We understand the highs and lows of searching for the comfiest, most perfect sofa for your living room. If you’re on the lookout for a new one, we enlisted interior design expert, Gil Walsh of GW Interiors, to make it easy. With over 30 years of design experience in both residential and commercial projects, Walsh understands that choosing the right sofa goes beyond aesthetics. While there are thousands of sofa choices to shop online, finding your exact match is a lot easier said than done. The ideal couch has to be the right size, good quality, stylish, and, of course, comfy. “Besides the cushion fill, the comfort is all in the weave of the fabric,” says Walsh. “Soft, plush, and textured fabrics are the coziest, and when we need durable fabric, we look for a plush performance fabric.”
To help you find the right (most comfortable) choice for your home, we curated a list of 16 sofas including affordable couches, leather sofas, and couches for small spaces.
What to Look For When Buying a Couch
While you might think virtual furniture shopping is hard, it turns out that tons of retailers have fast shipping options, easy returns, and affordable prices that can’t be beaten. You’ll want to narrow in on your needs: do you want a classic three-seater silhouette or a large sectional or a sleeper sofa for those extra guests? Consider who will be using it and the size of your room. There’s also the material — do you want performance fabric that’s made to be durable, chic velvet, classic leather, or fuzzy bouclé? It can all depend on whether you have kids or pets.
Walsh says the first thing she looks for when purchasing a sofa is the material of the frame. “A hardwood frame allows the sofa to retain its shape and stability over a long period of time.” And if you want comfort, Walsh says a down or down blend is an “excellent option for a higher quality cushion.” Lastly, price is important. “If you want your sofa to last then workmanship should never be compromised, even on a tight budget,” she says. “As long as the frame is well made, there are a few ways to cut down on the cost of the sofa — choose a neutral fabric that is graded into the price of the overall sofa as well as a polyester cushion fill instead of down fill,” which are both cheaper in price.
What to Look For in a Quality Sofa That Will Last
There are so many different things to look for when shopping for an investment piece like a sofa. Walsh recommends considering frame material (wood is best), seating support (an eight-way hand-tied springs system is one of the best support systems), cushion filling (down or down alternative is best), as well as the scale of the sofa, seat depth, and height. Luckily, there are a handful of brands we trust to meet these requirements, like West Elm, Albany Park, and Maiden Home, that we know to make quality, durable pieces.
Keep reading to see the choices we gathered based on Walsh’s advice, our editor’s reviews, and extensive market research. Our personal favorite is the Albany Park Kova Sofa ($2,255, originally $3,155). Find your match ahead.
— Additional reporting by Haley Lyndes and India Yaffe
