the tale of picking a new sofa

Taylor Apolonio
Dec 17, 2024
8 min read

eeny, meeny, miny, moe

I want to talk to you about a decision I’ve been mulling over for…. well months, perhaps even a year. Although I recently joined the late 20’s club, this feels like the epitome of adult decisions. In case you’re also in the market for a new couch, I want to walk you through the process of how I went about selecting one for myself. And for any of you tuned into the design lingo, yes, I’m a designer who uses the word ‘couch’, sue me.

As a designer, you might think I have it all figured out, but I’ll be honest—furnishings have never been my strong suit. I’m better at crafting functional floor plans and picking out hard materials than fabrics and decor. Plus, pulling together ideas for clients is much easier for me than making decisions for my own space. So, needless to say, it’s taken me longer than I would care for. But now I have a new sofa on the way and I’m here to share how it came to be. I might not be a sofa expert, but hey, I did work for a custom furniture store in the beginning of my design career, so I know a thing or two.

dream up a wishlist

I’m a believer that when you want something to be sustainable that it needs to involve a lot of intention which is where a wishlist comes in. This is essential because it helps you focus and not get distracted by all the options. Start by thinking about what you actually need from your sofa. Are you all about comfort? Style? Durability? If you’re like me, you want all these but don’t have pockets that are forever deep. Mine and my partners’ biggest issue with our current couch is that it’s just not that comfortable. And that’s a red flag for all the show watching, napping, and living we do in our living room. After establishing comfort as our main priority, we made two lists to help guide us a bit more. Here’s what they looked like:

functionally:

A couch we can relax on and actually spoon without feeling like we’re in a wrestling match
Although chaises get a lot of flack online, we enjoy that feature with our current couch
We’ll probably move at the end of this lease, so we want something adaptable
Natural materials as much as possible, for sustainability purposes and longevity
Budget: ~$3k

aesthetically:

I really want an elongated single seat cushion (so no one has to sit in the crevice and because I think it’s sexy)
We appreciate how our current couch brings some contrast into the space so we want to mimic that in our color selection
We don’t have a ton of space, so something with visual lightness is key—nothing too bulky

We mostly reflected on our current set up and thought through the things that we quite like and enjoy and other things that irritate us when interacting in the space. If you’re not as familiar with what you’re wanting you may want to consider looking through your Pinterest or creating a bit of a mood board and analyzing what you’re drawn to. Although this helps with the aesthetic list, you won’t want to neglect the functional list. This next step will help with that a bit more.

understand the elements in your space

Once you have your wishlist, it’s time to consider how this piece is going to interact with your space. Since this is my natural tendency, I did this a bit in the previous step (and maybe you did too), but we’re going to take it up one notch. Let me talk through some of the big pillars of dissecting your current space. Because even if I found the comfiest sofa ever, it wouldn’t work if it doesn’t fit in the room (or through the doorway to get into the room). So here’s what I recommend:

Measure: Don’t skip this. I know it’s not the most fun part, but it’s necessary. Depending on your scenario, you may want to measure the room or your existing furniture. You may not only want to measure the footprint but other components as well. For example, we knew we didn’t want the seat depth to be any smaller than of our current couch, so we made sure to jot that measurement down. While also recognizing that because I’m short, I wouldn’t want the super deep sofas either, because they’re not comfortable for me. You also don’t want to forget thinking about getting the couch into the space—nothing like realizing your new sofa is too big to fit through your front door on your 5th floor apartment. Awkward. If the vendor you go with doesn’t have any clear directions, here is an easy go to place to get the gist.
Scale: This can be a difficult thing to describe but you want to take into consideration how the new piece is going to play with the other items in the room. The scale of our current sofa works because although it’s long, the taller legs help make it appear lighter and less bulky. Maintaining that balance for the visual weight will be important. You might intentionally want your sofa to look oversized compared to other elements in the room, but it’s important to balance and offset those unconventional choices so they don’t feel completely out of place.
Color: Don’t stress about matching everything. In fact, please don’t match everything in the room. It’s more about how the color and fabric interact with other elements. Contrast and variety actually adds depth and makes a space interesting. That’s one area of our current couch I really appreciate so we decided to go with a color that is similar in value.

