Selecting Quality Upholstered Furniture

Buying a couch or sofa is a major investment for any home.  Style, comfort, and budget are essentials for choosing a sofa, loveseat, chaise lounge, or chair.  To get the best upholstered furniture for your money, here is what to look for:

• Frame work.  Traditionally, the best frames were made of kiln-dried hardwood such as ash, oak, or beech, which resist warping and that mean a long-lasting, durable sofa.  Softwood such as pine is less expensive, but it may warp or wobble after 3 to 4 years.  Today, quality frames may also be made of steel, plastic, or laminated board or a combination of materials.  Avoid frames made of metal, poor quality plastic or particle board; they may warp and crack.  The legs should be part of the frame or held on with screws or wooden dowels (pegs).  A solidly constructed sofa often used wooden dowels, double wooden-dowels, wooden corner blocks, or metal screws and brackets for the joint connections.  The tag might read corner blocks glued and screwed on its literature.   

Testing tip:  Frames sit squarely on the floor, doesn’t creak or wobble, and are well padded.  To test the strength of the frame, lift one leg of the sofa off the floor about 6 inches, the other front leg should come up too.  If it is still touching the floor, the frame is weak.  Operate the mechanism on recliners and sleeper sofa to make sure they work smoothly and that dual purpose seating is well balanced in each position.   Any moving parts should completely clear the fabric to prevent tearing.    Ask your salesperson for manufacture’s written information on the frame joinery.

• Supporting foundation.  Support can be provided by webbing, sling straps, slats, or springs of various types.  Springs can be single coil, double coils, or zigzag (also known as sinuous S-type or Serpentine, which are preassembled units of snaking wires).  High-end sofa often use the “eight way hand-tied springs”.  Feel the springs through the upholstery and they should be close together and firm to touch.  Sofa that is made with only webbing or mesh and without springs will feel uncomfortable and flimsy.

Testing tip:  Sit down firmly on a corner or outside edge of a chosen sofa; squeak or creak suggest that springs are placed incorrectly or the springs may be hitting the frame. 

• Padding or cushioning.  Cushioning materials include cotton or polyester, polyurethane foam, and down.  Foam and polyester fiberfill wrap are preferred padding materials.  The man-made materials are durable, resilient, moth proof, and mildew and fungus resistant.  High Comfort (HC) foam and High Resiliency (HR) foam are excellent choice.  Foam can be used as a solid unit, wrapped with a softer polyester material or chopped and blown into area that would normally be difficult to pad.  Goose-and duck feather fillings are comfortable but tends to clump.  Top of the line cushions are goose down (the bird’s soft undercoat) mixed with feathers; this combination keeps the cushion plump, but is double the price of the foam, and the cushions need frequent fluffing.

Testing tip:  Seating test is the only way to tell if the sofa or chair is the one for you.  The cushions should fit snuggly and feel resilient.  Backs should be free of bumps and hard spots.  Be sure the height and angle of the back and the depth of the seat are suited for your size.  If the seat isn’t comfortable, don’t buy it.   

• The covers.  Sofas for everyday use need durable fabric.  There are two types of fabrics:  naturals and synthetics.  Naturals are cotton, linen, silk, and wool.  Synthetics are acetate, acrylic, nylon, rayon, and polypropylene.  Cotton and linen are good choices for durability.  Generally, fabrics with tighter weaves and durable fibers such as polypropylene or nylon stand up better to the hard use of active household.  Loose weaves can snag.   Synthetic micro fiber which mimics most fabrics is stain resistant.  Blends of natural and synthetic fibers tend to pill within a year.  Wool and leather are strong but expensive.  Leather comes in a rainbow of colors and range of textures, designs, and styles.  New methods of tanning and manufacturing have brought leather into an affordable range for consumers.  Silk is sleek but fragile.  Fabrics with patterns woven in tend to wear better than those with printed patterns.

Testing tip:  Make sure that stripes and patterns match at seams, patterns are centered, seams and welts are straight, and buttons are sewn on securely.  The sofa should have a gold UFAC hang tag which means it is constructed to be more resistant to cigarette ignition.

Upholstered furniture such as chaise lounge, sofa, love seat, or chair is expensive items for your home.  Locating good quality piece in your personal style and budget can take some effort, but once you find the one in harmony with your style for the right price, you will be able to sit back and enjoy its comfort for years to come.