Here is something you don’t know about me…. I’ve never owned a brand new sofa or suite. Seriously!
The first home Roy and I moved into came furnished with an old Chesterfield suite (Looked nice but was damn uncomfortable!). We then inherited some soft squishy blue sofa from family and later a gorgeous oak framed set that lasted us years but died spectacularly when I sat my large pregnancy bum down on one end and it conceded defeat and collapsed (not my finest moment).
After that there was the orange duck filled suite (never again, those damn feathers got everywhere), a catalogue fake leather thing which I’m not counting as new as it was so naff and broke (yes broke) within a week. Now we have a quite nice honey coloured suite that I got in a house clearance sale for £60 but would have paid £300 for easily.
There you go, my somewhat murky sofa past. What we have at the moment is actually ok but I really am looking now for something that fits the room and the family properly. It may be my Yorkshire roots or frugal mindset but I do balk at the idea of paying out for brand new when I know I can get cheaper. The difference is of course that if I want quality I am going to have to pay for it.
Having not really done the whole suite browsing thing I’ve been quite surprised at how reasonable a suite is nowadays. When we first moved in together a brand new suite was a luxury that we just couldn’t afford. HelloSofas for example have a wide range of sofas which tick all of our boxes and won’t have us eating baked beans for the next twelve months.
Being a new suite virgin however I am asking for your sofa wisdom. What is your top piece of advice for choosing a suite? We have no pets but do have two small monkeys, Roy and myself to seat. I’d love to hear what you think the must do and must not do points are when sofa shopping, particularly online.
*Remuneration has been received for the writing and posting of this post yet the content is my own and true to my own thoughts, feelings and experiences.
I could write a book.
1. Make sure the back is high enough to lean back and support your neck/head.
2. DOn’t buy it too big for the room. Smaller is often better with one other chair as no one likes sitting in the middle anyway.
3. Hardwearing material and not too light a colour obviously.
4. Don’t buy a 3-piece suite it’s so dated. A good sofa and one or two cheaper co-ordinating chairs from Ikea are fine. Or a 3 seater and a 2 seater are also nice at right angles.
5. Don’t get one with lots of squishy cushions – the boys will be forever building dens with them and you will be forever picking them up and putting the sofa back together. The fewer removeable parts the better.
6. Not too low if you want your parents to be comfortable visiting (and babysitting).
I’m done 🙂