Inspirations/Interiors
Interiors · 6 min read
Buying furniture for a home you actually live in
The sofa in the photograph was chosen for the photograph.
Showroom furniture is selected to look good empty, in a large room, under lighting designed to flatter it. Your flat is smaller, busier and lit differently, and the piece has to work at seven in the evening with two people, a laptop and a plate on it.
Measure the route before the room. More furniture is returned because it will not turn the corner of a stairwell or fit a lift than because it looked wrong. A three-seater sofa that arrives in one piece needs roughly 200cm of diagonal clearance at every turn.
On upholstery, the practical question is not colour but rub count and removability. If there are children or pets, look for covers that come off, and a weave you can actually get cleaned. Performance fabrics have improved enormously and no longer look like they belong in an airport.
Buy the pieces you touch every day well, and the pieces you look at cheaply. A good sofa and a good mattress earn their money daily. A console table does not.
Buy the pieces you touch every day well, and the pieces you look at cheaply.
