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Deciding on Your Upholstered Furniture--The Components
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| Part III
There are five main types of upholstered furniture: sofa, love seat, chair, ottoman, chair and ½. Throughout the course of this article, we’ll touch on all of them.
For your sofa, love seat, chair and/or chair and ½, an important consideration is the type of back cushion. Tightback means there are no cushions on the back. Semi-Attached means the pillows appear to sit away from the back, but they can’t be moved. Loose Back means you can move the pillows to fluff them or reverse them. Semi-Attached and Loose Back are usually configured as two or three cushions on the sofa back and two2 for the love seat back. Scatter back may have a Tightback or back cushions with the scatter pillows in front - these are more like throw pillow - usually three or more. Bustle back is seen more often in recliners and motion type sofas. There are two back pillows one over top of the other and they usually lift up from the bottom and are attached at the top of the pillow on the back of the chair.
Your choice of pillow backs is very much a matter of personal taste. Tightback and Semi-Attached cannot be moved and don’ |
Loose Back and Scatter back do have to be plumped and can be reversed to double the life of the upholstery. These pillows should be turned approximately every three months.
The five most common back shapes for upholstered furniture are: Rounded, Square, Camelback. Reverse Camelback, and Wingback (this is usually used in upholstered chairs and in colonial-style upholstery).
Generally your sofa will be configured in one of three ways: Tightback with a Bench Seat (one seat cushion running the entire length of the sofa), although a Tightback may have two or three seat cushions; Two over Two (two back cushions over two seat cushions); and Three over Three (three back cushions over three seat cushions).
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Some shapes for sofas are Straight, Curved, and Wedge. Straight and curved can be used in either a 90 degree configuration (sofa or sofa/loveseat combination) or across from each other. Wedge sofas are usually used in pairs across from one another.
The most common seat cushion shapes are Box (the cushions are flush with the arm edges), T (the cushions wrap around the front of either arm, and Pillow Top (the cushion appears to have 2 distinct layers).
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Some manufacturers offer Cushion Tie Downs as standard or as an option. This keeps the cushion sides from lifting up when you sit on them. Not all manufacturers feature them, but if this is a consideration, ask your design consultant or sales associate about this.
Another term your design consultant or sales associate may use is "Decking" or "Self-Decking." Most manufacturers prefer to use a material specifically designed for placement where the underside of the seat cushions meets the top of the frame. This is called the Decking. It is more durable.
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Some manufacturers will “Self-Deck” which means using the same material as the seat cushions and this usually requires an upcharge. The main argument for Self-Decking is in situations where there is a chance part of the decking will show when people are sitting on the upholstered piece. Cushion Tie Downs can prevent this problem. In my opinion, Self-Decking isn’t worth the extra money, but that should be the client’s choice.
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Arm Choices are important. Several of the types used are Charles of London or English (one of my personal favorites), Rolled or Standard Arm, Pleated or Fan Arm, Sock or Cap Arm, High Arm, Low Arm, Exposed Wood or Open Arm, Exposed Metal Arm, Armless, Saddlebag, and Flared.
Finally, the choice of bases, legs, or skirts is important. Bases are usually platforms on which the upholstered pieces sit. Some Leg types are: Ball and Claw, Bun Foot, Curved, Queen Anne, Sabre, Straight, Turned, Tapered, and with or without Stretchers (pieces of wood joining the various legs together. Some skirt choices are: Box Pleat, Kick Pleat, Dressmaker, Ruffled, and Waterfall, to mention a few.
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When an upholstered piece is to be positioned away from the wall and the back will be visible, you may want to pick a piece that has an interesting shape or design on its back. This is called Floating a piece.
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When you look for a sofa, in particular, it is important to consider the use for the sofa. Test the sofa the way you are going to use it. If you’re going to lie down on the sofa, lie down on it. If you’re going to recline on the sofa, recline on it. By all means sit on it to check the firmness of the seating. The middle seat of a sofa is the last seat to go, so don’t be that concerned about the person sitting in the middle. If you’re going to lie down on the sofa, check out whether the two cushion or the three cushion is more comfortable for you. Pay attention to where the cushion divisions fit under you.
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A large cocktail ottoman affords you additional surface space and can be used instead of a cocktail table. You can put an acrylic or glass top on it for protection when using it as a serving piece. A regular-sized ottoman also gives more seating. You can store it in a corner or by a fireplace, or let it stay in front of its chair and move it when necessary. Often an ottoman is upholstered in a fabric different from the chair it accompanies.
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I invite you to call or e-mail me with questions. I look forward to helping you select your next piece or group of upholstered furniture, as well as your other design needs.
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Bryan Jeffreys has been with Furnitureland South since 1996. He has been a design consultant/sales associate since 1998. To better learn all aspects of the business, he started in Customer Service before moving to sales.
Bryan is acknowledged to have both depth and breadth in his knowledge of furniture and has a flair for putting together fabrics and colors. His clients enjoy working with him.
Bryan invites you to call him at 336.841.4328, ext. 2562 or e-mail him at bryanjeffreys@furniturelandsouth.com.
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Click here to read Part I or Part II |
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