Buying Guides

How to choose your dream sofa

When it comes to finding the perfect sofa for your home, it can be an extremely daunting process. With so many different styles, fabrics, sizes and shapes to choose from, it’s sometimes hard to know where to start. Sofas are long term purchases, so it’s worth investing in the time to decide exactly what you want before you invest in the sofa itself. Whether you’re looking for the perfect corner sofa for the living room, or a smart velvet sofa for your play room, we’re confident that we’ll be able to create your perfect sofa.  Here at sofa.com, you can create your perfect sofa in three easy steps! Simply choose your style, select your size and pick your perfect fabric – we will then handcraft and deliver it directly to your door.

What size sofa do I need?
What style sofa should I choose?
What fabric sofa should I choose?
What colour sofa should I choose?

What size sofa do I need?

The first thing to consider when buying a sofa is the size. It’s important to ensure that your sofa fits in its new home, but also that you’re making the most out of your available space! Are you looking for a sofa to seat three people, but are worried about the footprint? Would you like a corner sofa to provide the best seat in the house for the whole family, but have a tricky space to work with? Are you looking for a sofa that fits in a smaller room, but need it to work as a guest room as well? Never fear! We have a wide range of sofa size options for you to choose from so you can find the perfect fit…

Our Isla sofa is shown here as a 3 seat sofa, one of our most popular sizes

Two seat sofas

Two seat sofas are a standard sofa that works well in a home for couples, or in places where space is a premium. Our two seat sofas allow two people to sit super comfortably, or potentially three if you want to squeeze in! Alternatively, two seat sofas are a great option if you’re looking to build a suite of furniture, for example two sofas, or a sofa and an armchair or two.

Two and a half seat sofas

All of our sofas are available as two and a half seat sofas, because we realised that although most of us would love a three seat sofa to stretch out on, they won’t always fit in our homes. We’ve created the range of two and a half seat sofas to allow you to keep things compact without losing comfort.

Three seat sofas

One of our most popular sizes, the three seat sofa is designed to comfortably accommodate three people, or allow one or two people to stretch their legs out super comfortably! Although traditionally a three seat sofa would have 3 separate seat cushions, a number of our three seat sofas just have two larger seat cushions, allowing you to spread out in style.

Four seat sofas

For those with big families, or lots of friends, we have a number of four seat sofas available. These sofas can sit up against a wall, or in the centre of a room, and allow four people, or a couple and their children (and dogs!) to sit comfortably and spend the evening together.

Chaise sofas

Our Iggy chaise sofa provides the perfect combination of style and comfort

Want to stretch your legs out? We have a number of chaise sofas, also known as L shaped sofas, which are a standard sofa, but with one of the seat sections elongated to create a place to put your feet up – sort of like a permanent footstool attached! Perfect for lazy afternoons, film nights and more.

Corner sofas

The Stella corner sofa is the perfect addition to a family home

Corner sofas are the perfect sofa for larger homes and families. A corner sofa generally consists of two seating sections that are joined together at a right angle. However, some corner sofas can be rearranged to create different shapes – take a look at our modular sofas for more information.

Modular sofas

Our Long Island sofa is available in a modular format, allowing you to create the sofa of your dreams

Four of our most popular sofa ranges are available as modular designs. With our modular sofas, each sofa has a range of individual units, that you can then piece together in any configuration you want, in order to make the most of your space, and create a sofa that fits perfectly in your home.

The sofas available in a modular design are our Long IslandAissaStella and Izzy.

Sofa beds

Combining style and practicality, our Bluebell sofa bed is the perfect solution for overnight guests

Having a sofa that transforms into a bed within minutes is not only incredibly useful for occasional overnight guests, but is also a great space-saving opportunity. Whether you add a sofa-bed into the guest bedroom or study, or want to transform your living room into the occasional movie-night and sleepover set up, a sofa bed is the perfect solution. Available in loveseat, two seat sofa, two and a half seat sofa, three seat sofa and even corner sofa styles, our range of sofa beds will have you sitting and sleeping comfortably.

