How To Choose The Right Sofa: Comfort, Scale, Style and What Really Matters

A sofa is never just a sofa. It’s where you crash after work, where friends pile in with a glass of wine, where kids build nests out of cushions, and where the whole room quietly takes its cues. That’s why we’re kicking off a practical “how-to choose” series with the most high-stakes piece in the living room: the sofa. 

We start with the question that saves the most money and regret: how do you actually live? From entertaining versus Netflix sprawl, to seat height for different bodies and stages of life, we break down how lifestyle should drive everything from depth to firmness. Then we get ruthless about scale. A sofa can measure “right” and still feel wrong, especially when you’ve only seen it online or in a cavernous showroom. We share simple ways to map it out at home, plus what to consider around coffee tables, side tables, lighting, and circulation. 

Fabric and colour get their own reality check too. Upholstery isn’t just aesthetics; it’s texture, cleanability, stretch, durability and whether you’ll hate the feel the second you sit down. We also challenge the default beige and grey reflex, and talk about “safe” colour that still brings warmth and personality, like navy, deep green, and caramel leather. We finish with quality and construction tips, common sofa mistakes, and the unglamorous but essential topic of delivery access. 

Join us for the Milan In-Review talks @ Hali Rugs, tickets are available below :

Melbourne -  Wednesday 10th June 6pm

Sydney - Wednesday 24th June 6pm

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Join Lauren for The Conversation Circle beginning Monday 15th June.

This fortnightly small-group mentoring program is designed for interior designers, decorators and stylists who are ready to fast-track their business growth, gain clarity, and have the support and accountability to take action.

To ensure everyone receives personalised guidance and mentoring, the group is intentionally limited to just 6 designers. This creates space for meaningful conversations, individual feedback, and practical support tailored to your business.

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Transcript

Welcome To Design Anatomy

0:01

Welcome to Design Anatomy, the Interior Design Podcast hosted by friends and fellow designers, me, Bray Banfield. And me, Lauren Lee, with some amazing guest appearances along the way. We're here to break down everything from current trends to timeless style. With a shared passion for joyful, colour-filled and lived-in spaces. We're excited to share our insights and inspiration with you.

Milan Review Nights Ticket Push

0:23

And we're back. Well, I well, you are always here. I took a hiatus. Just one little chat. Um, so very exciting. We are only, well, by the time this goes live, it will be less than a week until our first Milan in design event with Harley Rugs, which I'm really excited to be in a partnership with them. We love them. Yeah, and if you haven't bought your tickets, hopefully there's still tickets available because the last time I looked, they're getting pretty close to the maximum amount we have. So please pause this episode and go purchase your tickets if you haven't already. Um, and fingers crossed there's some there, and that's for Melbourne. And then we're in Sydney, right? Yeah, is that the 24th? They're two Wednesdays, yes. So the 10th is the first one, Melbourne. Amazing, and then the 24th of June for Sydney. Sorry you had to wait, Sydney. Well, and maybe you could say Melbourne was the dress rehearsal. Yeah, maybe. Well, maybe. Maybe there'll be a little competition about which was the better night. But I mean, we held this last year and it was so fun, wasn't it, Brie? Because I feel like you and I were sort of on the same wavelength in terms of we love seeing all the inspiration, we love all of the good feels and all the vibes and all that stuff. But we know that when you're you're wanting to learn about it, like you have to be there. Yes, and I think also it can be it can be really overwhelming when you're there, right? Totally. But I guess the thing is like we want to share more practical things with you. Like these were the colours we saw. This was the amazing sofa we saw. This was our favorite armchair, like it's more practical things that we hope that will inspire you to think, okay, and moving forward in my projects, I want to look for these things and I want to, you know, just see what's the newest thing. It's really fun. Take down all the notes and then you'll be across pretty much all the all the important um releases and the important things that were shown. Uh and if you were there and let's let's face it, if you were there, there's a good chance you missed, you know, half of the things anyway because you cannot possibly see everything. And we'll try and cover it all for you. Yeah, so come. It's really a fun evening. And yeah, uh, the guys at Harley are just cool. So I'm excited to, you know, be in their beautiful showroom surrounded by sublime rugs. Love that. Absolutely. What we also have yes, we also have a question for you, which is can you ask, ask a question? That's like telling a riddle, isn't it? That didn't come out right.

