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Searching for the perfect sofa for your living room can be a roller-coaster ride of emotions. If you’re in the market for a new couch, we enlisted interior design expert Gil Walsh, of GW Interiors, to make the search easy. With over 30 years of design experience in residential and commercial projects, Walsh understands that choosing the right sofa goes beyond aesthetics. Finding the right sofa for your needs and space is easier said than done. The ideal couch has to be the right size, good quality, stylish, and, of course, comfy. “Besides the cushion fill, the comfort is all in the weave of the fabric,” Walsh says. “Soft, plush, and textured fabrics are the coziest, and when we need durable fabric, we look for a plush performance fabric.”
To help you find the right (most comfortable) choice for your home, we curated a list of 18 sofas, including affordable couches, leather sofas, and couches for small spaces.
What to Look For When Buying a Couch
While you might think virtual furniture shopping is hard, it turns out that tons of retailers, like Amazon, have fast shipping options, easy returns, and affordable prices that can’t be beaten. You’ll want to narrow in on your needs: do you want a classic three-seater silhouette or a large sectional, or perhaps a sleeper sofa for those extra guests? Consider who will be using it and the size of your room. There’s also the material — do you want performance fabric made to be durable, chic velvet, classic leather, or fuzzy bouclé? It can all depend on whether you have kids or are a pet owner.
Walsh says the first thing she looks for when purchasing a sofa is the material of the frame. “A hardwood frame allows the sofa to retain its shape and stability over a long period of time.” And if you want comfort, Walsh says a down or down blend is an “excellent option for a higher quality cushion.” Lastly, price is important. “If you want your sofa to last, then workmanship should never be compromised, even on a tight budget,” she says. “As long as the frame is well made, there are a few ways to cut down on the cost of the sofa — choose a neutral fabric that is graded into the price of the overall sofa, as well as a polyester cushion fill instead of down fill,” which are both cheaper.
What to Look For in a Quality Sofa That Will Last
There are many different things to look for when shopping for an investment piece like a sofa. Walsh recommends considering frame material (wood is best), seating support (an eight-way hand-tied springs system is one of the best support systems), cushion filling (down or down alternative is best), as well as the scale of the sofa, seat depth, and height. Luckily, there are a handful of brands we trust to meet these requirements, like West Elm, Albany Park, and Maiden Home, that we know to make quality, durable pieces.
Keep reading to see the choices we gathered based on Walsh’s advice, our editors’ reviews, and extensive market research. Find your sofa match ahead.
— Additional reporting by Krista Jones, Haley Lyndes, and Kyley Warren
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