Island Life Magazine Ltd January/February 2006 | Page 50

INTERIORS

Selecting the
right sofa
for your home...
Buying a sofa or lounge suite used to be a relatively
straightforward process. But now, with the sheer range of
options on offer – from corner groups to recliners, fabric or
leather upholstery, fixed frame or flat-packed, not to mention a
whole plethora of colours and patterns to choose from – the
average buyer can end up in a spin.
So how DO you decide on the best option for your home?
Sit back and relax – we’ve asked one of the Island’s experts, Keith
Ballingall, owner of the huge, 10,000 sq ft. Sofas and Chairs
showroom in Newport, for a few vital guidelines.

The first decision most buyers will need to make in the narrowingdown process, says Keith, is quite simply, whether to go for:

Leather or fabric upholstery?
There’s been a massive shift in the marketplace in recent years, and
leather now accounts for around 60% of lounge furniture sales. The
reason is simple – leather furniture has been falling steadily in price
as manufacturers in Eastern Europe and the Far East have started
producing higher quality seating using hides imported from countries
such as Italy. Furniture making, in fact, has rapidly turned into a
big global business.
Add in the fashion element – with every glossy interiors magazine
now featuring leather heavily in its room settings – and it’s no
wonder the market has moved in this direction.
So, if you’ve decided on leather, there are a few things you’ll need to
be aware of:
It’s a natural product, which means it will have individual
characteristics that make each hide – and each piece of furniture –
unique. Leather will always bear the marks of its natural origin, so

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expect to see shading variations, healed scratches or scars and neck
wrinkles. These are not defects, but signs of genuine leather as
opposed to an imitation.
The real thing comes in many forms, as you will quickly realise.
These include:
Antique/distressed leather: Where a special surface effect has been
created to mimic the worn appearance of traditional leather.
Aniline leather: Leather that’s been dyed by immersion in a dye
bath and has no top coating of pigmented finish – hence making it
very soft to handle, but extremely delicate and more susceptible to
staining and sunlight damage.