Live Podcast At Decor And Design

3:10

Um, yeah, so we are doing a live podcast at uh decron design, decor and design, I should say. I think I said decor or design. Um, it's both. Uh it's two for the brand. When is that? What is the date? You've probably got there because I can't. Well, it's mid-July and it's happening in Melbourne this year. So we are going to be speaking on the stage on Friday, the 17th of July. Mark your calendars now. Come along to decor o design because Bree and I are diving deep into our DMs. It's the kind of things that people just want to know, want to know that they ask us questions. So if you've got a burning question, DM us and we will address that in a live podcast recording on the stage. Absolutely. So that should be fun. So it'll just be basically all about you and not about us at all. One last thing, which is about, I guess, you and me, which is the conversation circles.

Conversation Circles Mentoring On Zoom

4:10

So I have a little group every year. It's a group for interior designers, some emerging, some established. We catch up, we shoot the breeze, we can talk in a really um uh frank way, let's just say, and share all of the wins and the woes, I guess, with our business. So if you want to join that small mentoring group, it's it's really a fantastic group. And it's starting in a couple of weeks on the 15th of the year. It's super exciting. It's fun. And do you do that in person? We do it on Zoom. So if you are around Australia, uh we last time we had someone from New Zealand. Yeah. So we catch up at one o'clock on a Monday afternoon on Zoom. That is Australian Eastern Standard Time. Boring details better than being able to do that when you're in a business on your own. I think we all know how hard that is um not to have people just to talk to about the business and ask the questions or almost just like say this happened and is that normal? Like all of that stuff, right? I mean, how often do we chat for at least half an hour? Well, it's been already an hour before we push record because there's stuff going on. Yeah. And you need somebody just to kind of like bounce ideas with or just vent. So it's a it's kind of half that, and then it's half, okay, let's learn some stuff. This is how you can onboard a client, this is how you can do all of the things. So, but it is really hard to find your people, and it's really I think it's I mean, we're so more much more used to catching up on Zooms and stuff these days, but it's really a good connection that you get online. It's cool. Yeah. So if you're interested, I can send you an application form. Just um shoot me a DM or an email.