The perfect fit guide

Finding a sofa that fits perfectly in your home is a really important part of the sofa decision making process. We’ve put together a quick and easy guide to ensure your dream sofa will fit in your home: https://www.sofa.com/download/pdf/Perfect_Fit_Guide.pdf

What style sofa should I choose?

Finding a sofa that suits the rest of your home is important – if you have a very traditional decorated interior, a contemporary sofa with angular edges might not fit in so well, and equally a traditional sofa with soft scroll arms may not suit a contemporary, minimalist home.

Traditional Sofas

Our Bluebell sofa is an undisputed classic, featuring wooden turned legs and soft scroll arms

For those who appreciate timeless design, our collection of traditional sofas have been created just for you. With ageless features such as soft-scroll arms, elegant lines and supreme comfort, it’s no wonder that our most popular styles are classic style sofas!

Contemporary Sofas

Our Stella sofa is the epitome of contemporary meets comfort

If you’re looking for a contemporary sofa, with sleek lines, and gorgeous forward-thinking shapes, we’ve got the ultimate sofa for you. From angular edges to captivating curves, and of course the most important thing of all – comfort, our contemporary collection is full of modern masterpieces.  

Mid-Century Sofas

The Holly sofa features sleek lines and a slight curved sillhouette, a nod to mid-century style

For sofa styles that have originated from the past, but still look outstanding today, look no further than our mid-century sofas collection. Combining interior style from the 50s and 60s with our expert craftmanship, we’ve created a stunning collection of sofas with clean lines, comfort and sophistication.

What fabric sofa should I choose?

It’s really important to choose the best fabric for your home, both in terms of colour and material. The right fabric and colour will completely transform the space your sofa will be sitting in, and bring the room to life.

Cottons and Linen Sofas

Our Alabaster brushed linen cotton, shown here on our Isaac sofa, is the perfect choice for laid-back luxury

Norfolk Cotton

Our Norfolk cotton is the perfect fabric for those who love woven fabric sofas, but are slightly concerned about wear and tear. Made from 100% cotton, our printed cottons are perfect for both traditional and contemporary homes due to their versatility. They’re also easy to live with and are beautiful to look at, as well as sit on.

Brushed Linen Cotton

Our brushed linen cotton fabrics are soft to touch, but also highly durable, making them some of our most popular fabrics available! The brushed linen cotton fabrics consist of 63% Cotton, and 37% Linen, and can be professionally dry cleaned, which is helpful when you’re looking for a sofa in a busy or pet-friendly room.

Pure Belgian Linen

There’s no questioning it, Belgium is home to some of the finest linens in the world, so we went straight to the mills of Belgium to source our exquisite linen collection. Made from 100% linen, this has a classic linen feel, and comes in a range of subtle, elegant colours to create a gorgeous finish on your sofa.

House Collection

Our house collection of fabrics, including our house herringbone weave, house plain weave and house basket weave have been created with a simple, neutral colour palette, allowing you to add pops of colour and texture in other areas. The house fabrics have been designed with durability in mind, ensuring they can be well loved by little feet, coffee mornings, and family nights in.

Cotton Viscose Twill

Our cotton viscose twill collection provides an elegant, textured finish to your sofa, allowing you to make a statement without compromising on a chic, streamlined look. Our cotton-rich twill fabric has an expertly crafted fabric composition, and is extremely comfy, as well as being durable and resilient.

Baylee Viscose Linen

Our Baylee viscose linen fabric has been designed with a beautiful subtle basket weave texture, that has an elegant, soft sheen. Our Baylee viscose linen fabrics are available in a range of natural tones, helping you to create a neutral canvas onto which you can add colour and pattern, creating a home that is just right for you.

