Our Guide to Buying Contemporary Modular Sofas
These are some of the tips and advice our in-house furniture experts give when our customers are looking at a modular sofa.
Buy something you love, rather than something you like.
Its an investment and you are going to spend lots of time on it, reading, watching TV, having a coffee or a glass of wine, sharing good times with friends and family.
If you love the design of a piece of furniture instinctively it will continue to give you that same initial joy the minute you walk in the room for many years to come. Buy a modular sofa that fits with your own unique style, is made to last and reflects how you want to live.
Consider your space: Layout, flow and practical usage needs.
Over the years we have seen and assisted clients with every scale and shape of room possible and offered different design solutions to meet the individual needs of each customer.
The design pain points and usage considerations are often repeated on sectional sofas. Therefore we can give some useful tips from our experience to help you consider the options.
Scale: Chunky versus thin arms.
If you have limited space, it's worth considering a slimmer arm profile verses a chunkier arm modular settee design. This will sit a bit lighter in the room and will give you more usable seating. Alternatively, adding an open-end section, footstool or a reduced back section on a chase end module can be used to avoid blocking an area of the room.
In contrast for larger rooms, the chunkier pieces provide some solidity to an open space, offering some low-level partitioning. This keeps the open plan scale of the room but fills the space with a sumptuous central statement living area.
Seat height & depth: Typically our modular sofas range from a seat height of 40cm to 45cm and a depth of 95cm to 145cm.
These two dimensions in combination with the back and lumbar cushions options will determine how formal or casual you want the modular sofa to be. The deeper and lower it is, the more casual and the higher and narrower the seat the more formal.
Modulars tend to be used in a more casual setting and often go into rooms with a large TV. If you’re going to spend a lot of time on a sofa, spend an hour sitting on it first. This will allow you to trully assess the comfort and the quality of the craftsmanship being offered.
Fabric Selection: Pick a fabric book then pick a colour.
We try and understand the usage needs first. Kids & pets being one of the obvious early questions. Also, when lighter colours come into play it’s always worth considering stain guard options.
On the chunkier designs, it’s also worth considering a bit of texture or a woven option which breaks up the scale a bit and generally gives the look more depth.
Professional Installation & Customer Care: Don't battle with a large-scale piece of furniture when it arrives.
Unpacking it, assembling it and recycling all of the packaging? All our modular sofas are installed as standard by a professional two-man furniture delivery and installation crew. The product is taken to your room of choice, fully installed, photographed in place as part of our quality controls and all the unwanted packaging is taken away to be recycled.
Buying a nice modular settee should be a joy and not something that you worry about until it’s set up in your room. The sales advisor you deal with should stay with you from the start to the end of the process. Therefore, take your time and ask for advice about the layout and the range of fabric options available. This way you can be excited and not worried about your sofa arriving once the order has been placed.
Finally buy from people who really understand the product they are selling, are not in a rush and genuinely care about the end result.
