Long before construction began on the family room, I started planning the design. I had dog-eared magazine pages and poured through my interior design books. None of the existing furniture was going to stay – it was all going in the basement. So, I needed to start the long and high-stakes process of furniture selection. The first focus was on the two main pieces of furniture that would be the foundation of the room, the sofa and chair.
Channeling Mark D. Sikes and Nancy Meyers
Another interior designer that I’m drawn to is Mark D. Sikes. He has this amazing way of mixing casual with formal. His interiors are layered, incorporate a lot of different texture and, his signature is the foundational use of my favorite color, blue. And, more specifically blue and white.
I poured over his first book, Beautiful. Each page was an inspiration. And gave me a palette to play with as I started thinking about furniture selection for the family room.
Nancy Meyers is my first interior design love, as I wrote about in this post. It’s no coincidence that I would also be drawn to Mark D. Sikes – because Nancy Meyers is also drawn to him. She wrote the forward to his book Beautiful and he designed her own home. You can view pictures here on the Lark & Linen website.
Furniture Selection is High Stakes
I have ZERO training in interior design. I just know what I like and how I want it to look. Any knowledge I do have is from reading home magazines and interior design books. Furniture is a huge investment. This puts me in a precarious, and potentially expensive, position when actually buying furniture, and is not the place for trial and error.
Zero in on Vibe – What “look” are you going for?
I wanted all the rooms on the first floor to relate to one another – dining room, living room, family room. The living and dining rooms had the same drapes – so they related. While the living room was a bit more formal. The family room needed to feel like a continuation, but more easy and comfortable. A place you could put your feet up and relax.
It was going to be a balancing act to design a family room that was in a style that related to the living room, but the cooler, more chill cousin.
Furniture Selection — Important things to consider
There are a multitude of things to consider when selecting furniture for a living space. How you will use the space and style, or look, you’re trying to achieve is central. Then, when selecting the furniture pieces that reflect the style and functionality you want, it can get very technical. I’m going to attempt to break down some of the things to consider in layman’s terms (coming from this non-designer).
Sofa Shape and Type
There are so many choices in sofa style. As the biggest piece of furniture in your room it will set the stage for the rest of it. This makes the style of sofa a key decision.
I was drawn to the “English Roll Arm” style– probably because it’s on just about every page of Beautiful and it’s in the Nancy Meyers, Something’s Gotta Give house.
The lines of a roll arm sofa are timeless and do a great job of blending formality and comfort. The seat depth is typically deeper than other sofas which lends to the comfortable vibe.
Scale
Scale is about choosing the size of the furniture that is proportionate to the room and the other pieces of furniture. It can make or break a room.
This is one of the things professionals study and know how to do. You can simulate the process, by measuring your room and then use tape to mark off different sizes for sofas, chairs and coffee tables. Make sure you allow 12-18” of space around each piece for maneuvering around the room and sitting comfortably. This will determine the size of your furniture.
I had our architect draw a furniture plan to determine the size and placement of our furniture. You can do your own plan by measuring the room, determining a scale (graph paper helps) and then drawing the size of the furniture that will allow for the 12-18” of space. This is a good article on scale and how to avoid some common pitfalls.
Sofa Back
You can choose a tight back (no back cushions) or loose back (with unattached, or sometimes, semi-attached cushions). I chose to go with a tight back and two long seat cushions. Knowing that I was going to incorporate multiple throw pillows to draw the room together and add additional comfort (form and function).
Back Height
Pay attention to the height of the back of your furniture. A higher back will allow a place to rest your head. But, you also want to think about placement. For instance, if the sofa is going against a window, you won’t want to block the view.
Seat Depth
Seat depth is what is going to make a sofa or chair comfortable to sit on or not. It’s the measurement from the end of the seat to the back of the cushion. If that distance is too small, it’s going to force you to sit straight with your legs down. This will lend to a more formal vibe.
With a previous sofa purchase, we actually made a big mistake by not paying attention to this. The sofa was a sleeper that was in the den in our prior home. We did not do the “sit test” before ordering (rookie mistake!). The intent was to lounge on this sofa but with the back cushions, the seat depth was too narrow. In order to sit comfortably, we would have to remove the back cushions. I learned my lesson — this is the type of trial and error that I was determined to avoid.
My advice for your furniture selection process — do the sit test! Visit a show room and sit on the furniture you’re considering buying. Put your legs up. Sit the way you will use it and make sure it’s comfortable.
Seat Height
Seat height has two components to it. The first is comfort – if the seat is too high your legs will dangle; if it’s too short you knees will stick up. You want to pick a height that’s comfortable for you.
The second component of seat height is that you want most of your furniture in the room (at least the core seating options) to be relatively similar. From a practical sense, this means no one will be sitting higher than anyone else. Visually, it will make the room feel more cohesive.
For accent chairs, you don’t have to be as concerned.
Balance Legs and Skirts
Generally, you want to have a mix of furniture that show the legs and some that don’t (skirted). The traditional roll arm sofa has turned legs with casters. I knew I was going with the traditional look for the sofa, so I wanted the chair to have a skirt. I chose a “dress waterfall” skirt, which is a little longer and more modern looking.
Fabric Selection
For the sofa and the chair that were going to be the foundational pieces in the room, I wanted the material to be durable and comfortable. I knew I’d be using throw pillows to bring in the texture and the color, so I chose neutral backdrops for that.
For the sofa I chose a blue chenille and for the chair I chose a blue with a bit of a texture, but still neutral. As the two main pieces in the room, the overall look was that they were related but not too “matchy”.
It’s A LOT!
I don’t know about you, but I’m exhausted. There is so much to consider with furniture selection. And with investment pieces, the stakes are high and so is the stress.
In Part 2, I’ll fill you in on some of the mishaps that occurred with the sofa and chair. Until then…
WETSU! WETSU!
XO JT
