Things You Need to Know About Buying a Sofa

Learn about foam versus feathers, seat depth, springs, fabric and more for a couch that will work for years to come

By: Fred Albert - Houzz

A sofa is one of the biggest furniture investments you'll make — and one of the most permanent. Even if you're just buying one for a temporary fix, it'll eventually get demoted from the living room to the family room to the basement and, finally, the dorm. Before you know it, a decade or more has passed, and that impulse purchase has become part of your life. So give some thought to it before you buy.

Quality sofas should feel solid and heavy. Flop around on one to test its sturdiness, then lift it up by the corner and shake it a bit. If it feels light or wobbly, take a pass. Look for a frame made from a kiln-dried hardwood such as oak, alder, birch, maple or, alternatively, high-quality hardwood plywood or marine plywood. Eight-way, hand-tied springs are a hallmark of fine furniture, but sinuous S-shaped springs can provide nearly as much comfort. Drop-in coil springs are a less costly alternative.

Most cushions have a core of polyurethane foam; the denser the foam, the heavier it is and the longer it will last. In the cheapest furniture, the cushion is filled with just the polyurethane foam core. In better furniture the core is wrapped with Dacron batting. Higher-quality options include poly-down cushions, which have down mixed with the batting; spring-down cushions, which feature a core of springs surrounded by foam and feathers; and all down, which is all feathers (and all work, so avoid this unless you have servants).

The best sofas have joints that are double doweled and fitted with corner blocks that are both glued and screwed (not stapled) into place. Quality pieces have legs that are part of the frame, not just attached to it (although removable feet do make it easier to get items through doorways).

Buy the best-quality sofa that you can afford. Your purchase will be amortized over many years.

Chloe Warner

Choose a sofa that complements the style of your decor.

If your interior is traditional, look for a sofa with rolled arms, a contoured back, skirting or tufted cushions.

Contemporary sofas tend to have cleaner lines, fewer flourishes and understated upholstery.

jamesthomas, LLC

Consider the proportions of the room and determine what height, length and depth of sofa would look best in the space. If you're uncertain, mock up a footprint on the floor using masking tape or blue painter's tape. Or consider "building" a sofa out of empty boxes — then live with it for a few days to see how it feels.

Tobi Fairley Interior Design

If you plan to spend a lot of time lying on the sofa for reading or naps, make sure it has enough space between the arms. Don't rely on overall length alone, as the width of the arms will affect the space between.

Staples Design Group

If you’re short on space, think about buying a sofa with low arms or no arms — it’ll make your room look larger.

Oakley Home Builders

How many people do you want to seat? That might sound like a silly question, but the truth is, nobody likes sitting on the crack. So if you get a sofa with two cushions, expect just two people to use it. To accommodate more people, get a sofa with three cushions or a single long cushion, called a bench cushion.

Shoshana Gosselin

Sofas generally come with one of two types of backs: a pillow back, which has removable cushions or pillows along the rear; or a tight back, in which the upholstery is tailored to the contours of the sofa’s back.

MuseInteriors

Pillow-back sofas are generally considered more comfortable and inviting, but there’s a downside: Unless you’re diligent with your fluffing, the cushions will usually look slightly askew. If you’re the kind of person who is driven to distraction by something like that, you might want to consider a tight back.

Kendall Wilkinson Design

When it comes to sofas, one size does not fit all. The depth of the seat and the angle of the back will influence how comfortable you feel.

How do you know what depth is right for you? Let experience be your guide. If there’s a sofa or chair that you find particularly comfortable, measure the distance from the inside of your knee to the spot where your lower back hits the back of the sofa, then buy a sofa that has similar dimensions.

Anna Baskin Lattimore Design

Since sofas are such a big investment, you'll want yours to stay in fashion as long as possible. Given that, it's best to stick with a neutral fabric. You can always add color and pattern with throw pillows. Plus, pillows are easy and inexpensive to change if you decide to redecorate.

Lucy and Company

If you have kids and a neutral sofa sounds like an invitation to disaster, consider a darker color or a sofa with a subtle overall pattern.

As a rule, synthetic fabrics are more durable, colorfast and cleanable. Tightly woven fabrics and fabrics that are heavy will stand up to wear and tear better, as will leather. Avoid satins, brocades and damasks unless the sofa won't get much use.

Rachel Reider Interiors

Whatever fabric you choose, ask the store for a sample or cutting that you can take home on approval before you buy. (If no sample is available, ask for a cushion.) That way you can see the material under the light in your room and with other pieces of furniture. When you're spending this kind of money, the last thing you want is a surprise.

