This month at 5th Avenue Furniture we’re blogging on the quality construction that goes into one of our hottest-selling items, living room sofas and loveseats! You know they’re comfy. Your family and friends can’t get enough of these couch combos as you sink yourselves into them to enjoy what’s on the big screen, chat, and maybe drinks. And when it comes to sofa set style, our selection for ANY home decor is unbeatable. From Victorian romantic luxury to classic family-friendly designs in patterned fabric to deep, cushioned comfort clad in vinyl or even real leather, they’re ALL here for less at our Detroit showroom. Let’s have a look at the art and science that go into making them!
Sturdy Sofa and Loveseat Frames
Like your car, your living room couch or sectional has a
chassis, a frame you can rely on to support your weight on the furniture and to
withstand the odd drop or crash as excited kids and dogs pile on! Your new
living room sofa’s frame is one of the paramount factors in both its long-term
usefulness and its cost. While 5th Avenue always keeps prices WAY
down, you will pay a bit more for a better quality frame. Options for the
manufacturer include kiln drying the hardwood for your frame, excellent as it
prevents the wood from warping due to moisture. The ultimate material for sofa
frames, which many of ours use, is solid hardwood, tougher and denser than
other woods. Below that are softwoods, which can contain knots weakening the frame.
The most inexpensive option for your living room sofa frame, which most of our
pieces employ, is engineered or manmade wood: plywood. When shopping for living
room furniture, ask for 11-13 layers rather than 5-7 layers in your engineered
wood frame to be extra sure your new sofa or loveseat is secure.
The other thing about your living room sofa’s frame besides composition is
reinforcement, namely in the joints. These are stress points in the frame, so
every sofa we sell has these joints buttressed in just the right places so you
can count on them! Methods our manufacturers use include interlocking joinery
including mortise and tenon, and, especially widespread, dovetail joinery,
locking the pieces of the frame securely in place. Wooden dowels in your sofa
frame are fine when combined with other reinforcements. Most of our living room
couches feature solid corner blocks for extra rugged construction; the best!
Staples, screws, and glue, while not adequate in themselves, are serviceable
reinforcements when they augment other methods.
Your Sofa’s Suspension: Coils and More
The gold standard in living room sofa suspensions is what’s
called the 8-way hand-tied spring system. These couches and loveseats can be a
bit pricier, because of the time that goes into making them, but are worth it
for the last word in comfortable seating. A widespread and less costly means of
building a sofa suspension is using high-gauge steel coils. If you’re concerned
about heavy use taking its toll on your couch, ask us about better-gauge coils
for your purchase. More contemporary sofa designs sometimes employ webbing
under the seat to give the piece a thinner, sleeker profile.
Kinds of Foam
Cushions for Your Sofa
Our assortment of living room sofas includes sag-proof high-resiliency
foam in their deep cushions. High resiliency – bounce-back in layman’s terms –
is defined by the industry at 2.8-3 pounds per cubic feet. Even if you and your
friends all sit on the couch at the same time, not only will these cushions
embrace and support you. Once you get up, they QUICKLY return to their original
shape, no sags, like new! Expect high-resiliency foam to last 8-10 years. For a
less expensive option, some sofas use lux foam, which lasts about 6 years. The
most common cushion material is high-density foam, 1.9 pounds per cubic feet,
lasting about 4 years.
Whatever your living room sofa and loveseat preference, you’ll
find it for FAR less at our Detroit, MI furniture store. Take it home this
week for as little as $5 down!
