Where To Buy A Good Sofa
For this guide, we sought companies whose sofas hit the sweet spot of durability, comfort, price, and availability of styles. We wanted to find sofas that could be easily ordered online and returned. Though some of the companies we looked at have showrooms or brick-and-mortar stores, the bulk of this guide covers direct-to-consumer companies that sell online.
where to buy a good sofa
Shipping & delivery: Shipping is free for orders over $999 and $49 for anything under that. Article also lists box dimensions and weight on each product page. Since the pandemic, Article has introduced contactless delivery as its default option (to your front door). But you can have the sofa delivered to a designated room for $119 and assembled for an additional $80.
What we liked: Compared with other online offerings we tried, BenchMade Modern sofas are relatively expensive. But we think for the price you get better quality, including a lifetime guarantee for the frame.
Shop here if: You want sleek, modular options that you can customize, as well as competitive prices (within the three sofa styles Burrow offers), and you need to maximize seating in a smaller space.
Shipping & delivery: About $150. Floyd tells you the number of boxes and their dimensions and weight before you order. For an extra fee, you can have the sofa delivered to a specific room, but assembly is not available. Updates on shipping-time estimates and delivery are usually accurate.
Consider how many people will regularly sit on the sofa, as well as how they prefer to sit. Larger families or households that regularly host guests may be drawn to a sectional. But two smaller sofas, or a pair of loveseats, can offer the same amount of seating, or more, while being more flexible.
If you have delicate wood floors, carefully consider the legs of your sofa. From experience, we know that hairpin legs can scrape wood floors. As a last resort, a well-placed area rug can keep sofa feet from damaging a floor.
English roll arm: The cushioned yet firm high-back sofa is distinguished by its low contoured arms leaning outward. This style looks best in traditional and transitional decorated spaces that have enough room not to cramp its size.
Chaise: Imagine the seat of an upholstered chair stretched out, and you have the chaise. Traditionally this sofa features one side with an arm and the other side without (aka a méridienne sofa or fainting couch), but many chaise designs forgo arms altogether.
Camelback: The aristocratic profile of the camelback (also called a humpback sofa) is unsurprisingly attributed to the hump at the center of the backrest. Sometimes there are two humps, and the sofa usually sits atop four to eight exposed wood legs.
After a mattress, a sofa is likely the most-used piece of furniture in a home. The quality of the frame, supports, cushions, and upholstery will affect how long a sofa lasts; this is something we elaborate on in our companion piece, Sofa Buying Advice From the People Who Design and Make Them. In brief, this is what to look for.
More than cushioning, the suspension in a sofa is what makes it comfortable. Quality sofas are often made with sinuous springs (S-shaped springs stretched across the skeleton of the wood frame), which give the most bounce and the most motion transfer. Some sofas are supported by fabric poly-webbing, which can be even more durable than sinuous springs, depending on the quality. Very high-end sofas are made with eight-way hand-tied springs, which can do a better job of warding off sagging and squeaking. When testing out a sofa, listen for (and avoid) squeaks or creaks.
Test any sofa without extra pillows; they may hide back-cushioning issues. Sit or lounge how you normally would, and note how it feels over time. If you feel achy after only a few minutes, consider a different style or size.
For me, Pottery Barn designs the type of high-end, minimalist modern sofas you see in Architectural Digest profiles of celebrity homes. But, the best part is you can easily order any of their designs.
Wayfair provides an unbeatably huge collection of sofas at price points up and down the scale. They offer hundreds of options for every type of item, from couches and sectionals to armchairs and sofa beds.
Burrow is known for offering incredibly high quality modular sofas at at affordable price point. Their M.O. is long-term practicality, so their sofas are designed to move with you, grow with you, and withstand everything that comes with a dynamic, ever-changing life.
Despite a large number of sofas on the site, you can easily filter to find sofas in a certain style, fabric, color, and price point. Delivery and assembly vary from vendor to vendor, but it seems most customers receive their sofas within 2-4 weeks of placing their order.
For the decision-averse, Albany Park is the perfect furniture retailer. The brand was founded essentially to fill a hole in the sofa market for a no frills, minimalist approach to high-quality furniture shipped quickly and directly to your door.