Chelsea Linen

Our Chelsea linen fabrics are made from a mix of natural fibres, that are loosely woven together to create a fabric that is soft to touch, and looks beautiful in the home. The loosely woven technique results in a relaxed yet sophisticated look, and the result is a soft, subtle colour that looks stunning on our sofas.

Diamond Weave

Our Diamond weave fabric is a stunning addition to our fabric collection, featuring a subtle diamond weave pattern. The Diamond weave fabric is woven for us by a mill in Belgium, and two tone yarns are combined to create this gorgeous subtle pattern. The result is a luxuriously soft fabric with beautiful depth and texture, adding elegance to your sofa.

Velvet sofas

Soft to touch, our Peony cotton matt velvet, shown here on our Izzy sofa, is the perfect combination of statement style and luxury.

Cotton Matt Velvet

Our cotton matt velvet has been carefully selected to allow you to create the velvet sofa of dreams! There’s something undeniably cool about owning a velvet sofa, and our velvets are no different – luxuriously soft to touch, inviting to sit on, and a great way to make a statement in your home!

Roosevelt Velvet

Our Roosevelt velvet has been designed to be as soft as a teddy bear! This velvet fabric is incredibly decadent, designed for the most luxurious of homes. Of course, with such a sumptuous fabric, a Roosevelt velvet sofa is not going to be everyone’s cup of tea – but for those who love it, we guarantee comfort, a silky smooth touch, and a sofa that will be talked about for years to come.

Velvet Jacquard

For the ultimate touch of luxury, consider our velvet jacquard. A decadently plush, cotton-rich material that is incredibly soft to touch, featuring a traditional and elegant jacquard diamond pattern, our velvet Jacquard fabric will transform your home, adding comfort and style.

Biba

We’re thrilled to have collaborated with iconic sixties fashion brand, BIBA, to create a limited edition range of stunning velvet fabrics. From statement leopard print to our luxurious filigree velvet, which features BIBA’s classic logo, there’s no doubt that our BIBA velvet fabrics will bring statement style to your home.

Leather sofas

Our Satchel vintage leather, shown here on our Patrick sofa, only gets better over time, creating a relaxed yet timeless feel.

Bellwether Leather

Our Bellwether Leather is sourced exclusively from British Oxen, to guarantee the quality of this material. It’s beautiful rich colours are created by a process of dying the leather with a pigmented coating, and is finished off with a clear layer – this helps to ensure even coverage of colour, but also to help improve durability, making it perfect for busy homes! The clear resin makes the leather sofa much less prone to marking, unlike other leathers, but still allows the leather to retain a soft, supple finish – ensuring the leather sofa not only looks good but also stays super comfy – allowing you to sit back and relax in style.

Vintage Leather

Our fully aniline leather is designed to get better with age – just like a fine wine! The fabric full embraces its well-loved look, resulting in a richly textured and natural looking leather that you can enjoy for years to come. The vintage leather sofa is finished with a matt finish beeswax coating, resulting in a truly unique sofa. 

Wool sofas

Soft to touch, our Ash wool marl, shown here on our Descartes sofa, adds texture and style to the room.

Wool Marl

Our wool marl fabric is a great option when looking to create a home with a cosy and comforting living space. The wool marl has a subtle herringbone pattern running through it to add an element of detail to the sofa, and is incredibly soft to touch. Our wool marl fabrics are available in a range of neutral tones, meaning they can work with a variety of contemporary and more traditional sofa shapes to create your desired look.

Soft Wool

There’s something undeniably cosy about a soft wool sofa. Unlike most of our fabrics, this soft wool has been created by pressing dyed wool together, instead of using a woven technique. The result is a beautifully soft wool, that looks incredible when used to upholster a range of different sofa shapes.

Textured Boucle

Our new textured boucle fabrics are the perfect way to bring the latest trend into your home. Our textured boucle is soft and durable, and the texture provides interest and statement style to your interior. Choose from two different colours to create your textured boucle sofa, and take “furniture you can curl up in” to a whole new level.