Start With How You Live

5:50

But today let's talk about sofas. Yeah, so we've decided we're going to um do a little series for you. And this was the beginning where we talk about a bit of a how-to select what we think are the things to look for. We're gonna start with what is often, I think, a really tricky purchase for a lot of people or even for designers when they're specifying, because it's a really important piece in most living spaces, and that is your sofa. I feel like so much happens on that sofa, right? And so much is built around that sofa in the room that it's a really important choice. Oh, it is. And you need to start with, I guess, number one, the biggest point is start with how you live, not how the sofa looks. Yes. And you know, we are the worst. Sometimes we'll get so sucked into oh my gosh, that looks amazing. But you before the colour, before the shape or the fabric, you need to ask what the sofa needs to do. Absolutely. I think that it's the space, right? So there's different reasons to have a sofa in the space. Maybe it's a bit more of a formal space, or what I would kind of call a sitting room, and your sofa might be a bit firmer and a bit more upright, or it's like the space where the whole family, you know, just like flops down and lays down and watches Netflix or sits and scrolls on their phone, or everyone has a big conversation there. Maybe it's not even directed towards a screen. All of those things become so important. Like, do you eat dinner on the sofa? I don't know. Like something. I mean, if you do, I am jealous. Because sometimes all I want to do is just have a real easy, but no, because we've got the family, we all have to sit at the table. So everyone is at a different, you know, stage of life. Absolutely. Yeah, my my family's quite disjointed now, and it's almost a rare thing that we're all home at the same time eating dinner. So I sometimes eat dinner at my desk, sometimes I eat it in bed. I don't know. Like oh, love that for you, heaven. So yeah, I think you really need to ask the question, how am I going to live? Is it for entertaining? Is it for family life? TV, reading, all of the above. And who, right? Like how who is it like? Is it just a couple, a young couple? Is it an older couple? Do they need to have a slightly higher seat height? So they're not having to sink right down. Like, you know, how much people love a toga, but you put that into like, you know, an older person's home, they're gonna say, I can't get out of this. Even I struggle. Oh my god, they are low. And also, it's so funny. I I have uh we had a client, lovely young guy. His parents come from overseas and stay with him sometimes. So we were thinking, okay, so we need to have three, you need to have three seater sofa. So the three of you can sit on the sofa, a bit tight on space. And he's like, Oh no, I don't need three. But I was like, Oh, but what about yourself, your mum, and your dad? He's like, Oh no, dad never sits on the sofa. I was like, What do you mean? Oh no, he never sits on the sofa, he'll sit at the dining table with a chair. So I know you can't assume. Yeah, there you go. We have to ask you might like being a bit more upright. He doesn't relax, just sit at the dining table, read his Chinese newspaper or whatever, and that's just like Phil was like, Oh, that's like my dad too. So that was a cute little moment. But you know, you need to ask yourself the question because we will ask our clients a lot of questions about the sofa. And I mean, sometimes to be honest, they'll see the sofa, they'll sit on it, and then you don't know speaking, it's just amazing, and that's that's a dung deal. Um, so ask how you live.

Scale Mistakes And How To Measure

9:25

I think number two, scale is everything because a sofa can look perfect online and it can look completely wrong in the space. So true. And it's I feel like that happens. I feel like that's probably one of the most common mistakes too. And and let's face it, a lot of people are now buying sofas or big furniture pieces online. And if you don't really understand scale, even if you've measured it and you sort of roughly measure the space or you haven't done it properly, just the way that sofa looks could feel like it looks too big for the space, even if it fits. So scale is not just drawing a line and going it's three meters long. That's big sofa, but you know, and it fits in this space. It's actually what happens when you put that particular sofa and shape and colour and the weight of how it looks in the space. Correct. That's a tricky one. It is, it's visual scale. Like I like what you're saying there. So even if it could fit, if you had a really dark charcoal sofa, it could feel so heavy in the space, although it technically is fitting. And I I feel like you cannot use your intuition when it comes to scale. No, you have to do it. When measuring that wrong, I'm pretty good, but I I think I would always double double double check it because you could be doing it all day, every day, and you have a pretty good idea, but you should just never use your intuition. No. And also, um, like when you're in a showroom, it's a big space. There are probably not a lot of walls, and it's a really weird sense of scale. It's so unlike a home that you can get tricked if you want to trust your intuition. And then you get at home and you're like, oh my god, this is enormous. Yes. But also on the flip side, oh my god, this is so tiny. I have a tiny space. Yes. Do I always need to have tiny furniture? Well, no. So yeah, it's about figuring out that perfect fit. I don't know. How would you do it? Would you get a measuring tape and tape, masking tape on the floor? It's also the height. I think if you've got something, or if let's say you've got an existing sofa, check what the measurements of that is and what is it that you don't like about that, or if that feels like it's the right scale, then I guess you're on sort of the right track. You know, if you're looking at something online, check what is the back height, not just the seat height. You know, have you left enough room for other things around the sofa, like if you want a coffee table and a side table and a lamp, I don't know, the dog bed, whatever it is, making sure you've taken into account the rest of that space. But I think if you're if you're in your home and you want to do it for yourself and you want to be sure, I think having something visual like masking tape on the ground or you know, stacks of magazines or books or something that you can kind of like just like create a little space for, then you can visually go, okay, yeah, that I can kind of see how that's gonna sit there and I understand. Because even just measuring it and then just kind of going, oh, that's that length. I think sometimes you do need to stand back and just sort of take it in. So having a visual marker is a good idea, I think. Have you ever tried to use AI to figure out scale? I did it with um rugs, actually used the the weave rug. They have like an AI, so you basically just like bring it up and it's a video of your space and it drops the rug in. That's cool. That was actually really helpful. I mean, I was just having a real play with it, to be honest. But I think if I was going to order a rug, it was a really helpful way to see it there on the floor because it sort of puts it into the space. So I think there'd probably be a few companies that maybe do that now with with pieces of furniture. I haven't done a lot myself, but no, neither. I guess there's also, I don't know, people are using AI for those sort of things, aren't they? Take a photo of their room, have a photo of the sofa. Hey, can you put this sofa in my room? I think the only thing I'd be careful of is we know that AI can kind of go off on tangents and it the scale may not be correct. That's what I might. That's the wrong idea. Yeah, that could be a very expensive mistake, then. Oh, yeah.

