- May 26, 2023
- Elizabeth Ryan
You work hard and to support you, your home needs to be a comfortable space. When planning your next furniture purchases, think through some of these key size and quality factors to ensure great comfort.
Why custom upholstered furniture? Yes, because we get to select the perfect patterns and colors, but the real reason is so much more important! It has to be made well and be the best size for you.
Construction and sizing are the two biggest factors when thinking about comfort in your upholstered furniture. Construction relates to what quality of materials is going into your sofa or arm chair. The sizing, and by this we mean good measurements in crucial areas, aren’t just critical for the pieces fitting into your space, but for how you will feel when using those pieces, how comfortable you will be.
Let’s talk about sizing first. When we think about the human body, there are very few one size fits all items that are successful.
The critical dimensions to pay attention to are the interior seat depth, seat height, and the height of the back of the chair.
There are standard measurements in elements in your house – door widths, counter heights – as well as many furniture items. But when it comes to the furniture items you are meant to sit in and relax on, many people don’t think to check for specific critical dimensions to maximize comfort.
The critical dimensions to pay attention to are the interior seat depth, seat height, and the height of the back of the chair. A person with longer legs is going to be miserable in a chair with a low and shallow seat, and a shorter person will struggle to get comfortable if their legs can’t touch the floor in a deeper chair. We have found a 23” seat depth fabulous for our clients on the tall side and 20” great for shorter individuals.
When working with our clients on their living spaces, we take specific dimensions of members of the household. This information is extremely helpful as we specify the perfect pieces for their newly designed rooms. An arm chair is no good if it is gorgeous but not comfortable.
Onto construction. Just like clothing and cars, paying attention to quality pays off in the long run. When your upholstered furniture is made with a kiln dried hardwood frame its foundation will be much stronger than one with a soft pine frame. High resilient foam and sinuous springs are two other internal pieces that will make your chairs and sofas comfortable and long lasting. Cushions with low density foam don’t hold up over time.
The last important key to long lasting upholstered furniture is a durable fabric. Avoid viscose whenever possible and try your darnedest to select soil and stain resistant labeled materials. These are typically made of polyester or olefin. If you fall in love with a cotton or linen, seek out a local company who can apply an aftermarket shield to protect your fabric.
You work hard and to support you, your home needs to be a comfortable space. When planning your next furniture purchases, think through some of these key size and quality factors to ensure great comfort. And if it is all too overwhelming, call Elizabeth Ryan Interiors because we obsess over these details.
