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Sofa so Good

CREATING a home is something that takes time:

You can get an instant interior by shopping online, buying off the shelf, or from the pages of a stylish catalogue, but all of that rarely transforms into a home until you have put the stamp of your own personality onto it.

Our homes should be as different and as interesting as our personalities and are an expression of our lifestyle.

One of the biggest items of furnitUre that you will be investing in is your sofa. Its what people gravitate towards in a sitting room and simply as a result of its size, it generally dominates or is at the least, a focal point of a room. Somehow a living room would feel incomplete without one. Taking all this into consideration, choosing a sofa suddenly becomes as serious as a long-term relationship.

There are two main points to remember when going in pursuit of that perfect sofa. The first is good old-fashioned superficial good-looks, while the second (no, it's not a "sense of humour"!) is function.


"There is no point in having a beautiful dream sofa with lovely larger-than-Iife cushions, if you are going to cringe evety time your children throw themselves onto it"

There is obviously a third consideration of cost, but I believe that both good looks and functionality should still be the key reference points, no matter what price bracket you are looking in. It will be your personality and lifestyle that determines just where the balance between the functional and the aesthetic will fall.

So work out what you want out of your sofa, before you sashay out to look for what's on offer. Is it what you lounge on and watch your favourite soap opera, does it double up as a spare bed, or is it a more grown-up space removed from the daily rigours of everyday life?

A lot of people gravitate towards creams and neutral tones when taking those fIrst steps to sofa-dom ..

This can be a good choice and there are some very sound design rules behind choosing a relatively plain sofa. Provided the basic design is a good one, it is less likely to date than a more highly patterned, whimsically fashionable, or coloured cover. And there are always endless rows of cushions and throws to choose from to liven up a neutral background and ring the changes.

But there is also no point in having a ~beautiful cream sofa with lovely larger-than-life cushions, if you are going to cringe every time your children throw themselves onto it with a fist full of chocolate biscuits .. And if somehow you manage to get your children to treat the furniture with the respect if deserves, believe me, their friends won't!

If your lifestyle is a little messy, its not a bad idea to go for the'loose cover option on a sofa. The loose cover can be whipped off, stray children and cats shaken out, and flung into the washing machine (the cover that is ... ). A quick word of advice when choosing loose-covers is to choose the fabric with care. The fabric shouldn't have a loose weave or have too much give in it, and it really is worth paying a little extra to get the covers well made, otherwise one-wash later and your sofa will look like it's wearing a badly made baggy Jumper.

While plain can be practical and classical, elegant and timeless, it can also be a little predictable. If you going to go out on a financial limb and make a statement with your sofa, why not make it a dramatic one. With all the beautiful fabrics available to us it seems a pity not to be a little bolder with a bright stripe or a retro floral to liven up the living room. You may have a little voice inside telling you how impractical it is, but if the voice telling you how beautiful it is, is louder, then my advice would be to trust your instincts. It's also going to be a lot easier to keep clean than the classic little cream number.

 



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Colour and pattern aren't the only things to consider, you also need to think carefully about where you are going to place the sofa, and what it is going to be put with. You need to have a rough idea of the amount of floor space you have to spare before dashing out and buying that extra-comfy, extra everything larger than life sofa on the shop floor that invites you to disappear into its depths with a good book and a cappuccino.

Once you have got it into your living room, if you are lucky enough to have got it through your front door without causing major structural damage to your house, the sofa, and the delivery man - the rest of your furniture might look a little silly in comparison. Keep everything to scale and keep things in proportion, both in relation to the room and the other furniture it will be living with.

At the end of the day, a good sofa is all about kicking back and relaxing - so make sure you can do it in comfort. Whether you opt for cream or for colour, pattern or plain, it's all about lifestyle and the sofa you choose should fit into yours. There is, quite simply,' something that works about a good design, and a good sofa should work for you.