- and how to look after them

Sofa buyers are faced with a bewildering array of choices from the huge variety of different designs and fabrics, at different quality levels and prices, currently on offer. Many sofas are promoted at knock-down prices, with little attention paid to other considerations, such as the appropriateness of particular designs for different styles of interior and the importance of choosing a design that has lasting appeal and that doesn't date.

At Sofasandstuff we are often asked for advice on how to choose the most appropriate sofa and, while it is impossible and unnecessary to formulate hard and fast rules, here are some general suggestions based on our many years of experience in the sofa business.

Here is a summary of our thoughts, some general operating principles that apply to the purchase of all sofas.

• Choose a design that you are going to be happy with for a long period of time. Don't rush your decision, and look carefully at classic designs, either in the modern or more traditional genres. Classic designs remain universally popular for a reason - because they have proven themselves to be 'fad-proof' over a long period of time. Using the website features of the Sofasandstuff site, for example, allows a wide variety of different design styles to be viewed and then matched with a huge range of fabrics, so that even the choice of a classic design can be made original and individual through the fabric it will be covered with.

• Feel free to mix and match different design styles, such as an accent chair with a sofa - thereby giving variety. Sofas do not always have to be bought with a set of exactly matching chairs.

• Additional variety can also be achieved by considering some of the sofas and chairs that are 'classics with a twist', traditional designs that have been tweaked to freshen up their look, a hallmark of the Sofasandstuff range. The Sofasandstuff Wing Chair is an excellent example of this innovative approach to achieving an interior design 'wow factor'.

• Consider other original styles as well, such as sofas supplied with sets of different cushion coverings, such as those supplied with the Melrose Eastern Promise and the Melrose Seashore.

• Take care of practical matters as well, such as specifying fabric protection and ensuring that your sofa is built to the highest standards of quality. Sofas often have a pretty hard life and they need to be robust and spill-proof. Sofas from Sofasandstuff can be stain protected, are constructed to very high standards out of hardwoods, pinned and glued (with a five year guarantee), and use Duratech foam, the only seat cushion material ever to receive a gold star from FIRA (the Furniture Industry Research Association). They are built to last.

• Measuring up is also essential, to ensure that your new sofa and chairs will fit in their allotted spaces in the correct proportions. Sofasandstuff sofas come with all dimensions marked (see the website) and are also available in different configurations, such as two or three seat sizes, to give you extra flexibility. To prevent damage or cracking, allow for safe distances between sofas that may be susceptible to heat, such as those with leather coverings, and radiators.

- some suggestions in a cluttered and confusing market

Visitors to our showroom, and customers contacting us through our website, often ask us Sofasandstuff staff for advice and help in choosing the most appropriate sofa for their particular circumstances and décor. Key concerns are choice of style for a particular decor, what fabric to chose, along with concerns about build quality, value for money and the care and treatment of sofas.

A useful analogy, and a tangible example of our approach to the design and manufacture of sofas, is the leather jacket I bought in the Kings Road in the 1980s, which I still wear and which has lasted brilliantly, despite all the hard wear and tear it has been subjected to over many years. The jacket is exceptionally well made, it has a classic design, the leather from which it is made not only lasts very well but improves with age, and as a result it has given me huge pleasure and been great value for money.

The same principles should apply to the purchase and ownership of a sofa.

In choosing a sofa design, potential buyers are subjected to a bewildering array of styles, including the many different 'sofas on steroids' offered by high street chains and advertised heavily on television and in national newspapers. Whatever these sofas may be, they are unlikely to retain the appeal and longevity of a design classic, in the same way that my leather jacket is a design classic that has lasted.

But being a design classic does not mean that a sofa has to be stuck in the past. At Sofasandstuff we design and produce not only sofas which are design classics but we also take existing designs and give them a modern interpretation, producing design 'classics with a twist'. So, for example, our wing chair has wings which are larger than normal and the legs are in a tapered fifties style. The same is true of other furniture in the range. We offer a classic Chesterfield but it is not in the traditional leather but in linen, making a design that can sometimes seems stuck in a time warp look fresh and interesting. Naturally we also offer a full range of classic styles, styles which do not go out of date and which complement a wide variety of room styles.

Sofas from Sofasandstuff are exceptionally well made: a huge effort has been put into making them comfortable to sit in, most covers are removable and washable, springs are high quality, and the foam used is Duratech (which has a Gold Star award from the Furniture Industry Research Association). All sofas are also backed up by a 5-year guarantee.

Special attention is paid to ensuring that customers are clear about exactly what they are ordering, and that they are happy with their sofas when they receive them.  We go to the nth degree to try to get things right for every customer. Once a customer has ordered a sofa they are sent a sample of the fabric they have chosen, to ensure that their understanding of the colour matches the exact colour being used. Customers who are undecided about fabrics can select (online) up to 8 different fabric samples to be posted for viewing at home.

Customers can also call a helpline for additional information, help or advice when ordering, or visit the company's first (non-high street) showroom - a renovated barn in a beautiful rural location near Petworth in West Sussex, with other showrooms opening in Hungerford and London (parsons Green) between July and September. Add in free fabric protection, and the fact that customers can return their purchase if they are not happy, and it is not hard to see why more and more people are finding this more relaxed, personalised way of buying a bespoke sofa at lower than high street prices highly appealing.

Ever wondered how some retailers manage to have so many sales;
How they could afford to offer such big juicy discounts so often?
Yes I thought you did, so I thought I might give you a few clues..