Take a Winter Walk on the Safe Side

Learn how to handle snow, ice and other cold-weather landscape factors to minimize falls and damage

By Jocelyn H Chilvers - Houzz

A wintry wonderland is a beautiful sight to behold, and an occasional walk along a snowy garden path is a real treat. For main entryways and often-used walks and patios, however, safety is a real concern. Here are a few things you can do now — and in the future — to keep snow and ice from becoming a hazard to you, your guests and your favorite delivery person.

Heirloom Gardens, LLC

Smalls Landscaping

What to Do Now

Remove snow quickly. Use a shovel or a snow blower and broom to remove snow as quickly as possible. Once snow has been walked on and becomes compacted, it is that much more difficult to remove. Dense, compacted snow converts to ice readily. Sprinkle gravel, straw or wood chips to provide some traction on areas where ice or snow remain.

Benjamin Vogt / Monarch Gardens

Prevent ice buildup on walkways by monitoring water flow. Check to make sure that your roof and gutters are flowing freely. Add rain chains or downspout extensions to direct water away from paved areas and home foundations.

Matthew Cunningham Landscape Design LLC

Minimize the use of snow- and ice-melting products. Most of these products are composed of salts; they work by attracting moisture to themselves and forming a liquid brine that generates heat and melts the snow. However, salt will cause damage to plant roots and, once absorbed by the plant, will cause brown, desiccated edges on new leaves and shoots — or even death. Salts are also corrosive and may damage hardscaping. Last, but not least, these products can be harmful to pets.

If you do use a deicer, you can reduce its negative impact with these precautions:

• Use products that are labeled safe for pets.
• Always follow the manufacturer’s instructions and choose the right product for the conditions. For example, rock salt (sodium chloride) is effective only at temperatures above 20 degrees Fahrenheit, while other products are effective to -25 degrees.
• Cut the product with sand, kitty litter or sawdust — or forgo a salt product altogether — to provide traction and reduce the amount of product needed.
• After the storm, get out the shovel or snow blower and clear pavement areas as soon as possible. This will help prevent overuse of the product.
• Once the pavement has been cleared, sweep up and dispose of excess product. Don’t sweep it onto lawns, onto garden beds or into the street; this will keep it out of the stormwater drainage system and natural waterways.
• Flush landscape and pavement areas with water where you suspect product overuse or damage.

Greenhaven Landscapes Inc

How to Plan Ahead

Choose the right hardscape. Think about winter safety when designing or renovating your home’s hardscape. For active traffic areas, keep paving surfaces even and with a bit of texture. Think brushed concrete, large slabs of natural stone (shown) or landscape pavers (which are not as slick as house brick).

Resolution: 4 Architecture

Wood decking in particular is fairly easy to clean off, provides some traction, and allows moisture runoff because of the spacing between planks.

Caution: Some composite deck surfaces can be very slippery when wet. Expanded metal can be substituted for an industrial look.

Charles Cunniffe Architects Aspen

Add railings. Stairways in snowy climes should always include handrails for support, even for short flights of stairs. Consider using riser-free (backless) stairs, as shown here, for easier cleaning.

Consider subsurface heating systems for areas beneath driveways, patios and pool decks to keep daily outdoor activities accessible all winter. This is an expensive option, but one that may have value in locations with very high snowfall or for especially large areas.

James Martin Associates

Light up the landscape. Lighting can guide pedestrians and keep them safe. Strategically placed lights along well-maintained walkways are ideal, but decorative illumination, as show here, can be helpful, too.

Employ some or all of these ideas for a beautiful and serene winter landscape.

 

Christmas Cleanup Tips For The Not Naturally Organized

Dreading the postholiday chores? First let yourself unwind. Then grab some boxes, a few supplies and this easy guide

 

By Alison Hodgson - Houzz Contributor

 

Cleanup? I finally got my feet up! Let’s face it: After all the time and work we’ve put in to making the holidays, the last thing anyone wants to do is clean it all up.

If that resonated with you, you are probably Not Naturally Organized and this is just the holiday version of the core issue that divides the Naturally and Not Naturally Organized: now or later. While we, the Not Naturally Organized, want to finally relax and maybe think about cleaning up someday, our Naturally Organized brothers and sisters are twitch, twitch, twitching to haul it all away today.

But what about savoring the beauty? I’m with you completely … until February when your tree is moldering in the corner of your living room. Who wants that? Go ahead and relax; whenever you decide to tackle the mess, here are a few tips to make the process as easy as can be.

Alison Hodgson

 

Before you tear everything apart, take some quick pictures of all of your decorations. I did this last year, and these were my reference when I pulled out the boxes this year. I made a few small changes, but this gave me an easy start.

Be sure to take close-ups to see the details.

Alison Hodgson

This is my biggest time saver and how I start on the tree. I remove the non-breakable ornaments and lay them in their box. I don’t bother removing the hooks, and with a few exceptions they don’t get tangled. I began doing this to save space on the divided boxes but found it saved me so much time. Bonus!