Comfort Is Personal Not Universal

13:32

Also, I think it comes back to how you live, but number three, comfort is personal. One person's dream sofa is another person's backache. I think a good example of this is um, if you hark back to when you were younger, I'm gonna speak mostly to the women, and you meet the guy, and then you go to his house, and they have one of those kind of like high back, puffy, soft Harvey Norman sort of sofas that when you sit in, you're like, this is like so uncomfortable. I need like scatter cushions of it, but they the way they sit in it is very different to the way we're gonna inside in it. Yeah, that was like kind of floppy. Your face, you're like not loving it. I'm I am referring to something quite specific in my mind. But um, yeah, I feel like there's that. There's people who love to just they really want the softness and they don't care about any kind of support. Whereas I kind of like a bit of both, to be honest. Yeah, and I think that's true. You can have that sofa that's got the depth so that when you sit in it, you are really in that sofa, but then sometimes you just do want to cushion to the back because when you're entertaining, you don't want to really kind of like slouch too much, or eating your dinner on the sofa, yeah, yeah, yeah. But I mean, I have to charcuterie board, I don't know, whatever you're doing. Twisties for dinner, that's fine. Twisties are good. Um yeah, it's you mentioned like Harvey Norman, and to be honest, if you sit in one of those sofas, especially those ones that have the button that let you recline and the foot thing goes up a recliner, they are the most comfortable things you'll ever sit in. However, on the other end of the aesthetics scale, not really what we're aspiring for. Sorry, Harvey Norman. And it's one of those things that's not sponsoring us anytime soon. Oh who seriously, who shops at Harvey Norman anyway? Um probably not listening to this podcast, I think. Oh, all I think of is Kel from Kath and Kim. Does he work at Harvey Norman? Oh my god. Exactly. Who would shop there though, too, isn't it? Um, but you know, it's also the thing, as you say, the Togo is such a great example. You know, the ruched Lynn Rose that's iconic. It's low, it's like loungy. If you're a shorter person, I love that for you. If you're a tall person, you're gonna feel so awkward on that thing. So I don't think there really are that many sofas that are truly a one size fits all that's a real club. That's very true, actually. I think that for me it's um if there's multiple people and everybody has a different agenda for the sofa, I think having something that's very comfortable, but being able to add things like, you know, not a ridiculous amount of cushions, but some practical cushions and not just pretty cushions. I love having cushions on a sofa. I know my kids kind of like go, uh, and they kind of move them all. But as soon as I go to sit down there and I want to relax, I'm like, I build myself a little nest, you know? I love that. Totally. So some people love that, and some people are like, give me nothing. I just want the sofa. Yeah.

