Think long term future before shelling out for a sofa (Sofas in General)

Member Name: bruffyboy

Product:	Sofas in General
Date:	21/02/09 (263 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: can be very relaxing

Disadvantages: might not fit your future

When we first got our own place, we had no sofa. A nice guy from our Church heard we were starting up, and offered us one. We went to collect it: an old blue feather filled style sofa in his garage, and at the time we were delighted. Sadly, our delight didn't last long. It was one of those bizarre sofas that basically is perfect until you sit on it. When you sit on it, the cushions slid away under you, and you would fall down the gap in the back. We were in no position to moan, so we put up with it. Occasionally, I would beat the cushions and thick trails of dust would fill the room. The feathers would fall onto the floor, and it was just a mess. The lesson we learnt here was, it is worth treating yourself to at least a half decent sofa.

When we had our first son, we came into a bit of money, and the thought of a new sofa filled our minds. We went to all the sofa places: DFS, Land of Leather, Furniture Village, and a few local places. We found DFS to be ridiculously expensive, but Furniture Village was relatively cheap, and we fell in love with a beautiful brown leather corner sofa that was on display. We nearly bought it there and then, but had the hindsight to go home and measure up first. Our lounge back then was open plan, and the sofa would run perfectly (to the inch) across the main wall. We rushed back and bought it, and it looked perfect in our house. At £800, it was the most expensive thing we had bought outside Claire's wedding dress, but it was beautiful looking, comfortable and spacious. We anticipated it lasting us forever. Then it happened.

The it which I refer to was nothing to do with the sofa. Due to circumstances unforeseen to us at the time of our purchase, we had to move out of our house. All of a sudden, the 'perfect' fitting sofa was nothing but an awkwardly shaped lump, and the house we ended up renting just didn't fit: the wall it needed to go on had the fire on it, and so we put it on the other wall, meaning it covered the whole bay window too. Sadly, this meant we had to climb onto the sofa to open and shut the curtains.

So, in all this time, I have learnt two things about sofas:

1) Don't put up with a rubbish one - it just isn't worth the constant discomfort. A sofa is normally where you relax after a long hard day, so make sure you have a relaxing sofa.

2) Think ahead, and don't buy a sofa that won't fit in in most places - this includes not only shape, but also making sure you buy neutral colours: your sofa will outlive the current lick of paint, so think long-term.

There are a number of good online sofa retailers worth checking out, the best of which are:

1) www.furniturevillage.co.uk
2) www.sofa.com
3) www.dfs.co.uk
4) www.suitesofas.co.uk

Finally, make sure you go home and measure up before purchasing (and that includes making sure you can fit it through the door). To get ours into the new house we had to unscrew the feet!

Summary: be careful!