A logical starting point is to think about the best features of the sofa or armchair being replaced, so your client can try to emulate them in a new purchase. Otherwise, having your client sitting on a variety of models is one of the only reliable ways to find the right one. People often choose a sofa after perching on the edge of the seat and bouncing up and down! Better advice is to get your client to take off their coat and shoes as well and put their feet up, settle down with a newspaper or book or pretend to be watching television, just as they would at home.
Sizing it up
The size, function and relative formality of the room will influence your choice. For a small room, a sofa with slim arms won’t overwhelm the space. A streamlined model with a low back will complement a room with a low ceiling. Whereas, a high-back will give good head and shoulder support and echo dimensions of a tall room.
If getting the sofa into the establishment may be a problem, take door and/or stairway measurements to the showroom with you. When access is restricted, there are companies that will make a sofa in two halves or with removable arms and assemble it on site.
Having a sofa made to order usually allows for some dimensions to be modified. Sofas can be made longer and shorter than standard two-, three- or four- seaters. For a smaller client, you can ask for a few centimetres to be taken off the seat depth so their feet can rest flat on the floor. Alternatively, for a taller client, you can specify a deeper seat so that the client’s knees are not higher than the waist when seated.
On some sofas, back height can be increased as well. A couple with preferred ways of sitting may benefit from ordering a pair of personally-adjusted sofas or a sofa and a chair. Modular sofas also offer useful flexibility.
Undercover
The cost of a sofa reflects directly to the method and materials used in its construction or, in the case of classic 20th century and contemporary pieces, to the reputation of the designer. Sofas built by traditional methods will have a hardwood frame with coil springs or a spring unit fitted to the frame. Onto that foundation will come horsehair or fibre stuffing, then a second layer including wool felt or cotton padding to give a firm seat or base for cushions. The best hand-built sofas can last for generations.
Contemporary upholstery may also be built onto a hardwood frame, but will be constructed differently. Many pieces have firmer short coil springs or elasticated webbing and hessian fixed beneath high-density foam on the frame, sometimes with feather seat cushions on top. Superior grades of upholstery foam are resilient, but low-density foam used directly over webbing grid in some inexpensive sofas can flatten and begin to crumble in a relatively short time. Under-filled cushions don’t tend to last long.
Cushioned support
Feather and down seat cushions are the most traditional and also the softest. They must be regularly plumped to maintain their shape. More resilient are seat cushions with a mix of feather and fibre with casing or a foam core with a feather wrap. These are firmer than pure feather but still need plumping. Foam provides the firmest seat cushion and is low-maintenance too, although seat cushions can look rather square and unyielding unless softened by a dacron wrap. Most back cushions are filled with feather and/or man-made fibres. The best sofa companies will offer a full range of options.
Style file
Many popular sofas are based on designs of the past. Often, elements from different periods define the sofa as a classic, such as scroll arms or buttoning. But most of all, it’s the legs. A classic sofa with fixed covers and no valance can be transformed by changing the legs. Cabriole legs, bun feet and polished turned legs suggest a traditional context, while tapered legs and apt choice of cover can give the same sofa a contemporary edge. Some sofas have legs that are integral to the frame, but when they are fitted individually to a sofa, it can be updated to match a new room scheme by swapping the legs for a different style. The obvious time do to this is when the sofa is recovered.