As a 70’s Essex child, the ‘sofa’ is a bit of a weird new world. It’s a settee, innit? And once you had one, you paid no more attention to it until it broke.
My Nan had a huge faux-leather mustard coloured one that was older than I was, ridiculously hot and uncomfortable to legs in shorts or skirts and never seemed to age or sink no matter how many dogs and grandchildren passed through her little house.
I don’t even recall the sofa’s I lived with in my formative years in my own house. Brown, probably.
But now, the world is different.
Now, the sofa is a statement.
In the brave new world of lifestyle interiors, you don’t simply shop for something that will do.
Oh my, no no no.
You browse until you find The One.
But with a sofa, it’s not just The One, is it? There are far too many other questions.
Firstly there’s the size – you’ll need measurements, obviously (lets not talk about the magnificent sofa & armchair we bought for our lovely new nest after our marriage, as soon as we could afford to lose the inherited brown velour monstrosity we’d lived with for a year. Suffice to say what looked plump and comfy in the cavernous showroom transmutated into overwhelmingly we’ll-need-to-removed-the-door-to-get-it-in-our-tiny-living-room was-it-always-that-bloody-enormous when it was delivered) (I loved that sofa).
Do you want a giant corner sofa? Two 2-seaters? Two armchairs plus a sofa?
And then of course there’s the style itself. What are you doing with your living space? Contemporary? Softly-vintage 30’s? Sharply 60’s?
I know – I feel your pain. It’s an unending nightmare of decisions.
So you think the best thing is to go to a showroom, sit in them, and things will become clearer.
Which they do – a bit. You find the ones you don’t like, that’s for sure. But then you find yourself wanting this sofa, but in a two-seat not the three, and with that armchair not the one from this set. And the fabric on both is hideous… And the kids are running wild, and you’ve not seen daylight for two hours, and you’re slowly losing the will to live, let alone make a decision while the salesman is smilingly intent on heading your way again…
So when Sofa.com asked a few bloggers to visit their new Bath store for a bloggers brunch I will admit I was willing (there were lovely blogger-hero-types that I’ve been wanting to meet for ages, and it’s Bath. And there was Brunch. Come on…), I wasn’t overly excited.
Silly billy.
Close your eyes and picture a sofa showroom. Go on, do it now. Got it? Photographed clearly in your head? You can feel it and picture it and hear it? Good – now scrunch it up and lob it in the bin.
Because Sofa.com are nothing like that.
I mean it – you have to visit them and see.
To start with, the very basic premise of the sofa choosing is different. It goes like this:
1 – Choose your sofa.
2 – Choose your Fabric.
3 – Receive the sofa of your dreams and live happily ever after.
There’s a gazillion different styles (well, maybe not a gazillion, but really very much a lot of choice), and then there’s the fabric choosing. Oh me oh my the fabrics…
You can see all this on the website. Of course you can. And it’s a wonderfully easy process to find your sofa – and you can see your choices come to life on the screen, no matter what your combination. As good as online shopping gets.
But if you happen to be near enough to make a trip to the Bath or London showroom… do so. Because this is sofa shopping Jim, but not as you know it.
Firstly… look. 
Since when did a sofa showroom look like this?
It’s fabulous, and inviting, and makes you loudly “Oooh!” and lures you in with it’s provocatively enticing ways. You’re not dutifully doing the rounds of the store along the prescribed pathways; you’re following your eyes as they flutter butterfly-like from one delight to the next.
Got the kids with you? No worries – there’s a fabulous kids corner, with staff on hand to help with the entertaining at the weekends. So no need to rush and feel stressed – relax. Have a coffee (yes, yes, there’s a properly good barista coffee bar for you, too), meander and take your time. You can even bring the dog in (dog biscuits and dog sofas all waiting for pooch to test them out…).
And once you’ve made your coffee-sipping comfy-testing way around the three floors of fabulousness and found the style of sofa that your home has been yearning for, go play with the fabrics. Racks of them. Because every style can be had in every fabric. You can choose to change the legs. The piping. Lower or higher the back cushions.
So – if you are on the hunt for a new sofa, go to Sofa.com. And yes that’s my serious bossy voice. Honestly – I cannot imagine going anywhere else.