Tweed sofas

Highland Tweed

There’s no denying it, a tweed sofa can look stunning in your home, creating a traditional look that is full of heritage and rustic charm. Our Highland tweed is woven by skilled craftsmen in the Highlands of Northern Belgium, and the Highland tweed fabric is incredibly comfortable, as well as stylish. With a range of different shades of our tweed fabric available, create your very own tweed sofa to bring character and style into your home.

Smart fabric sofas

Our Eucalyptus smart cotton, shown here on our Teddy sofa, not only looks good, but is easy to keep clean too

As well as our range of cottons, linens, tweeds, velvets and leathers, we’ve created a selection of ‘smart’ fabrics, designed so that every household can enjoy their dream sofa – even a busy household prone to accidents! Each of our smart fabrics prevents spillages from sinking into the fibres too quickly, meaning you can simply blot the spillage away and keep your sofa clean. Choose from our smart cottons, smart velvets and even smart slubby cottons, to create the sofa of your dreams without compromising on style.


What colour sofa should I choose?

Colour is such a key factor when looking for your dream sofa, which is why we have over 100 fabrics of varying colours to choose from. Of course, you may already know what colour sofa you’d like, but in some circumstances you may simply know that you’d like a velvet sofa for example, but haven’t quite settled on the colour.

If you are simply replacing an existing sofa, and aren’t looking to redecorate, it’s important to take a look at your existing colour scheme, and work out whether you’d like the sofa to stand out and create an accent of colour, or fit in with the existing colours.

Bold and beautiful – bright coloured sofas

Some of our most popular colour fabrics are in bold and beautiful colours. From bright oranges and pinks, to yellows and greens, the pop of colour that bright coloured sofas inject into a room is certainly a statement. Being able to have a showstopper of a sofa that not only looks incredible but is also the comfiest seat in the house is a no-brainer!

Bluebell sofa in Olive cotton matt velvet, Izzy sofa in Peony cotton matt velvet, Holly sofa in Butterscotch cotton matt velvet

Shades of calm – neutral sofas

Sometimes, instead of searching for a sofa that makes a statement, you want a sofa that exudes a feeling of calm, or creates that sanctuary we all need after a long day. We’ve seen the rise in neutrals again, and with many of our fabric shades drawing inspiration from nature, we can understand why. From cool shades of stone and clay sofas, to simple and understated taupe and canvas coloured sofas, our neutral tones allow you to keep things simple, and inject colour with accessories if desired.

Otto sofa in Stone brushed linen cotton, Snowdrop sofa in Clay herringbone weave, Isaac sofa in Canvas pure Belgian linen

Nautical tones – blue sofas

If you’re feeling inspired by the sea, we have a vast range of blue hues to create the ultimate seaside escape. From deep navy and sky blue to deep turquoise tones, our collection of beautiful blue fabrics are some of our most popular colours and it’s easy to see why. Providing a subtle hint of colour without overpowering a space, a fabric blue sofa is the perfect option for those wanting to be a little more colour confident whilst still keeping things cool and classic.

Bowie sofa in Loch brushed linen cotton, Patrick unbuttoned sofa in Bahama cotton matt velvet, Iggy sofa in Prussian Blue cotton matt velvet

Sophisticated Monochrome – grey sofas

If you’re on the hunt for a gorgeous grey sofa that would work perfectly in a monochrome interior, or you are wanting to keep things simple and understated, we have a vast range of grey fabrics to choose from. From velvet grey sofas to grey cotton sofas, there’s a sophisticated grey sofa for everyone. The best thing about keeping the sofa colour simple? You can accessorise with cushions, throws and blankets to update the colour palette with the seasons!

Remy sofa in Earl Grey smart velvet, Madison sofa in Pumice house plain weave, Saturday sofa in Elephant cotton matt velve

Need any help? Just pop into one of our showrooms, or call our wonderful customer care team on 0345 400 2222 and they will be able to offer sound advice.