Buying a new sofa

Stressless recliners and sofas are lovely. I'm typing this from my Stressless sofa! Strongly recommended.

We have just ordered a new sofa from Long Eaton Sofas. We went to their showroom where you pick the style you want each item is individually handmade by their own factory. There is a huge range of styles and can be made to suit your requirements.
We are a couple of hours from their showroom but it was well worth the trip.
My husband first located them and my first reaction was how much is that going to cost ! I was pleasantly surprised at their very reasonable cost

Take a look at the SofaSofa website. All dimensions are given, and you can choose covers/ colours to suit. Well priced and made in the UK.

We’ve been looking, Parker Knoll Boston is very, very comfortable it’s a 53 cm depth which suits us both. I am really struggling with a choice of colours though…..I suppose these things are usually a process of elimination rather than anything else. But it’s an expensive thing!!

I am in the same situation........short in stature with short legs. Therefore, sitting on a regular sofa/arm chair is really uncomfortable as my feet don't touch the floor and this makes my legs ache.
Having visited countless furniture dealerships I am met with the same response .......put a cushion behind your back! Not helpful in the long term and certainly did not encourage me to buy from them.
Still looking for suitable lounge furniture. Might have to consider made to measure I guess.

After a lot of research and try outs we bought 2-seater recliners and are very pleased with them. All I would say is when you decide pay a deposit of at least £101 on your credit card as furniture companies do not seem to be that secure.

Long Eaton is like sofa central in the UK. There are maybe 20 or more businesses there under an local trade umbrella. Maybe you could visit several if you do go.?

I did look at Sofa central but its website didn’t appear to give the vast range of choices we had at Long Eaton. We could choose the dimensions we wanted within reason. The type of seating cushion we wanted soft firm ect The range of fabrics was enormous books of various types. The type of legs we wanted. Our footstool is being made to the height of our choosing. One of our two arm chairs is being made slightly smaller to fit the space.
I noticed that sofa central delivered flat packed within a few days can’t work that one out.

I am also a fan of Stressless. I'm sitting on my Windsor sofa to type this - firm, supportive seats, not too deep; reclining back and lovely wide arms at just the right height to support my elbow and not so high that it's awkward to reach my coffee mug on the side table.
Mine is the 2-seat, low back version but there are 3 seat and high back options available plus a huge choice of colours and woods. I ordered it in early November last year and lead time was approximately 6 weeks - it was delivered a few days before Christmas, completely assembled so no flat pack headaches to contend with.
shop.stressless.com/en-gb/sofas/stressless-windsor/p/000000000001193020?pid=1193020094202006

Try Sofology ,we bought our last sofas during covid with a long waiting time but they offered us a cancellation just 2 weeks later of the exact one we wanted only 2 x2 seaters instead on a 3 and 2 .We're very happy with it I'm 5 foot 3 and my feet are on the floor .Check their website .They have lots of nice modern looks in hundreds of fabrics and colours

Sorry - I meant that Long Eaton is the centre of sofa manufacturing in the UK.
Not that you should look at a business allied Sofa Central!

There are about 8 major businesses in an alliance and another bunch of sub-businsses and then some totally independent ones.
All based in Long Eaton - most with a small showroom.

Correction:
*called Sofa Central

We bought sofas and chairs called Himola (a Germany design and manufacture). Had them 5 years and the leather (they also do fabric) has not got a mark on them. Very impressed and wished I had bought from them earlier.

You should NEVER purchase ANY Sofa (armchair or bed), without first trying it out. However, nice it may look, it is - surely, the comfort that matters most.

So, yes, it does invovle traipsing around different stores, etc. to take your time to find that perfect one, that suits YOU in terms if comfort as well as looking right.

As a company, I would recommend DFS as they do have
a really excellent after-sale customer service. And, when I purchased my 2-seater recliner sofa and single armchair there, I took their offer of a four-year, interest free re-payment service.

I’ve also looking for a new sofa. I’ve seen one I like online (I’m prepared to take the risk*!) but the info says the seat height is 58cm. The only chair I’ve currently got that is 58cm high is my GS’s high chair. The company claims that’s the correct measurement.

I haven’t seen anything I like in any stores, so much of what’s on offer is big, cushiony stuff, whereas as I want neat and compact.

We too bought ours from Sofology. Both sofas and chair are recliners.

58cms seems very high suedonim

Our sofa is a 2 seater G Plan, 2 recliners, bought because of the shorter seat and very comfortable.

We went to a sofa shop today, armed with a tape measure. The very highest sofa I spotted was 52cm high. I don’t think dd2’s feet would reach the floor so she’d be marooned on a 58cm high sofa!

Dh really got into it and was then measuring the height of beds even though we don’t need a new bed. One was a whopping 80cm - you’d need a step ladder to clamber in and out and night! 😂

Thanks everyone. Given us some new places to look, plus a bit of hope!!

Please avoid my daughter's mistake and ensure your new sofa will fit through the door when it's delivered

And just read this too - Furniture Village

www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/experts/article-11749201/amp/SALLY-SORTS-Left-waiting-year-right-sofa-legs.html

We have GPlan electric recliner sofas and they’re very supportive and comfortable. We deliberately chose a more modern style and fabric as I was worried about the OAP look 😂

We just couldn’t find anything suitable so we had our 30year old Tetrad sofas reupholstered and new removable covers made which ended up being way more expensive than buying new.