Choosing a Corner Sofa: What to Look For?
Using a corner sofa can optimize useful living space and is a great way to divide a room into different functional areas. But how do you choose the right corner sofa and what should you consider?
Criteria for Choosing the Right Corner Sofa
Before familiarizing yourself with furniture store catalogs, brochures, and specialized websites with available products, evaluating their advantages and disadvantages, you can start thinking about the question: "Which corner sofa is better to buy?"
Nowadays, the furniture market offers a wide variety of corner sofas in terms of external characteristics and design. And at the same time, such furniture is relatively inexpensive.
Corner sofas can be divided into:
- corner sofas for children, installed in children's rooms;
- kitchen corner sofa, used for family meals and entertaining guests;
- office U-shaped corner sofas, installed in reception areas, waiting rooms, and other commercial organization places where there are always many people;
- apartment corner sofas, installed in living rooms, home offices, and bedrooms.
When deciding on the purpose of the corner sofa, first choose its installation location in a specific living room. In the chosen room, before going to the store, it is worth measuring the space where the future purchase will be placed. It will be possible to make the right choice of a corner sofa, taking into account the design of the product you like.
Corner Sofa Construction
Any corner sofa in its design includes a support frame, a frame, a transformation mechanism, a soft seat and backrest, fasteners, and decorative accessories. For the production of frames, frames, backrests, and armrests, the following materials are mainly used:
- Particle boards (laminated particle boards): often used for budget corner furniture;
- MDF: used in the production of most models with good consumer properties for corner sofas;
- solid wood: used in the production of high-class furniture, for example, corner sofas made in Latvia.
When choosing which corner sofa to buy in your specific case, you should pay attention to the manufacturing technology of the seat and backrest. Nowadays, the most common seats are based on a spring unit, while the walls are often made with polyurethane foam filling.
When choosing a corner sofa that converts into a bed, you should pay attention to the identity of both elements' manufacturing technology. In sleeping products, both the seat and the backrest should be resilient.
Sofa Upholstery
A sofa in a living room is usually the center of attraction for the whole family. It may be the main object in the room. It should match the interior, emphasize the overall style of the room. Whether the sofa fits depends on its shape, size, and, of course, the color and texture of the upholstery material. Upholstery can be made from natural and synthetic materials. Which option to choose depends on many factors, including whether the sofa will be used as a bed.
The type of upholstery directly affects the overall cost of the sofa, accounting for approximately 60% of the price.
Today, you can choose upholstery that is resistant to damage and dirt, which is a great option for families with small children and/or pets. When buying a sofa, you should understand that any upholstery loses its appearance over time, which means it is better to choose an option that allows easy cleaning of dirt. The most reliable upholstery is considered to be made of tapestry fabric, jacquard, and chenille. However, their price is not affordable for everyone. Velvet and velour look very attractive but quickly lose their appearance, especially if the sofa is actively used. To reduce the cost of the sofa, you can choose a combination of two or three different materials.
Leather corner sofas should be protected from direct sunlight and moisture, as well as from scratches. Kitchen corner sofas are often made with leather upholstery, which makes maintenance easier.
Teflon impregnation of the upholstery helps to fight dirt and moisture.
Wear Resistance Class
Materials differ in many ways. If the buyer does not know how to choose a corner sofa or cannot decide on the type of upholstery, it is worth looking at the product and material documents that will help you make a choice.
The upholstery material label contains information about the wear resistance class. It has a numerical designation - from 0 to 8. The number 0 indicates fine fabrics that are not suitable for frequent use. If the sofa will be constantly used, including as a bed, it is worth choosing upholstery that belongs to at least class 5 wear resistance. Such materials are durable and reliable. Numbers 7 and 8 often indicate leather upholstery, which is good for folding sofas. Such models are usually placed in living rooms for relaxation or, for example, in office spaces.
Faux leather is not particularly durable. It is uncomfortable to sleep on such a sofa: bedding slips off such a surface. If the sofa also serves as a bed, it is better to choose upholstery made of natural, durable material. It is more pleasant to sleep on such a surface, and it will last longer.
Types of Corner Sofas
Furniture stores sell static or mobile sofas. In static constructions, both parts are firmly fixed during initial assembly. In mobile samples, the main sofa and the corner part can be moved around the apartment, without disturbing the unity of the design.
Furniture designers divide these furniture products into three groups depending on the type of corner fixation:
- monolithic corner sofas, where both corner parts are firmly fixed, and their assembly is carried out a minimum number of times - usually when the furniture is delivered to the customer;
- modular corner sofas, where there is no rigid main part and corner fixation, allowing free movement of furniture inside the living space;
- transformable corner sofas - they can change their shape and functional purpose, easily transforming from a seating area into a full-fledged bed.
Since today, when choosing a corner sofa, considering the wide range of models, everyone can get confused, let's briefly consider the classification of such furniture products according to the method of changing the shape of the soft sections.
The most common pull-out corner sofas are the so-called "eurobooks," where the backrest is supported by the back, significantly increasing the usable area. For pull-out sofas, the extension is organized by pulling out an additional part. Usually, the pull-out part is installed on special furniture casters. The most difficult to use, but at the same time comfortable, are pull-out corner sofas with the "dolphin" transformation mechanism, which is equipped with sofas with a pull-out corner. When arranging a bed on such furniture, an additional soft element is released, turning the sofa into a full-fledged bed.
Expert Advice
The firmness of the sofa should depend on the buyer's weight. The larger the person's weight, the more difficult it is to choose a sofa.
All sofa constructions depend heavily on their frame. If it is made of wood, attention should be paid to the quality of the wood.
The sofa bed should have a simple folding mechanism. Firstly, it will make everyday life easier, and secondly, such corner sofas for sleeping are more reliable and durable.
All additional elements of the sofa increase its value. If they are not urgently needed, you can choose a simpler design model and thus save money.
