How many types of sofas can you use to decorate your living room or home? There are the ordinary sofa and coffee table options of course, but what if you don’t want to go for ordinary? What if you want your living room to be extraordinary or otherwise different? To be sure, sofas and coffee tables are the living room staples, but there are a whole host of other furniture types that have proven themselves as excellent living room furniture pieces.
Of course, no list of furniture types for your living room would be complete without the trusty old sofa. In fact, one could even say a living room is made by its sofa! A sofa is the centerpiece of the living room. It determines the initial impression and sets the mood or tone. It should be the first thing you think of when contemplating your living room design. There are many types of sofas that are as follows.
SECTIONAL SOFA
The section sofa is a multi-piece sofa. The common number of pieces are 3 and 5. It can be arranged in a number of configurations. The more pieces, the more configurations. Ideally, any sectional you purchase will include fixtures that connect the pieces to keep them from separating.
Due to the massive and growing popularity of sectionals, there are many styles, designs, and materials to choose from. Some are huge and can span large rooms while others are much smaller.
Two common configurations are L-shape and U-shape.
CHESTERFIELD SOFA
Chesterfield sofa is known as the tufted or quilted style sofa. Some have the tufted design on only the back and arms while others include it on the seating bench section as well. It is a popular trend nowadays.
Origin of the Chesterfield
The birth of the chesterfield sofa is believed to be a sofa commissioned by Lord Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield in the 18th century. The Earl desired a piece of furniture on which a “gentleman to sit upright in the utmost of comfort allowing sitting without wrinkling the garment”
LAWSON STYLE SOFA
This sofa is designed for comfort. Its signature design element is the pillows tufted back. It can be made in different materials and can be used with the contrast design of the living room. The reason for this design is to create a softer, more cushioned sofa with large cushions that aren’t taught within the frame of the sofa.
Origin of the Lawson Sofa
The Lawson sofa is a relatively new design, the first one created for financier Thomas W. Lawson in the early 20th century. Thomas Lawson desired a sofa that was modern in design and comfort. Apparently, it’s a derivative design of the tuxedo sofa
MID CENTURY MODERN SOFAS
From the 1930’s to the 1970’s mid-century modern furniture reigned supreme, but don’t count it down and out yet. It’s making a comeback and looks that it will stay as it has now passed the test of time.
This style of sofa is all about minimalist design and clean lines. There are many varieties of this style of sofa. It’s designed to look good and be comfortable – the result is it’s not the most comfortable furniture, but is coupled with the right home design, it can look fabulous. Mid-century Modern sofas and other furniture featured sleek, clean lines and both traditional and non-traditional materials, sometimes utilized in the same piece. It wasn’t unusual to see the same basic style of Mid-century Modern sofa in a choice of vinyl, wool, or velvet fabric.
Contrasting blacks and whites, along with colors ranging from neutral to bold, formed the simple geometric designs found in Mid-century Modern furniture. In addition, the newer materials made for easier upkeep and care
CONTEMPORARY MID-CENTURY MODERN SOFA
I’m including a section for modern sofas because it’s a commonly used term used to refer to contemporary midcentury modern furniture. Strictly speaking, what’s commonly referred to as modern furniture is really a midcentury modern design. Moreover, midcentury modern should not be confused with contemporary furniture – it’s different.
Contemporary is a term used for current furniture. It is always based on a particular design style such as a contemporary chesterfield or contemporary camelback.
ENGLISH ROLLED ARM SOFAS
The English sofa is known for its low arms in relation to the high back. Upholstery is tight throughout, yet decently cushioned all over, including the arms. While similar to the Bridgewater, it’s distinguished by the tautness of the upholstery and low arms. In fact, some English rolled arm sofas have arms so low as to appear to be armless
CAMELBACK SOFA
The camelback sofa’s main design feature is a higher back in the center which descends in a continuous line into the arms of the sofa. There are also designs with two arches on the back.
These types of sofas are exposed to the wooden legs with the tufted back
CHAISE LOUNGE SOFA
Chaise lounges are still popular, especially in today’s massive primary bedroom suites. Some chaise lounges have an arm while others have no arms. Also, the chaise lounge is extremely popular as a patio furniture item typically found poolside
SLEEPER SOFAS
There are many sleeper style sofas ranging from pull-outs to futons to daybeds to even bunk-bed sofa combos.
PULL OUT SOFA BED
The most popular form of sleeper sofa is the pull out sofa bed. They’re mightily improved from 20 years ago. These days sleeper beds are well-designed and offer a great sleeping solution for guests. A pull out sofa bed is distinguished from a futon in that the sofa back remains upright while the sleeping surface folds under the belly of the sofa from where it is stored and pulled out.
CONVERTIBLE SOFA
A convertible sofa is different from a pull-out bed because it doesn’t have a mattress. The bed “mattress” results from couch pillows. This can be more or less comfortable than a pull-out bed depending on the quality of the mattress with the pull-out bed.
FUTON SOFA
The futon is a sofa/bed combo. The back of the sofa folds or releases downward to create a large, flat, cushioned sleeping surface.
Similar to the futon is the convertible sleeper couch, which is couch made up of pieces that rearrange into a large flat sleeping surface. The mattress is comprised of the sofa’s cushions. The convertible style sleeper is often a feature of sectional sofas
TUXEDO SOFA
A tuxedo sofa has high arms level with the sofa back that cuts straight across. It is not the most comfortable due to lack of reclining angle, it’s a classy looking sofa with the straight lines. The tuxedo design is applied to loveseats and chairs as well
PALLET COUCHES
Pallet furniture is popular. Most people build it themselves, but you can actually buy pallet furniture such as pallet sofas. A pallet sofa is often built against the wall where the back is the wall with cushions placed against. However, you can also create a pallet couch with its own back so it has a slight recline to it so that it’s more comfortable than against the wall
