Heal's - Sofa Buying Guide

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Heal’s Sofas

Shopping for a new sofa throws up many questions; how many people must it seat on a daily basis? What material to choose – leather or fabric? Should it firm or soft, foam or feather? Heal’s stock an expansive range of sofas and our expertise can help you choose the perfect sofa for your needs.

What size Sofa is best for me?

Think about the size of the sofa in proportion to other furniture in the room, as well as the size of your living room. You do not want the sofa to overpower the room or other furniture items.

Don't just think about the size of the room, think about getting the sofa into the house or living room. If you live in an upstairs flat how wide are the stairs and the hallway? Will it fit through the front door/living room door? Have a look at our access guidelines document to help you measure up before you place your order.

Would it be more practical to have the flexibility of armchairs instead of another sofa?

Think about how many people you want it to sit – do you entertain a lot? Do you have a large family? These factors will determine how big your sofa needs to be.

We recommend you and any people who are going to be sitting on the sofa come in store and try out our sofas before making a purchase. Take into account people's height - tall people need more depth that shorter people and visa versa. A good way to measure this is to sit on the sofa in an upright sitting position. If your feet do not reach the floor then the sofa depth is too wide. However if your feet reach the floor and your knees are bent, then the depth is too narrow. If you like to slouch or recline on the sofa then go for a lower arm so you can relax your head.

What Fabric to choose?

Think about the function of the sofa when deciding on the material. The sofa needs to be able to stand up to your lifestyle. Do you eat your dinner regularly while sat on your sofa? Do you have children? If this is the case then you should consider a leather sofa or a fabric that is dark in colour and maybe with a pattern, or tweed fabric to disguise any little accidents.

Choosing a fabric sofa gives you the opportunity to experiment with a variety of different colours and textures. When deciding on the colour of your sofa think about the colour of the living room walls, the carpet, any rugs in the room or other living room furniture you have. Consider whether is is going to be put in bright sunlight, as continued exposure to direct sun may cause fading to occur.

Leather Upholstery

Leather combines luxury with durability and comfort. It is resistant to staining, cracking and withstands a lot of wear and tear. Over time, with the correct care, the look and feel of leather improves making it a good investment.

Contrary to popular belief, leather actually adjusts to your body temperature and does not feel cold and clammy. Ideal for any time of the year; warm in winter,cool in summer and breathable. If you suffer from allergies, Leather upholstery is often a very good option.

Leather types

We mainly use 3 different types of leather in our range:

Full-aniline

The most attractive and natural leathers, heralded for its soft natural feel with unique hide surface characteristics visible. Aniline hides are dyed using aniline dyestuffs. The aniline dye is transparent and the surface grain and any natural marks on the leather remain visible. Aniline leather is incredibly soft and only a small proportion of hides are suitable to be used on large single panels of upholstery, as is customary on most Heal’s sofas. Because of this, differences in colour and texture must be expected.

Semi-aniline

Semi-aniline leather is more durable than aniline whilst still retaining a natural appearance. Semi-aniline hides have a light surface coating applied to the leather after dyeing. Hides in this category show fewer natural characteristics and are harder wearing than full aniline hides.

Pigmented

Pigmented hides are usually corrected by buffing the outer surface of the leather grain before the application of pigments and lacquers onto the leather surface. Corrected grain hides are normally uniform in appearance and are very hard wearing.

Natural Characteristics

As leather is a natural product, each hide will have it’s own individual characteristics. Just as fingerprints differ form one person to another, so there will be differences in grain, texture and colour from one hide to another, and even within the same hide.

Growth marks, bites, warble fly marks, scars and creases are common on leather furniture and it is precisely these marks, which distinguish ‘real’ leather from man-made substitutes. None of these characteristics have a weakening effect on the hide. The marks are proof of the natural product and it would be impossible to obscure them all from view, without coating the surface with a thick layer of paint, which would destroy the beauty and softness of the material.

What Interior filling is best?

At Heal’s we choose the very best fillings to compliment our upholstery ranges, and the most appropriate to achieve the best comfort, function and design.

Foam

Foam interiors provide a firmer more resilient seat that benefit from being extremely low maintenance. The resilience of foam may appear very firm initially but the material will become 20% softer with normal use over a 2-month period to reach a more comfortable sit, which should not further soften.

Foam/Fibre wrap

This is a layer of foam sandwiched between two layers of hollow fibre, offering the high resilience and low maintenance of foam, but with the additional softer layer of fibre.

Hollow fibre

The rapid growth in the “relaxed” style of upholstery in recent years has meant an upsurge in the use of hollow fibre as an upholstery fibre. This is because unlike the traditional feather interiors, hollow fibre is much lighter and more resilient material, resulting in less plumping maintenance. Although we highly recommended you do still plump and turn your cushions regularly to prolong the life of your furniture. Hollow fibre also benefits from being hypoallergenic.

Feather

Feather has traditionally been used in furniture upholstery for many years, and can offer a deep and luxurious seating position. But this filling does require frequent plumping to maintain a tidy appearance. As feather cushions are quite heavy the easiest way to do this is to pick up a cushion and drop it on the ground on each corner to disperse an even spread of feathers.

Furniture Care Guides:

Wood Care Guide

Upholstery Care Guide

Leather Upholstery Care Guide

Lacquer Care Guide

Teak Care Guide

Heal's Departments

How to buy online at www.heals.co.uk

Shopping online at Heal's is easy and secure. Simply click through to the pages of interest and click on the 'add to basket' icon that relates to the product of your choice. When you have finished shopping go though to the checkout by clicking on you basket in the top right hand corner of the screen.

At the checkout stage you will be asked to confirm your billing and address details and you will have the opportunity to add a gift message to your order or input a promotion code.

If you are ordering non-furniture you will get a choice of the delivery service used. If you are ordering furniture the delivery charge will be automatically added to your basket.

Delivery information .

You will then have to input your card details - all our transactions take place over a secure server. Please click to view our Security policy. The dispatch time depends on the individual product availability. We aim to dispatch products that are in stock within 1-2 days. Please note that we do not part dispatch orders therefore please check each products availability before ordering. Once the order has been despatched the delivery time depends on the service you chose at the checkout. If you are ordering furniture or you have ordered fragile items, delivery will take 1-2 weeks as it will need to be delivered by a specialist courier. For full delivery details please view our delivery information page.

If you have any queries about an item of interest or any questions about www.heals.co.uk please contact us

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