Modular Sofas And Smart Features

16:45

I have a few sort of go-to sofas that are sort of a bit of a crowd pleaser. We've talked about it before here. One is by Cassina, it's called the MonCloud. Yes, yes, that is such a great sofa. There's also one that is from oh gosh, Domo. Oh, yeah. It is a beautiful leather sofa and it's a squishy leather sofa. It's called the um, oh, I'm gonna have to find out what it is now. It's escaped me. Do you have any there today? I was probably looking at it. Um, I I do love a few of the Judann sofas, and I'm gonna forget the name of that one now as well. Um, I love a modular sofa, I must admit. I think that it's there's a huge practicality in that for me. I like the way they look. Um, I like that if you're moving into a house, you don't have to try and worry about trying to fit it through the door because it's gonna all come apart. I love the Eva Everyday sofa for a really super affordable. That's what I have here. Comfortable sofa, like it's on the firm side, but still super comfy and removable covers. Yeah, that is a winner. Love that more. Even just like I know we love families go, oh, removable covers great, and you can actually wash them because not all removable covers you can actually wash. You actually still need to get them professionally cleaned. Ah, but what I love about a removable cover is if I want to change the colour or the fabric, that's what I like to do. Yeah, that's fun. I love that. Well, it's you know, the start of winter, you could kind of go into your winter. Absolutely. Yes. And they have brought out even more um options with that. Actually, I'm I'm probably about to do a winter changeover. So I love that as a as a really great modular. Love Jardine for sofas. I think they do a great sofa as well and have a beautiful fabric range, really good quality. Australian Mage, I love that. Yeah, not everything is, and you know, sometimes it it can't be for the price point. But if you can find something that supports local manufacturing, I think that's amazing. I love that too. You know what? This one that I'm looking at, and I can't I don't think um Dome Redo it anymore, but I love a squishy leather sofa. I don't want one that's so upholstered, tightly upholstered because I feel like no, it's not the vibe. It goes from being squishy to being squeaky. It's so cute. We don't want the squeaky thing. No, no. Okay. So I suppose you know, when you're looking at a sofa, you need to think, am I going to be perching on here? Am I going to be lounging on here? Or am I just like in a full horizontal position for Netflix binge vests? Like, which is usually when I'm I rarely perch on a sofa unless I'm like entertaining, I suppose. I'm I'm mostly horizontal. Yeah, I love it. Um, yeah, so I think that um we made a note about layouts, but I feel like we've kind of covered that a

Layout Rules For Better Flow

19:49

little bit. But I think there's some important things that are, and the first one is actually a bit of a bug bear for me, even though actually where I am now, my sofa is hard up against the wall. But most of the time I would say don't shove your sofa hard up against the wall. I think it works where I am because it's sort of a lower modular and it makes sense. It does make sense into a corner. But if you've got just like a freestanding sofa, you and there's open kind of gaps around it or side tables, it hard up against the wall is never a good idea. No, it can lean into that doctor's waiting room and you've got your furniture all pushed against the perimeter of the um you can always, you know, if it's a sofa, I think maybe it's you you can bring it in, you can put a console table behind there. I love doing that. Great spot to put your glass of wine, a couple of books or whatever, charge your laptop, your phone, whatever. Or if the sofa is floating in the middle of the space, then all of a sudden it's really important what it looks like on the back, especially if you're approaching a room. 100%. Because some of them aren't, some of them have beautiful details at the back. Um, and some of them are really unattractive. Bad. Okay.

