A centerpiece of a living room or a common room in a dormitory – the sofa, is a very fine and valuable piece of furniture. They used to be considered luxury items, but have become more common in recent decades and are now considered normal. Nevertheless, their planning still requires careful consideration before it is installed in any room.
Sofas are usually large, designed for at least two people to sit comfortably, and are usually sturdy and covered with elegant fabrics. Because of all of this, they tend to cost a lot more than the same seating number of chairs, and because of their size, they need to be placed so they are well presented and take into consideration the entire room’s layout.
Combining Colors
Considering such a large piece of furniture takes up a large part of the room space, its color or pattern is very noticeable and can define the room’s vibe as much as the wall’s color can. So thinking carefully about the furniture’s color composition is very important.
Beige and light colors are the favorite choices for homes and various waiting rooms, with darker colors being usually reserved for common rooms. Floral patterns and brightly colored pieces, with extravagant handstands, however artistic they may seem, are better reserved for antique shops as they fail to fit into the modern aesthetic.
Size Matters
This relatively large piece of furniture must be chosen according to the size of the room where it’s meant to go, as well as the size of the surrounding furniture (if already present). Checking https://comfysofastudio.com/average-couch-dimensions/ we see that they usually come in standard sizes which greatly reduces the number of options available and makes the decision easier. Depending on the type of couch – Sectional Sofa, Sleeper, Futon, etc, the average and standard size will vary.
And not only according to the needs of the household, that is – how many members are there, but you also have to take into account the relative size of the sofa compared to the room. A small, two-seat sofa in a huge room will look like a ball compared with a basketball court.
Wear and Care
Expensive pieces of furniture need to be taken care of regularly. Leather pieces need to be oiled or waxed, while buff leather requires special attention not to get any spills over it. If you have a cat that is an aggressive scratcher you will want to have coverings for your sofa, as that type of behavior is hard to control at all times. If, however, you don’t fancy furniture coverings, refurbishing them every other year is an option too, although a tad is more expensive.
Various supplements exist on the market, made to take care of sofas as best as possible, but before using any of them you should consider simply vacuuming and scrubbing the entire piece to get rid of built-up dirt.
Furniture Placement
Organization-wise, you want to have a clear and smart placement of every larger piece of furniture and appliance in a given room. Bookshelves and cabinets are usually placed right next to walls, so that is a no-brainer, but chairs, tables, and especially sofas, should be arranged so that they utilize the space but leave room for walking around.
And there are various schools of thought – for example, feng-shui experts advise on placing couches and chairs so that it’s easier to spur conversation and thereby make the room more “lively”. The classical solution to this is to have a square or circle of seating space surrounding a small table.
Futuristic or Retro?
Lastly, what kind of feeling are you going for with this sofa? Whatever the color, the design of this piece can make it stand out incredibly well, but also be too “present” in an otherwise plain room. Designer furniture is usually very stylistic and is an art piece in itself, being constructed to spark interest in it. Antique pieces, made in the days of carpenters working with hand tools exclusively, give off the aura of hand-crafted art, and the more expensive pieces make you feel as if you’re in a saloon or mansion.
This is, however, totally different from the modern, sleek, and “futuristic” pieces that are being made in recent times, utilizing metal and simple geometrical shapes to achieve an elegant figure. The choice, ultimately, depends on your taste.
Relaxing on a couch is one of the greater pleasures one can have in one’s home. Not meant for sleeping exclusively, but for dosing, not meant for debates, but for chatting – a carefully chosen and placed sofa can become the very heart of a home.