Alison Hodgson

In addition to non-breakable and fragile ornaments, I have boxes for trees, books, lights and miscellaneous larger items like snow globes and the Advent calendar.

With the trees I set the large ones on the bottom and carefully stack the others. The glass or pottery trees I wrap in tissue and securely place in the middle.

Organize-It

Ornament Keeper Ornament Storage Box - $61.99

This is a very nice box, but inexpensive plastic ones work just fine.

Buy the right supplies

In my family growing up, taking down the tree was as much a part of the tradition as setting it up. My siblings and I were responsible for packing up our personal ornaments, and I carefully wrapped each one in tissue. When I had my own tree with hundreds of ornaments, I dreaded putting them away every year until I finally bought a slew of boxes with dividers.

Alison Hodgson

After the non-breakable ornaments, I remove the fragile ones. If an ornament is precious to me, I’ll take time to wrap it in tissue, but most of them I set in their little cardboard cradles. I’ve never had an ornament break in storage.

This is a really good time to cull the ornaments you don’t love or use. If it’s sitting in the bottom of your boxes when you take down the tree, there’s a reason. I always have a bag for Goodwill at hand.

Alison Hodgson

All season long I have a big basket of our Christmas books by the tree. Every night youngest and I read several titles — a favorite tradition. Storing the books is as simple as emptying the basket into their labeled box. A non-breakable tree or two is often stacked on top.

Alison Hodgson

Make a note

This is one of my miscellaneous boxes. Here I’ve created an inventory for this box: nativities, Advent calendar, snow globes, wreaths, luminaries, lights for the tree.

Under that is a second note and a reminder that we needed to buy two more strands of lights. I was glad to have this when we opened the boxes and before I hung the lights on our tree.

What do you need or want to buy before next Christmas? Take note and write it down.

Alison Hodgson

Get help at the end

I work alone stripping the tree. I’m able to move quickly without breaking anything. When all of the ornaments are boxed, I ask one or two members of my family to haul them down to storage.

Alison Hodgson

Although this looks like mayhem, it’s really only some cardboard, a few boxes, a bit of paper and tissue, and some greenery. This is when I want to throw in the towel, but I make myself keep going. Once I’ve recycled, thrown away or put away everything outstanding, my husband and son haul the tree out and tie it back on the van to take to a local park for recycling. I sweep and vacuum everywhere, but we’ll still see needles here and there for weeks.

How To Care For A Freshly Cut Christmas Tree

Keep your tree looking lush until the last ornament is packed away, with these tips for watering, stands and siting

Therese Ciesinski - Houzz contributor.

 

Artificial trees may have increased in popularity, but for the purist, only a real tree will do. No matter how realistic it looks, an artificial tree can’t compete with the scent and feel of a real evergreen. It’s a living part of nature that, for a short time, we give a place of honor in our homes.

And no matter which kind of tree it is — spruce, fir, pine or cypress — once it’s indoors, the goal is to keep the tree fresh and green. This means keeping the needles pliable and on the tree until the holidays are over. And the only thing that does that is water, lots of it. Think of it like a big, green pet: Just as a dog or cat needs fresh water every day, so does a fresh Christmas tree.

Laura Collins Design

Get the tree in water immediately. Once you get your tree home, put it into water as soon as possible, within eight hours. If the trunk wasn’t freshly cut at the place where you bought the tree, then saw an inch or two off the bottom of the trunk and put it in a tree stand filled with fresh water. If you’re not ready to set it up, put it in a bucket of water in a cool place. The water temperature doesn’t matter.

Holly Marder

Use the right stand. It should comfortably fit the diameter of the trunk. Whittling the trunk down will only dry the tree out faster. The National Christmas Tree Association recommends that a tree stand should provide 1 quart of water per inch of stem diameter. Be sure the tree stand you choose has a large water reservoir. A tree can take up a gallon of water in its first few hours in the stand.

Lord Design

Water, water, water. Big trees mean lots of agua. Watch that the cut part of the trunk stays below the waterline. Adding aspirin, lemon soda or other concoctions to the water won’t extend the tree’s life, but it might sicken pets or children if they drink out of the water reservoir.

Once indoors, a live tree’s branches will relax and open. Allow enough space when siting the tree for the lowest branches to fall open and not get in the way of foot traffic.

Whitney Lyons

Keep the tree cool. To an evergreen that spent years growing in a field, your house is as dry as the Sahara Desert. And where do Christmas trees often look best? Centered in front of windows, where the sun streams in, or tucked into a corner near air vents or baseboard heaters.

Dillard-Jones Builders, LLC

Position the tree out of the sun and away from heat sources. Keep the temperature in the room as low as is practical.