Fabric Choices That Make Or Break

20:59

What about fabric choice? Because it's not just an aesthetic choice, is it? So many things can go wrong with the fabric. There's a lot. I think fabric actually, I think what I don't know what I said was hard before the scale. I think fabric might be harder because there's finding the right fabric at the right price point, tick, finding the right fabric for being able to clean it, or actually, we're going to be really precious with it. Usually everyone wants to be able to, like, you know, spot clean or whatever it is. That's another big thing to try and tick. Then texture, the way it feels, a lot of people are really and people forget about this sometimes until they actually get the sofa because they'll look at it and go, yeah, that looks pretty good. And then they'll go, oh, I don't like the way this feels. It's sort of harsh, or like I can't stand wool, unfortunately. I've got a very mild reaction to wool. So a wool fabric on a sofa would be horrible for me. I'd have to probably cover it with a blanket, which would defeat their purpose. And then colour, like the other big one or pattern. Like it's just so much to think about. I think it's Probably one of the biggest overwhelming choices you can make when you have a selection. I guess if you're choosing a sofa that's not custom, it's a little bit easier because there's going to be a much tighter range to choose from. But yeah, it's a big one. So sometimes a fabric has a amount of stretch in it that's needed to cover upholster curves. However, that stretch can also mean that that seat area, it's sort of like a puddling effect. I hate that. I know. So you need to select the fabric on so many criteria, as you said. But yeah, it's the stretchability. I don't know what that's called. There's a certain amount of elastic sometimes in a fabric that will come back as well. Yeah, elasticity, I suppose, is I think it is just the stretch. Yeah. But or the give, they might call it the give in the fabric too. Yeah. Also, I feel like then, and I'm probably jumping ahead slightly, but the quality and that puddling that happens with the stretch of the fabric, if the sofa's upholstered pretty well in terms of what's inside it, it will definitely help that from stop like to stop happening. God, I can't even speak properly. Well, I think it always stops it from happening. All of the points that you know we've covered, how do you want to sit? That will also dictate the fabric. And, you know, is it a uh my sofa is like a tightly upholstered sofa. I don't have to flup up, fluff the seat cushion. Yeah, but it is not the most comfortable sofa for cuddling up and lounging. If you want a really comfy sofa that you can sort of sink into, it might have a feather or a dacron wrap, and but it does need a bit of smoothing over and yes, and so you have to be happy that it's not perfect. It's a bit like when we talk about, you know, stone or imperfect finishes and embracing the fact that they cannot remain absolutely perfect. If you like a really soft sofa, it's very hard to achieve both a very perfect look and a really soft sofa. You've got to like actually I call it kind of like the visual softness. You've got to appreciate that it also looks really soft, and from that comes the dints and the little, you know, like you know, what do you call it? Like hills and valleys in the sofa. If you don't have that, it doesn't look soft, right? True. And it probably isn't soft. No, no, probably not. Um, and also the fabric, coming back to that, you might you might have this idea that you are just obsessed, you want a velvet sofa. And there are so many different types of velvets, but have you ever sat in something where you got up and you immediately felt like you had to kind of smooth it over because it left like a perfect bottom imprint? You were gonna say that. No, but um, I must pay more attention to that. It's just me. You've been leaving sofas with your bottom imprint. Oh no, they're rude of me. You know, they have this um velvets that are dry, you know, they're quite matte, and they don't leave that, they don't leave that imprint so much, but then there's the other sort of ones that are really quite shiny, and then they you do feel like you have to keep smoothing it over. Um, so all of those little things, you so many questions to ask. Oh yeah. That's when I'm always smoothing sofas, is trying to like, oh my god, you're looking at the shotgun, you can just see someone's fingerprints. So it's not always your ass, it's sometimes it's just your fingers, like oh my gosh, so many questions that you would have to ask, you know. We haven't even talked about rub rates as well, you know. Yeah, we could do a whole thing on fabric, yeah. So many things, but ask, ask, ask just questions, get samples, test them at home. Like it is such a big investment, it's such a big part of the cost of the sofa because it's the bit that you touch and that you interact with the most. So it's it's very um, that's actually really true. Yeah, it could be on top of scale and comfort. I think scale, comfort, and fabric kind of all go together as like the top three things, in my opinion.