search with restrictions

Alright, now it’s time for the part that starts out fun and can quickly become frustrating: searching. The internet can your friend here, but let’s be real— it can also be your enemy. You don’t want to scroll through 8,000 couches that are nothing like what you want. Here’s how I go about it:

Set filters: Filters are helpful, except when filtering by design style, beware, don’t do that. Unfortunately, design styles are up to a lot of interpretation and can lead you down some paths that aren’t very reliable. Instead, use them for all the details you know you want that can’t be misinterpreted: size, special features, and budget. Color can also be loosely defined so navigate that one how you please. Otherwise, you’ll end up scrolling for days. Unless you’re going the secondhand route—then you’re gonna have to dig, message some sellers, and negotiate your way to victory.
Check reviews: Customer reviews can be super helpful. They’ll tell you if the piece is comfy, durable, or if it’s just going to look pretty. Whatever is on your wishlist, try and target those needs. We looked for ratings on the comfort and longevity of materials since those were at the top of our wishlist. Google is your friend for reliable reviews instead of the company websites (but don’t forget affiliates still exist too).

optional: the sit test

After some online browsing, we decided it was important for us to test out sofas in person. Since comfort is a big priority for us, and we didn’t want to rely on good return policies from online stores. We ended up making a lovely morning of it after brunch. Here’s my advice:

Happy butt: Sit on the couch, lay down, and really assess the feel. Test for cushion firmness, seat depth, and how you’d actually use it during your lounging sessions or work from couch days. If it’s too hard or too soft, move on! There’s dozens of other options for your tush. Whether you love or dislike your current sofa, comparing to what you interact with on a daily basis helps guide your thought processes.
Inspect the build: Look at the frame, stitching, and how it’s put together. If the cushions looks a little sad, try fluffing it and see if it bounces back (it’s the sign of a good material). Natural materials, like down, will usually perk back up after a quick fluff.
Fabric swatches: While in store, if there are various fabric options ask to see their largest swatches so you can test them out while in store. You’ll want to drape them over different areas of the sofa (arm, back and seat cushions, etc) to see how the color might change on different planes or how dimensional the fabric is. If there are any major contenders, grab some fabric swatches to bring home. Or if a specific color is your top priority, collect a bunch! It’s important to see how they feel in your own space. You can also often order these beforehand online (or afterwards if you feel shy going back). Whatever route you go, I wouldn’t order anything without seeing the color in your space first (but I’m also anal about color and undertones).

revisit the wishlist and elements

After we tried out some sofas in person, I reviewed everything on our wishlist. I know I can get caught up with the in-store experience with all the excitement and adrenaline, but I wanted to make sure the couch still checks all the boxes:

Does it fit in the space?
Does it have the features we want?
Does the fabric hold up to lifestyle tests (dog nails, coffee spills, etc)?

In the end, we went with a 100% BCI cotton fabric and down blend cushions on a traditional sofa shape—even though we loved having a chaise, we realized a standard design would be more flexible when we end up moving. Plus we can always compensate with an ottoman if we miss the functionality. The sofa is smaller in size to our previous one, but I’m excited that it allows us to add in accent seating and give us some variety in how we use the space. We waited a handful of weeks for a sale to happen and we used my design trade discount on top so we ended up being under budget which was great! I’m always impressed with myself when I don’t go over budget so being under felt magical. Plus, this sofa is definitely cuddle-approved.

final thoughts

To wrap it all up here’s what I want to emphasize:

Don’t skip the wishlist— it will save you time, stress, and potentially buyer’s remorse
Be patient, I spent at least 40 hours researching before placing the order. We began discussing this months before getting serious and dissecting what our priorities were which allowed us to have a clear vision.
Having restrictions can really aid in the decision making process. Lean into them and let those guide the design.
Measure, measure, measure. My partner thought it was funny I brought the tape measure to our in-store shopping experience but he quickly understood why it was a game changer (even if they have certain measurements listed in store). As we like to say in the industry— measure twice, buy once (in reality it’s really more like measure seven times)

I hope this has been helpful or at least entertaining to see how all the wheels turn in my head (okay maybe not all of them, but the ones I’m comfortable sharing). If there are any areas you want me to go more in depth on, I am absolutely up to do a deeper dive into any of these pieces! I will also be coming out with a Youtube video once the sofa is delivered (2026 update: video is live and linked!) if you want to see fabrics, the sofa we chose, etc!

Toodles! ~ Taylor