As the Senior Home & Kitchen Editor, I oversee all aspects of home product coverage and am constantly searching for items that will make our readers' homes more efficient, functional, and beautiful. I have a decade of experience as an editor, writer, and photographer, and my work has been featured in Food Network Magazine, Martha Stewart Living, Food & Wine, Country Living, the Lincoln Center Theater Review, and more. When I'm not working, you can usually find me dreaming up new posts for my Jewish-focused lifestyle blog, RebekahLowin.com, where I share holiday ideas, crafts and recipes. Formerly, I was a professional singer/actress and the inaugural winner of 54 Below's city-wide singing competition as well as a 2015 MAC Award nominee and a BroadwayWorld Award nominee.
Looking to shop the best places to buy a couch? Buying a new sofa or armchair is one of the most important furniture purchases you will make for your home. There are endless possibilities for the design and fabric choice, but perhaps most importantly, you should focus on comfort, as every seat feels different.
For the most straight-forward, biggest-bang-for-your-buck kind of couch shopping (or, really any furniture) experience, head to Burrow. The Arch Nomad sofa is a beautifully made (and customizable) sofa that's also made to be moved easily because of its modular design. You can add on a chaise lounge or an ottoman as your seating needs change.
The '70s were a golden age for comfy furniture, it was all about luxe fabrics and rounded, organic shapes, you know, furniture made for the human body. CB2's contemporary take on the period is just as good, and this sofa is the prime example.
APT2B's vibe is streamlined, warm, and often leans toward less-is-more. Its sleeper sofa is exactly all three. It has clean lines, comes with breathable fabrics and supportive cushions, and features quite a few color options. Then, it opens up into a little bed your guests won't mind sleeping on.
Albany Park's sofas are a solid initial step into higher-end sofas. A futon update, for example. The Park Sofa is big, comfy, and mid-century simple, which means it can keep working for the room even if the style around it changes. The charcoal colorway is a little safe and subtle, but there are also daring colors like olive and mustard for something more out there.
For a sofa to look and feel luxurious, velvet is the fabric to go for. And Sabai Design makes its super-soft velvety Essential Sofa that you could use in every room. It's also designed wide arms and removable back cushions. Plus, Sabai uses recycled and upcylced materials so you can live in luxury without the guilt.
Maxwell is for Karens and Kens who won't stop pratlling about how they don't have the dream couch. It's personalizable with over 100 fabrics to 18 styles of legs to size, depth, cushions, fill. Play with it a bit and you'll get midcentury sofa to contemporary loveseat. This one is what we got. You might get something that looks even better.
When you get to the store, conduct these simple tests: To test the strength of the frame, lift one corner of the sofa off the ground (the nearest corner should lift along with it). Then, perch on one edge and listen for creaking noises (this indicates the springs are poorly installed). Lastly, sit on the sofa and lean back to test the comfort and durability of the cushions, and make sure the dimensions work with your body.
Wondering where to buy a sofa bed? We've rounded up our first ports of call when looking for a stylish sleeper sofa, whether you're searching for the best place to buy a corner sofa bed (a tricky style to find!), a space-saving futon, or just the cheapest sofa bed around.
If you're in need of some style inspiration before you buy, then check out our guide to the best sofa beds on the market first. This buying guide features the Real Homes team's top picks of the best sofa beds across the board, plus the lowdown on the key details to look out for when sleeper sofa shopping.
But if you're looking for something more specific - perhaps you have an exact colour in mind, or specific size requirements you need to satisfy - then this edit of sofa bed retailers will help to kickstart your search for the perfect piece of furniture.
In past years we've found the brand's sleeper sofa range has been a little bit hit and miss, with some very affordable - the two-person IKEA Hammarn sofa bed (opens in new tab) is just 99! - yet very firm options that haven't always reflected the brand's usual design aesthetics. However, its showrooms are brilliant for testing before you buy, and it's one of the few retailers where you can test and walk away with your sofa bed the very same day.
If you're looking for some extra sleeping space in a larger bedroom or playroom we do love the IKEA Hemnes day bed (opens in new tab). It definitely looks more like a bed than an archetypal sofa bed, but it makes a great lounging spot during the day and extends into a properly comfortable double sleeping space at night. Plus it offers super useful storage and matches with the rest of the very popular Hemnes bedroom furniture (opens in new tab) range. 041b061a72