Colour Beyond Beige And Grey

26:02

And I mean, colour. How many people have a grey sofa? And you ask them, is grey your favorite colour? Is that why you chose that? They're like, oh, I don't even like grey. That's the thing, you know, where people feel like they have to have a neutral sofa. They think that the sofa is this, like I I guess they've been sort of it's a bit like the um buying a house and painting it all white just in case you sell it. I think buying a beige or a grey sofa is the same kind of thing, like the same sort of weird pressure. Oh, but like, you know, we need to have it forever. So it has to be, it has to go with everything forever. And I'm like, well, you're not changing your wall colour probably if you've bought a beige sofa. So you've probably got white walls. Yeah. And you probably bought a beige rug. And I don't know, like nothing's gonna probably change. So why not actually invest in something that you don't want it to change because you love it so much instead of like having like the I don't know, lobotomy version. I think there's so many safe colours that you can choose that are a colour, yes, like a navy sofa, a dark green sofa. Yes. My sofa is like a good kind of colour. It's so easy to live with. Yeah, yeah. I think a really good example of that actually is if we talked about leather. Most people kind of understand a tan leather to almost be neutral, but it's it's not, right? It has colour and warmth, yeah, and can be quite orange or it can be kind of potato and caramel. Yeah, but at least that's kind of a a stronger choice to make that brings warmth to the space. And I think most people can see and understand how that happens without them freaking out they bought an orange sofa. Do you know what I mean? Agree. So it's a good example to use, but yeah, I agree. I try to never describe it as orange with a client. No, God, no, yeah. But caramel's good. I always say caramel in that. Cognac. Yeah. Yeah. And I feel like you can easily find a colour that's not crazy. It doesn't have to be hot pink, but it just brings a little joy to your space or gives it a little character without it being grey or beige. And to those of you that love grey and beige, go for it. I'm just saying. We're worried about the people that don't, but then still go and buy that sofa anyway. That's right, exactly.

Quality Checks And Construction Basics

28:16

What about quality and construction? Because I feel like there are a few practical things that you can do to understand what the quality is like. Frame quality. If you want to know that your sofa is a good quality sofa, can you lift it up? Yes, I might have to. Maybe you already doesn't move five meters when you sit on it. I think that's a pretty good indicator of a good quality sofa. Agree, agree. I mean, hopefully it hasn't been filled with something weird like cement. But like I know, well, yeah, to give the impression of quality. I mean, also I'm gonna say straight away that if you're buying a affordable sofa, obviously you still need you can still buy an affordable sofa that has quality, but if you're really looking for the cheapest, cheapest thing, I don't think you can also go, oh, but does it have a quality frame? Like it's probably not gonna have a quality frame. I think you need to accept that. And also sofas um for different stages of life, for different uses, playroom versus formal room. Like you probably, you know, there's a spot for every type of sofa. So we're not hoo-pooing, you know, an affordable sofa. I've bought one, it was a piece of crap to be honest. Um, it just didn't last and it looked terrible and it stains. That's the problem. Like, and I I a hundred percent agree with you too. I don't want to alienate anyone. I don't literally have the budget to go and buy half of the sofas that I would love to, or yeah, that I'm able to specify for clients. But I still try and be, I guess, mindful that I don't want it to be a sofa that needs to go in to land fill in the next 12 months. Yeah. Because there are sofas out there that end up there. I would say like some good examples and not Australian, but like IKEA's a pretty good example of you can buy a half decent sofa from them that you know is going to last a reasonable amount of time for the price you pay. Agree. You know, I'll say EVA again, but there's other brands similar to that in Australia that um also have, I would say, decent quality for the price point. But then, you know, we won't name and shame, but then we know that there are a lot of brands that also have really, really great price points and the quality is terrible, you know, and they're just not gonna last. I think find the in-between, you know. Eva is great. Um, I love their designs as well, and it's really clever, beautiful business. Yeah, gorgeous people do. Yeah, they're really cool. Um, okay, what else do we want to talk

