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The sofa is where life gathers. From Friday night family movie nights, to last minute hosting get-togethers, it shapes not just how your space looks, but how it feels and functions. Choosing the right sofa for you can feel overwhelming, this blog will guide you through the different types of sofas, their sizes, their styles, all to help you simplify the decision.
How to Choose a Sofa for Your Lifestyle?
Before choosing a style, it's worth considering how your space is truly used day to day, beyond just looks. Different sofa styles will suit and compliment different uses and behaviours so it’s important to understand how that can affect the type of sofa you choose:
The Everyday Family Space: In homes where the sofa is used from morning through to evening, durability, space and maintenance become essential. Leathers, chenilles and velvets are more durable and will be easier to clean and maintain compared to boucle or chunky weaves.
The Relaxed Lounger: If you are looking for a sofa for lazy Sunday afternoons, this is where you prioritise comfort, think soft-to-touch fabrics, reclining head and footrests and deep, plush foam fibre seating.
The Design-Led Space: When you want to add an element of your personality into your space, think of unique shapes, textured materials, statement pieces and bold colours.
The Compact / Flexible Home: Apartment living, Maisonettes or even secondary smaller living rooms and Snugs, these spaces require smart sizing, modularity and adaptability.
The Regular Host: Gatherings that run late require sofas with space, and openness that can bring people together and invite conversation.
How to Choose the Right Sofa Size?
Once you have understood how you live, choosing the right sofa style will become more intuitive, here are the different styles and sizes best suited to your lifestyle.
For Social and Shared Spaces: Corner Sofas
Corner sofas create a natural place for people to come together, they can be useful placing in compact living room corners, or helping define the layout in a larger and open plan space. As well as hosting, corner sofas are also great for stretching out after a long day, designs like the Skye large corner bring added comfort and a generous space to relax through adjustable headrests and electric recliners. Small corners can seat up to 4 people, whereas large corners can seat up to 5.
For Laid-back Living: Chaise Sofas
Deriving from the French term to mean, “long chair”, chaise sofas are essential for laid back living. For sculptural, design-led spaces, chaise sofas like Ottilie and Caspian introduce a softer, organic shape, or if your space is more contemporary, and takes inspiration from the loft living aesthetic, our Colton or Brooks may be better suited with neutral colours and durable leather fabrics for a timeless look. Chaise sofas can also have corner pieces, ideal for added seating space, top relaxation, and adaptable layouts like our Connor and Colette styles.
For Flexible Living: Modular Sofas
Homes evolve as much as you do and having furniture that moves with you is just as important, whether you're moving house, or you love to give your living room a layout refresh every season, a modular sofa may be what you need. Modular sofas can be either built upon from a 2 seater to a large corner, or create your own unique design and shape. If comfort and practicality is key, our Eden range allows you to build the size and shape you desire with an added side table module as well, perfect for placing drinks on.
For Everyday Versatility: 2 & 3 Seater Sofas
2 & 3 seater sofas can be suited to many different rooms, from compact living rooms to movie room snugs and secondary seating areas. 2 & 3 seater sofas form the foundation of most living spaces, they can have a straight silhouette and can be part of a cohesive set like in our Quinn, Florence and Julep collections, which also include complimentary armchairs. 2 & 3 seater sofas can be also be design-led and used as an accent piece in secondary seating areas such as the Gianna, Kendra and Zoey, which combine sculptural shapes and curves with bold colours like ochre and blue grey.
Versatility extends beyond practicality but also through design and aesthetic elements, with a range of different designs and styles to choose from. If your living room is more traditional, a timeless chesterfield design with its iconic tufting from our Luxe range is an ideal choice. Or if you want accessories and styling to do all the talking, a mid century modern silhouette may be better suited to layer up and build upon, like with our Jacob, Quinn and Lynetta ranges. For a design-led, personality driven home, styles like Sofia, Evelyn, Hayes and Florence offer the practicality of 2 & 3 seater sofas with soft curves throughout, texture, organic shapes and statement winged backs, that creates a unique, individual space.
Details That Make the Difference
Beyond the shape and style, it’s often the additional design details that can make the biggest difference in everyday use.
Lazy Sunday afternoons call for reclining features, even if your space is smaller, sofas like our Elio 3 seater, with additional adjustable back and armrests, are a great way to elevate your living room. If you are looking to completely upgrade your sofa set-up and have the ultimate cinema style sofa, our Kenzie range has electric reclining head and footrests, a built-in console in between each seat with storage, a wireless charging pad, LED lighting and cup holders.
As well as additional design features, the fabric you choose is also an important factor to consider, depending on where the sofa will be going and how often it will be used, high traffic, family areas will need leathers and easy-care materials like and chenille fabric and velvets with higher piles, which will make wiping stains away easier. But for snugs, conservatories, apartments or secondary seating areas, chunky weaves and boucles are perfect for relaxed moments and reading nooks. For a full guide on how to choose the correct fabric, you can read the full blog here.
Before You Choose
Taking the time to plan properly ensures your new sofa fits seamlessly into your home, there are a few extra points to bear in mind before pressing that ‘checkout’ button.
Measuring up: Always measure walls, doorways and any other entranceways as well as the room of which the sofa will be placed into will make the whole delivery and set-up process a lot easier.
Layout considerations: No matter the size of the room of which the sofa will be placed into, considering where in the room it will go is essential for how you move in your space, and for layering complementary furniture alongside, like coffee tables, side tables, rugs or an armchair.
Room traffic flow: Depending on whether this sofa will be placed in a snug room or conservatory or if this will be the new family sofa in the living room, the flow of traffic in the room will heavily influence the size, shape, fabric and placement of the sofa.
The Right Sofa, Designed Around You
Now you’ve explored how you live, the space you’re working with, and the styles that suit your home, choosing the right sofa becomes a more intuitive decision.
There’s no single perfect sofa, only the one that works for your space, your routine and your everyday moments. Choose thoughtfully, and it will become a piece you live with and enjoy for years to come.
