High-end Furniture

Furnishing the Living Room

Whether you're buying a sofa or complete furniture suite, it is a major investment. So take more than just looks into account. Give size, comfort, construction, and the type of fabric covering careful consideration, too.

The discomfort of sitting on a worn or badly made sofa or armchair is all too familiar. A sofa with broken springs or seat cushions that have so little padding you feel as if you are sitting directly on the base is uncomfortable, and if you sit in it for any length of time it can lead to troublesome aches and pains.

Comfortable and adequate living-room seating is therefore an essential purchase for your home. If your sofa and chairs are worn or uncomfortable, buying new ones should be high on your list of priorities. As with most purchases, cost reflects quality. It's worth allocating as much money as you can afford for the durability, lasting style and quality of high-end furniture.

Your reward is a sofa or living room suite that will give you many years of relaxing service and style.

One of the main considerations is whether to buy a complete collection, a suite, or sofas and armchairs separately.

A furniture collection usually refers to all the pieces in a furniture manufacturer's specific line or style. You can furnish one room completely or every room in your home with a particular furniture line or style offered by the manufacturer. In a furniture 'collection' all pieces will be represented - coffee table, end tables, ottoman, couch, chair, bed, nightstand, armoir, chests and cabinets. Depending on the manufacturer and furniture line, this option could be most cost effective, or not.

The advantage of buying a suite - consisting of a sofa and two matching armchairs - is that you can most usually buy at considerable savings. Furniture retailers are usually able to offer room suites at more competitive prices than buying the items individually.

However, a furniture collection or suite may not offer the flexibility that you are looking for or suit the room. So it is worth taking the time to plan what arrangement and size of furniture best fits the space before making the final decision.

Considerations for Furniture Size

Before you even start looking for a sofa, you need to decide on the size. Sofas tend to look smaller in a large showroom, so it is easy to make a mistake and be misled into thinking a large sofa will fit in your living room at home and, just as importantly, through your doorways.

To avoid this, measure your room and the relevant doorways and draw up a simple plan for scale, including major items of furniture. Use the plan to determine what size and configuration of chairs and sofas best suits the room.

Consider the proportions of the room in relation to the height and depth of the sofa. There is a lot of variation in the height of different sofas according to their style. If the ceilings are low, a high-backed sofa may dwarf the space just as much as a sofa that is too large.

Also use the simple rule that dark colors advance and pale ones recede - a light sofa makes a room look larger than a darker one. Always take a tape measure with you when you shop to doublecheck measurements.

For help with choosing the right Sofa or living room suite for your home, consider using the expert design advice available at Furniture Best Price.

Look for Quality and Timeless Style

Shop around and you'll find dining-room furniture to suit not only the space you have available but the style of your home and your budget.

Dining-room furniture often outlasts other furniture in a home - a sofa and armchairs may show the strain of the rough and tumble of family life, but a sturdy table and chairs can go on looking good year after year. So work out your needs carefully before you buy a dining room suite.

There's an excellent choice of robust, well-made contemporary dining furniture available to suit all tastes and budgets, from the elegance of Georgian reproduction through sturdy farmhouse to modern steel and glass. Folding or extending tables are a good choice if space is limited or to seat extra guests.

A Touch of the Traditional

Traditional dining-room furniture such as a period style suite in solid wood or with a veneered finish is well suited to elegant formal meals. Before you buy it's a good idea to decide how versatile you want your table and chairs to be. Most dining-room furniture has to be sturdy enough to meet different needs. During the course of a day the table may be called on to do duty as a play surface for children's games and painting sessions, a desk for homework, and a worktop for a sewing machine as well as being used for an informal family breakfast, lunch, and tea. Yet it still has to be flexible enough to be dressed up for those more elegant evening occasions.

Consider this multi-functional aspect of the room when you shop for the furniture, and remember it's easier to use attractive table linen to dress up a tough surface like solid wood for formal dining than it is to protect a delicate veneer from everyday knocks and spills. If you do choose a table with a finish that needs protection, buy a table pad you can cover with an easily laundered tablecloth for everyday use. For more formal occasions, take away the pad and use a fancy tablecloth and placemats.

Most modern upholstered dining chairs have been treated to resist stains but for additional protection, use tie-on chair covers, or make covers to slip over upholstered seats.

A Contemporary or Modern Dining Mood

Key to a modern dining room is simplicity. There is no shortage of clean-lined tables and chairs on the market. Favorites for a contemporary room are materials such as glass, chrome, and steel, but almost anything would suit, as long as the design is streamlined.

A laminate or lacquer which wipes clean and resists scratches and scuffs is a cost effective and practical option - especially if the table is going to be used by young children or if it doubles other ways, as a sewing table or somewhere to study or do homework. A modern style of table is best left uncovered, but you can give a more conventional table a bold new image with a dramatic tablecloth.

Make sure you check out a contemporary dining room suite very carefully for comfort and practicality - a glass-topped table may lose its appeal if you are forever wiping off children's fingermarks. Cast-iron chairs can look dramatic in a modern room but they are often very-heavy, which makes them difficult to draw up to and away from the table.