It has come to be an accepted fact amongst the retail fraternity, that the best way to sell more is to seduce your customers with how much they are saving when they spend money. (Its funny how when you spell it out the contradictions become crystal clear.) "Buy the new... before Christmas and you get it half price." Well I will let you into a little secret that everyone really knows anyway, if they are honest with themselves, and that is that the super new ...was and never will be the price the retailer has just shouted about, apart from for the minimum time to satisfy the ever changing consumer retail pricing laws.

I hope that hasn't shocked anyone or turned us all into inveterate cynics, because it dosnt need to. Its all a bit like a magical show. We all know magic is really sleight of hand and misdirection, but somehow we want it to be so much more. We feel a need to spice up our sometimes hard lives, for there to be something happening that is truly magical. Just so with big savings. How great do we feel when we come back from an outlet Village or a large store and proudly claim, "Hi Darling, look how much I saved today." Well the saving is the misdirection; What you have just done is what the retailer wanted, your eye has been caught by the saving, so stopping you concentrating on whether what you actually bought was what you actually wanted and was good value for money.

Well at the risk of being a killjoy, I am going to suggest a new tactic for buying, that works for pretty much everything. Look very hard at the item you are interested in and decide whether you truly like it and whether it is fit for the purpose you had in mind. (Could just as easily be something to dazzle in that evening, a new mode of transport, or a sofa for the sitting room.) If the answer is yes, your second and only other decision is this. Do I think it is a reasonable or fair price? Look away from the misdirection, the saving, and concentrate on what you are SPENDING. That way you should end up with something you want at a price you were happy to pay.

Some random thoughts on furnishing a home.

You would never believe it, but when I came into the furniture industry in 1979, buying a three piece suite was all the rage. A what I hear you say? Well it was pretty much what it sounds like; Three pieces of upholstery, a three seater sofa, and two chairs, one often with wings for the gentleman of the household and a smaller ladies chair, all in the same matching fabric, usually under the Beyer brand name of Dralon. But hey, Dralon could either be plain or matched with pattern that covered both seat and back cushions. What with so much choice, its a miracle we didn't all get heart attacks, worrying about it all!

The name of the game back then, when Brotherhood of Man was the bees knees, was to be matching. You had a matching three piece, a matching dining suite (this included chairs, both with and without arms, a sideboard, dining table obviously, with the possibility of matching wall units as well. This way you couldn't go wrong; You couldn't make a decorating gaff; No one would laugh at your dead smart home, you were all sorted. The only trouble was, as people eventually began to realise, you were all sorted out exactly like old John Smith, 4 doors down, and that wasn't quite so good. Great British furniture brands like G Plan and Ercol, that had reigned supreme in the 1960's were beginning to run out of puff, as people started getting fed up seeing their friends homes looking a tad too like their own.

The penny began to drop that rather like the way you dressed you could also dress up your home. A bit from here and a bit from there, putting it all in your own personal style blender and hey presto you have a look that both says something about you, and the way you want to live your life. You could even mix expensive heritage pieces with something great value from say Ikea, a bit like putting a Topshop skirt with a Stella Macartney jacket. Those in the know will think how savvy you are, and those who aren't will think its all cost a bomb.

Mixing and Mismatching became the thing to do. How many patterns of differing types, and different colours could you get in a room? Probably rather less than some people tried! It didn't matter though, because the occasional mistake didn't cost a fortune to rectify, and we were all learning by trying stuff out. There were more trends than even the most workaholic Home magazine editor could get to grips with, which meant in a couple of words; diversity and individuality.

The trick in creating a look personal to you, is coming to a conclusion about what you truely like. Try making a list of all the home trends or looks, or pieces of furniture that appeal to you. Then have a look round your home and decide on all the stuff you have but don't really like, and make a mental note to get shot of it, as soon as you can afford to buy a replacement.

Then try moulding your ideas into a consistent whole. How about trying opposites as a starter? Nothing looks better in my humble opinion than mixing modern art and old furniture. It doesn't have to be top notch antique, you are just looking for the contrast. I have a fifties retro cherner chair at home sitting in front of a Georgian desk / bookcase, next to a very modern picture. It sounds pretty awful, but actually looks interesting; and that is what you are trying to achieve; areas of interest.

Another idea is to use colour as the glue that holds a scheme together. I recently did a bathroom and wanted it to feel like how the sky does, when it meets the sea on a classic English windy summers day. A mix of greens and blues and greenish greys, some light some dark, but at least 5 or 6 different tones in quite a small space. The effect is amazingly calming, the furnishing equivalent of a good meditation course!

A final few thoughts; on the subject of collecting. Nothing says more about someone's personality than what they decide to collect. A lot of very similar things together or even better identical things, as a whole always looks interesting and graphic, in a way that a couple or three just doesn't. There must be a modern equivalent of Hockney and those baked beans cans? Thoughts to the blog please?

(Which has just made me think, what can I make out of all those hundreds of LP covers currently sitting in my attic, all unloved and dusty?) Ideas to the blog please and the one I like best gets a free sofa of their choice.

Try making something out of your collection, the cheaper the collected item the better. The single best chandelier I have ever seen by far, and nothing comes within a million miles of it in my opinion was a chandelier made from hundreds of popped party poppers. Again please ideas to the blog, and the winner will get the same deal.

All for now,
Talk soon,
Andrew.