Common Sofa Mistakes And Delivery Access

30:46

about? I guess the most common mistakes that I've seen, I've also made some. Buying too small or buying a sofa that's too deep. I've had a client say she heard that she needs a deep sofa, so she asked for an extra deep, and she's like, I hate it because I can't sit properly in it. My feet, and that's when you need five cushions behind you because it's too deep. Yeah, and then it does come back to the whole, like, well, what do you how do you sit and all of that stuff? It's pretty. But yeah, yeah, that scale thing, too deep, too shallow. That'd probably be worse. Um, too high, and then it looks weird in the room as well. True, too low, and don't forget about, you know, as you mentioned before, what you're gonna have next to it, a side table with a lamp, make space for that type of thing. And also height-wise, that comes into it. Again, I know we're going back to scale, but the right height side table for your sofa and coffee table and you know how you want to use that because sometimes that can throw the whole room if that coffee table's too high and then the sofa's quite low. Don't go for a chaise layout that's kind of gonna block the room. And sometimes those chaise things are actually really impractical because nobody can kind of sit around on that corner bit again. Yeah. If you're gonna be lounging, then knock yourself out. But um, something to think about. Get something, you know, get a modular instead that's you can take that piece off and move it to where you need it to go. Yeah, also delivery access. So yes, we have almost had a big fail on that. It had to fit in the lift, it just fit in the lift. I don't know how this so far did. It's so scary. I was like, it just has to fit, it has to. So we managed to get it to fit. And I my my folks were living in an apartment, and I was like, Did you check the lift access? And like it wouldn't fit in the lift, though we were one level up, so they could go up the staircase with it. But it's getting around the corners as well. Yeah, and even if it you can get it um and you have a you know two-story house sometimes, and you've got a living room upstairs, sometimes you can't get it up the stairs, particularly if there's a turn or a landing with a turn. And we're all thinking now pivot, pivot, like real friends. But that happens, that happens all the time, and it doesn't have to be a big sofa for that to happen either. So you do have to be very careful. And it's always because you know, every conversation we have to bring up Paris and Milan when we're traveling, it's so cool to see these it's so cool to see the cranes, how people move house there. There's cranes out the front. Yeah, and they're kind of like it's almost like a what you call a track almost. Yeah, like a conveyor track. Yeah, that's just common, that's just how they do it. And we're like, oh my god. And they're just like seems fancy to us. We have to hire a crane and it costs us thousands and thousands of dollars. So cool. Also, buying for the person that you wish you were, not the person who you actually are, which is the one that is eating a block of chocolate under a blanket. I've had I've had quite a few of clients like this actually, where I've had to sort of push it a little bit because I know it's not the right one for them, but they just like go, yeah. But I'm like, no, but think about what you told me about. Remember this, and and they kind of come around. But yeah, I think that's a common one too. And you know, we love that for you. If you want that incredible sofa that's the statement, we are gonna push you to that, but we're like, come on, let's be real. Like, we want you to love it. Yeah,

Next Topic Tease And Final Tickets

34:11

okay. Well, I think that's a really awesome summary, to be honest. Can't wait to dive into the next one. Yeah. Maybe we were talking about maybe dining chairs. I think that's a good one as well. It's a good one. Yeah, there's so many things that come into that one because guess what? You need more than one of those. You do. And they have to cater for a while, a bit like a sofa, I guess, more than one person generally. Yeah, true, true. It's another minefield. So if you haven't got your ticket for Milan Review, come and come along. Love to see you there. Now you've finished listening to you know how we chat about things. Come and hear that a little bit more, but specifically about Milan. Yeah, so fun. Okay, so good breeze. I'll speak to you soon. Bye. Bye.

Acknowledgement Of Country

34:57

We've got the utmost respect for the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation. They're the OG custodians of this unceded land and its waters, where we set up shop, create, and call home and come to you from this podcast today. A big shout out to all of the amazing elders who have walked before us, those leading the way in the present, and the emerging leaders who will carry the torch into the future. We're just lucky to be on this journey together.