To choose a sofa is not simple

Bosse Montan on his parents sofa, 1964

To choose a sofa is a big and rather difficult decision.

In my eyes, these are the criteria for it:

• It should primarily be comfortable to both sit and lay in, and, if possible, possible to sleep in if a visitor wants/needs to sleep over.

• It should also suit the room, both in style and in size.

• Its color and fabric should also suit the style fo the room and the rest of your interior decoration.

• The fabric should not be “itchy” (a big no-no to wollen sofas).

• It should be neutral so you could change its appearance fast by changing the pillows in it.

• It is preferable if you can change its’ cover and wash it yourself in the washing-machine. With that goes the availability of exchange covers.

• How much space the armrests take up and if you can use them as pillows when laying down in the sofa, or to put a tray on when sitting in the sofa.

My present sofa

When I choose my present sofa, I visited all furniture shops there are/were in the surroundings where I then lived. I sat in a lot of sofas. Tried how it was to get down into, get up from, sit in, lean back in… I returned over and over again to those sofas I found most pleasing and comfortable before I made my choice.

One thing though I had decided before I decided on the model of the sofa. It should be grey. Dark grey. And no patterns. Then you can have any pillows in it of any color and style.

It should also not be too deep. Should be possible to sit in without having extra pillows behind your back to sit comfortably.

And no “itchy” fabrics.

My present sofa

Two things I missed:
• how the sitting pillows function when there are 2 seats in a 3-seat sofa compared to 3. I now know that 2 seats in a 3-seat sofa cause you to very often sink down between the 2 sitting pillows when you sit down in the middle of the sofa. You don’t when there are 3 seats in the 3-seater.

• if you could sleep comfortably in the 3-seater or not (without buying a sleeper-sofa which you almost never sit comfortably in) it needs to have a level bottom. Mine slightly leans towards the back when the seating pillows are removed (you won’t roll off the sofa then, but you will roll into the back of it). It would have been better if it didn’t. Apart from that you cannot be a tall person in my present sofa. It is too short for that even though it is not a small sofa.

IKEA has several good sofas to good prices. At the time, when I was about to buy my present sofa, they did not yet have any grey sofas. Those came later. Now they do have grey sofas.

IKEA, Ektorp sofa

I DO love the EXTORP sofa. There is nothing more comfortable to sit in. Or hang around in. But could it act as guest bed? Maybe. Thing is it looks almost like my present sofa. Difference is that you can get different covers for it, all washable.

IKEA Karlstad sofa

I also love the light grey KARLSTAD sofa. Looks smaller than it is. Excellent as a guest bed (according to my friend Ulla who has one with another cover).

MIO Fly 3-seater

And then lately I saw (and test-sat in) the FLY sofa at MIO. I really love that one. It is a bit too long (228 cm) for my room though.

Question is, is my present sofa, a Coffee sofa from MIO, which was quite expensive when I bought it, sellable on BLOCKET (the Swedish equivalent of eBay) to a price that covers a new sofa? I doubt it, as the number of sofas for sale there is huge. I haven’t tested the interest for it there yet though. I still might. I like my present sofa, but it looks a bit too big for the present living room. It was bought for a larger room.

My present MIO Coffee sofa (no there is not a stain on the armrest, it is the light).