In the world of furniture, few things are as functional and stylish in one as a sofa. A good couch can indeed make or break a room in your home: the right aesthetic mix and it's all good; the wrong combination and everything is very, very wrong! Though having a couch is not necessary in most bedrooms, dining rooms or kitchens, this furniture item is an absolute must for any den, living room, TV room, lounge area, and sunroom. Knowing how to properly choose a couch is therefore a pretty important aspect of adequately and aesthetically pleasingly completing a home-in both a decorative and a functional way.
A sofa needs to be an article of furniture that blends in well with the surroundings, and therefore any interior designer (whether someone being contracted to do the job or a home owner himself or herself) needs to really contemplate what complementary colors to work with, which textures and kinds of fabrics would work well in the space in question, and whether to go for something very classic or something more risqué and modern. For example, if a person wants to put a couch in their living room, which is painted in very bright colors and receives lots of light, and is decorated with very modern and bizarre elements, then perhaps it would be best to go with a more modern couch design-bright, smooth fabric, with simple geometric dimensions and no excessively elaborate bordering or woodwork. On the other hand, if the living room were to be a space in a very old, traditional-style home, in a dimly lit area that is painted/wallpapered in more somber, dark colors, then the ideal kind of couch will be different-a more classic style couch, like a canapé or Chesterfield, with elaborate woodwork, darker color tones, with a fabric that has a more interesting, rich texture.
Size is always a big deal when choosing a sofa: space is at a premium in any home, and properly managing space in any given room (especially a room where many people will constantly be reunited) is an important aspect of successful interior design. Along with color coordination, proper management of space is a key facet of a home's feng shui (or lack thereof). In order to avoid serious issues like needing to return a couch because it won't fit where you want it, it is crucial to measure the dimensions of the room you have chosen for it as exactly as possible. Usually, people leave a space behind and on the sides of their sofas in order to improve circulation in a room and to have a space for storing things; keep these passageways in mind when jotting down possible dimensions for your couch. Generally, the couches that are best adapted to being squeezed into a corner without spaces behind or beside it are sectional couches, which often complete a right angle shift (creating the form of an "L"). These are among the most practical and space-efficient of all sofas.