Dear LPG,

Have you ever felt that you needed a change without being able to put your finger on what needs changing?

While we have been hauled up in hiding over the past year I don’t think that I am the only person who has looked at the enclosure they have found themselves stuck indoors and wanted a change. While I am no interior decorator, I decided that perhaps the most effective change I might make to the living room that greets me every morning as I pass through on my way to my first cuppa of the day, would be a new sofa. To be honest I had been planning to get a new living room look long before Covid-19 happened, but we all know that choosing one takes time. 

I spent many pre-Covid sessions window shopping and paying special attention to all the appropriate television adverts but I just could not make my mind up.  The saddest thing is that I tend to sit on higher chairs these days so that I can actually get out of them again but the place just would not look right without one somewhere in the room, and the one I have is somewhat tatty, especially now that I am spending so much more time with it in line of sight these days. 

There have been many downsides to being stuck at home, but I have learnt a lot more about window shopping with my tablet during the past year and I am grateful for that, although the one thing that it does not really help with is size. So I did a bit of personal research on the subject of making sure you don’t overdo it when it comes to getting that aspect of your purchase right.

Most of us know what sort of colour or style we are looking for but the internet taught me something else I found interesting.  There is quite a bit of information which informs you that the sort of sofa your living room boasts says quite a bit about your personality. I think that, in general there are two kinds of shoppers; the people who already know what style and colour they are looking for or the person who looks, and looks, until they one day just see ‘the one’, and can say “it just called to me!”; I think I am the latter.

I am still thinking about which one to actually buy but with a much more informed eye since taking internet lessons, and I feel that it would be selfish of me not to pass on my newly found expertise on the subject of choosing the ‘perfect’ sofa.  So, while I am not advocating that every reader needs to consider such a purchase, in preparation for the day that you can have your first post-pandemic visitor, I would like to share what I have learned in case anyone else thinks their living room needs this kind of a facelift.

SC, Catford

SC offers us some of the sofa-buying tips she learned…

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..and a little gen on what your choice of settee says about your character…

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