Elite Staging and Redesign, LLC

As magical as it seems to come home to a sparkling tree, don’t leave the tree’s lights on overnight or when no one’s in the house.

Regina Gust Designs

Even with daily watering, cut trees will eventually dry out. When needles drop when you touch them, and branches droop so low that ornaments are hitting the floor, it’s time to take off the lights and decorations, wrap the tree in an old sheet, and take it outside.

You can saw off some of the tree’s branches and cover garden beds with them to protect plants, or turn them into mulch with a chipper or shredder. If you have the acreage, drag the tree to an out-of-the-way spot for birds and animals to use as cover. Most communities now collect spent Christmas trees and make mulch or compost from them, which they offer back to residents. The saddest end for a tree is for it to be hauled off to a landfill, instead of being turned back into soil — allowed to decompose and feed living creatures, the way nature intended.

Have You Heard the Hues? 15 Colours You May Not Know About.

By Charmean Neithart: Houzz Contributor. I love interior design and all things houses. It has been my great privilege to create spaces over the last eleven years to a varied and loyal clientele

 

You never know when you might need to pump up your vocabulary. With the holidays fast approaching, you might soon find yourself in a friendly game of Scrabble or having cocktail conversation at some swanky party. Why not impress your friends and random strangers with extensive color knowledge?

In my work week, I get introduced to colors that I have never heard of fairly regularly. I like to learn about them because there is usually some history lesson involved, and it helps me to understand the undertones of color. For example, there are hundreds of shades of blue. If a blue fabric is described as smalt, I would know exactly what to expect even without a visual. Here are some colors you probably have never heard of but will love to get to know.

Kim Armstrong

Smalt is a deep blue pigment typically used in ceramics. Smalt is a glass that is created when cobalt salts are added to molten glass. It has a very subtle purple undertone but is better described as a pure blue. Much like cobalt, it has a luminescent quality, making it look backlit. This wall is a good example.

amanda nisbet

Byzantium is a vibrant shade of purple that can be confused with fuchsia. While fuchsia is a bold color derived from pink, byzantium is derived from purple and is deeper. A natural for sharing the stage, byzantium looks great with yellow, gray, blue and black.

Design Associates - Lynette Zambon, Carol Merica

Cordovan is a rich shade of burgundy/brown, most commonly used to describe leather. These leather sofas are a perfect example of cordovan. The name originates from the city of Cordova, Spain, which is known for its production of fine leather.

Jeffers Design Group

Vermilion is a bright red to reddish orange. These gorgeous lamps are a classic shade of vermillion, which is also called Chinese red because it's used in making Chinese lacquerware.

Ply Gem

Sienna is a reddish brown earth color. The color originates from Siena, Italy, and describes a clay that consists of iron oxide and manganese oxide.

Charlie Simmons - Charlie & Co. Design, Ltd.

Gamboge is a deep mustard yellow. This color gets its name from the gamboge tree, which excretes a sap that is mustard yellow. This pair of sofas is the perfect shade of gamboge.

Garrison Hullinger Interior Design Inc.

Fulvous is ultimately a variation of brown but can be described as having yellow undertones, like these painted walls. Fulvous is inspired by the feathers of ducks and birds.

Digs By Katie | Katie Leede & Company

Pavo is an electric blue that refers to the feathers of a peacock. Best described as between royal blue and deep turquoise, pavo is seen here in the sofa pillows.

Jason Arnold Interiors

Verdigris is a shade of green that describes copper when it is exposed to a moisture element. This vessel sink is a classic verdigris, which has been known to represent nobility.

Z Gallerie

Aubergine is a deep brownish purple inspired by the exterior color of an eggplant. I love to see a bold aubergine with gray or turquoise.

The Sky is the Limit Design

Lichen is a murky shade of gray/yellow green, like in this kitchen wall color. Lichen recently received attention as Pantone's top color for fall 2013. This mellow shade of green is inspired by the plant-like fungus that grows in shady spots especially around tree trunks.

Malachite is a vibrant green that is very similar to emerald. The main difference is the undertone of gray, which emerald does not have. Malachite is an earth color that scientifically is a copper carbonate hydroxide mineral.

Tracy Murdock Allied ASID

Aureolin is a bright, vivid yellow that's also sometimes referred to as cobalt yellow. Here is aureolin in art and flowers. This sassy shade of yellow looks great with blues and grays.

Harrell Remodeling

Bole is a brownish-red hue that really looks like chocolate to me. I think bole, seen here on the walls, looks great with other neutrals and black.

Laura U, Inc.

Fallow is a tannish brown and is inspired by the light brown fur of a deer's back. This gorgeous shade, selected here for the carpet, pairs well with white and black.