we’re looking forward to yet another swell of UK pride pretty soon!

A patriotic trend to hit the high street is union jack-adorned sofas, armchairs and accessories. What better way to remember 2012 than by purchasing an item of furniture to live with you in your home! So we thought we’d show you a few of our favourites.

The Linea Jubilee Armchair, pictured below, could make an excellent focal point in a neutral room of beige/cream shades, particularly if you add a couple of red or blue accessories such as vases or bowls.

Check out this amazing Union Jack Patriot Sofa Bed from John Lewis. This would be brilliant in a playroom or if you wanted to get rid of the bed in the spare room and make it multi-purpose instead – imagine watching the Paralympics 2012 on a Union Jack sofa!

If you don’t want to add such a large item, there are a couple of footstool options to choose from. The Union Jack faux leather ottoman stool is a funky addition to a lounge and we think it would work very well in a teenager’s bedroom or den, too.

The John Lewis Union Jack footstool pictured below looks extremely comfortable for resting your feet upon at the end of a hard day, and its neat, rectangular shape means you could tuck it away at the edge of the room when it wasn’t required. 

We’ll bring you more examples of patriotic sofas, armchairs and accessories very soon…

We read Kate Rockwood’s article, “This ‘Blur’ Sofa Literally Fades From White To Red” on fastcompany.com with interest. She reports that New-York based designer, Marc Thorpe, “describ(es) his design sensibility: “Invisibility translated into build form” … and the “couch (he calls it the Blur Sofa) seems to dissolve under its fabric’s gradient [click here to read the full article].

It occurs to us that invisibility is a fascinating concept and the Blur Sofa sounds like it would be a wonderful conversation starter as well as a stunning piece of furniture from whichever angle you might glance at it. But just how useful is an invisible sofa or chair?

In a party or team-building situation, it appears that a disappearing chair can be extremely useful! Take a look at how these young – and some not so young – people have a great time with the Missing Chair Game. Prepare to be fascinated…

We bet you’ll be wanting to try that out for yourselves now! But, before you rush off to grab a collection of chairs and pals who are up for the challenge, let’s agree that, in most homes, an invisible sofa or chair wouldn’t be useful at all. However, an invisible bed, i.e., a sofa bed, can be one of the most versatile pieces of furniture you could hope to purchase.

The fact that the sofa bed is designed so the bed remains hidden makes this a brilliant multi-purpose item. If you decide that a sofa bed would be ideal for your purposes, these days you will find a wide range of choices available to you. In fact, it is likely to feel like you can get a sofa bed or chair bed in any colour, pattern or style and you are bound to find something that will look wonderful in your home and be incredibly useful, particularly in homes where there is no spare room to accommodate guests.

Before we end, let’s acknowledge that in some circumstances it can be great fun if a chair goes missing, such as in the traditional party game, Musical Chairs. So this final section is dedicated to anyone who’s forgotten how enjoyable it can be to find yourself on the last chair, or how devastating when the chair you are aiming for has unexpectedly disappeared, take a look at this Charlie Brown video: