Furniture Buying Guide

One of the most prominent pieces of furniture in the home, the sofa is a focal point of the living room or entertainment area. Striking a balance between style and comfort, your sofa can be where you socialise with friends, enjoy a movie night with the latest blockbuster, curl up with a great book, or play your favourite video game. 

Because the sofa can be such a primary area of the home, it’s important to get it right. The first consideration is size and shape, to ensure it can fit into your space. For smaller households, you may opt for a 2-seater or 3-seater lounge, perhaps accompanied by an accent chair/armchair for additional space. Make sure to measure the area in which the sofa will be placed. 

It is important to keep in mind the flow of your room and any other furniture included in your space. You want to add plenty of seating space without cluttering your living areas or impeding movement through the room.

Once you’ve settled on size, contemplate your desired material and padding. How much support do you need for your back? How soft do you prefer the seat cushions? Do you desire a modular model you can customise according to your changing needs.

As the name suggests, modular lounges are composed of multiple pieces which can be customised and reoriented as needed. This allows you to adjust and finetune your lounge setup and home decor. Many modular lounges are composed of multi-seater sofas, ottomans, and chaises. Some modular lounges even feature integrated storage solutions, for a multifunctional piece of furniture.

Known for elegance and timeless high-quality craftsmanship, leather sofas have a way of drawing the eye and forming the focal point of the living room. From sofas crafted from top-grain leather upholstery, showing off bold colours and a rich mid-century style to sophisticated split-grain leather lounge suites, you can discover the perfect touch of luxury.

Originating in 18th Century Turkey, the ottoman has evolved from a low piece of upholstered furniture to a smaller, freestanding furniture piece, at home in modern living rooms. Often used as extra seating around the room, ottomans blend both comfort and style, adding an additional layer of elegance to your living space even when unused.

As with sofas/lounges, it’s important to consider the style and size of your ottoman. Do you want your ottoman to complement your existing styling or stand stark against it? Do you want a larger ottoman for more utility or a few smaller ones to spread seating throughout your space?

Many modular sofas even include ottomans as part of the lounge suite, ensuring the ottoman and sofa share similar stylistic elements.

Forming a link between armchairs and sofas, loveseats occupy the middle ground between the two, providing comfortable seating for up to two people, often for conversation. Despite being able to accommodate two people, loveseats can work quite well as an extra-spacious area for relaxing lounging.

Much like other pieces of furniture, the addition of a loveseat needs to be weighed against the style of loveseat you wish to add, as well as the size of your space and other furniture. While extra seating is often desirable, especially if you frequently entertain, you don’t want to convolute the flow of the space or clutter it with too much furniture.

A chaise is a longer chair, designed for one to lounge comfortably with outstretched legs. Typically available without armrests and including a slanted backrest for additional support, a chaise lounge is a popular addition in both traditional and modern homes.

When looking for a chaise lounge, it’s a good idea to consider how you’ll be using it. Will it be an addition to a sunroom? Comfortable seating in a reading nook? A napping spot? Determining the purpose of the chaise can facilitate the style, material, and even colour.

For your living spaces or larger entertainment areas, many modular sofas feature chaise lounges on the end, providing additional seating when socialising or flexibility when relaxing. 

Whether it’s for everyday use or occasional seating, an armchair can imbue a room with additional character and elegance as well as supplying a comfortable resting place for socialising, reading, or many other purposes.

One of the biggest benefits of armchair seating are their lightweight designs, allowing you to easily move them from room to room or within the same room, as desired. Also known as accent chairs, armchairs can become a standalone part of your household design, adding depth and style to certain areas, but always ready to be functional.

When searching for the ideal armchair, it’s important to consider where in the home it’s going to be placed. This can determine the size of the chair, the structural design, and even the fabric you may choose. 

The humble coffee table. A functional-yet-central piece of living room furniture. While they obviously serve as stable surfaces for your hot and cold beverages, coffee tables are a medium through which to show off your individual panache.

Consider the size and shape of your potential coffee table. Will it flow with the style of your room? Does it fit the needed purpose? Do you want your table to be one of the highlights of your room or blend into it?

Simple on the surface, a coffee table can be a functional way to express your individual taste and imbue your home with personality.

As is the case with all other furniture in your home, a bedside table can be an extension of your personality, complementing form with function. At its base level, a bedside table is used to store important objects and homewares for your bedtime routine, such as your phone, lamps, alarms, books, and more. However, you're only limited by your imagination.

When looking for the ideal bedside table, it’s important to consider both your style and your budget. Are you a minimalist who likes clean lines and uniform designs? Do you want something with bold colour to add a ‘pop’ to your bedroom? Do you desire a table created from hardwoods to give your bedroom a more natural feel?

Likewise, you may wish to consider how you’ll use your bedroom furniture, including your bedside table. While many tables may just feature a flat-top for simple storage, some bedside tables include additional shelves and even drawers for more bedroom storage space.

More visible in the living areas of your home, a side table is designed to supplement your living rooms and entertainment areas. Due to generally being placed in the more bustling areas of your home, a lot of thought needs to be given to how you’ll use your table. If you’re going to be placing food and drink on the table, you may desire a material such as glass or marble, which is easier to clean...or use coasters.

While many homes have opted out of having a dedicated table, or room, for dining, this modest table is more than it appears. Social events call where you can sit around your dining table and warmly engage in conversation. Game nights beckon where everyone is huddled competitively around a board game. Family dinners and dinner parties entice you to spend time with those you care about most.

If you’re looking for a new dining table for your home, first consider the shape. Rectangular or round? Will one fit or complement your available space better than the other?

Size is also a major consideration, ensuring everyone gets a seat at the table. How large is your household? Do you entertain often and need more room for those occasions?

There are even outdoor dining tables/outdoor furniture for patios, balconies, and alfresco dining areas. 

Unless you plan to stand on ceremony for the entire meal, you’re going to need some dining chairs. Comfort and support are important factors here, especially if you plan to sit in these chairs for long periods of time.

For space-saving purposes, some dining chairs are conveniently stackable, allowing them to be stored when not in use.

On the design side of things, you may wish to find chairs to match your dining table or to starkly contrast it, for added visual layers.