How to Buy a Sofa – Tips Furniture Shopping in Delaware

Shopping for a new sofa, sectional, reclining set, living room, or furniture in Delaware?  At Urban Furniture Outlet, your Delaware furniture outlet, we’re here to make shopping EASY and affordable. Here are some of our best tips for shopping for a sofa and how to find the perfect living room to compliment your home.

How Do You Use Your Sofa?

This sounds silly, but an important question.  Are you purchasing a sofa for occasional use?  Is your house the hang out spot with lots of traffic and visitors?  Do you have kids?  Pets?  Are you looking for something for a formal sitting area, or do you prefer a comfy spot to binge watch Netflix or Sunday football?

    • Lots of guests/visitors means you’ll want more seating space.  Think 3 cushion sofas, sectionals, or adding additional pieces like a love seat, chaise, accent chairs, or ottoman to your space.
    • Comfy vs. firm
    • Who is using set the most – kids, adults, how will they use?

Leather vs. Fabric

This is a deal breaker for a lot of shoppers.  Do you like leather or fabric?  For those who have strong feelings on this, it is an easy way to eliminate nearly half of our living room styles when choosing leather or fabric.  Things to keep in mind if you are not sure about leather or fabric sofas.

Leather is easy to care for as is most of our performance fabrics.

Leather like performance fabrics should not peel, crack, or fade and don’t require expensive leather conditioners or special treatment.  The most important thing is to NOT use disinfectant or cleaning sprays on leather or leather upholstery, use a clean cloth, dampened just slightly with water – that will remove any spills, dust, or hair.  Don’t use baby or cleaning wipes – as all these products may contain harsh chemicals that could stain or bleach your leather.  Just a damp, clean cloth takes care of most things.

Leather may NOT be good for pets. 

It depends on the texture, or grade (thickness of material) on your furniture, but delicate coverings could become damaged by claws and pets jumping on furniture.  No set will be 100% pet proof, but a more sturdy fabric will hold up better.

Some fabrics attract MORE fur/dust than leather.

Depending on fabric, it may be easier to keep a leather set looking sharp.  This is because some fabrics hair and dust will cling to.  This isn’t hard to solve, you can use a lint brush (tip – keep in coffee table drawer or nearby hiding spot) to quickly clean sofa anytime.  Vacuuming your furniture every 1-2 weeks is a good idea too to keep dust, fur, and food away.

Sectional vs. Sofa & Loveseat

Some of deciding on a sectional or a sofa set is going to be determined by the size of your living room space.  Other things to consider – do you want/need end tables?  If you want guests on any part of your living room set to have access to a table for table lamps, or to put down a drink, you may find a sofa and loveseat combination makes more sense.  Sofa and loveseats also allow for more flexibility in placement of furniture and arrangements then a sectional that generally can only be set up one way.

What’s Your Style?

At Urban Furniture Outlet, we offer a large variety of styles in furniture for your home.  Think about the look and feel you are trying to create for your space.  Are you looking for more trendy looks – bold colors or patterns, fur pillows or textures, or do you lean toward more traditional, basic looks that will stand the test of time?  Deciding whether you want something stylish and trendy or you want a solid set that you enhance with your wall decor, accents, and other features will help you narrow down your search.

Measure, Measure, Measure

Last, but certainly not least, measure your space – including doorways and hallways to get to your living room space.  Narrow doorways can ruin the greatest of dreams for your living room space.  Rest assured, we have a variety of styles that will work well in smaller living rooms or through narrow doorways.  Still to avoid having delivery issues, or cluttered space, or not enough seating, be sure to measure your room before you come shopping.

There is so much that goes into creating a room.  At Urban, we enjoy helping our customers create spaces that make them look forward to getting home at the end of the day.  We hope our tips help making your sofa shopping a breeze.  Be sure to visit us in New Castle and Dover where we’re glad to help with your shopping needs.

Happy Shopping!

~ Your Friends at UFO