Choosing the Perfect Living Room Sofa

Your living room is where your family comes together to catch up on the day or to binge watch your favorite TV show. It’s where you entertain company. A lot of everyday life happens in this one space, which means selecting the right seating is key to creating the comfortable, inviting room you’re looking for. 

Feeling overwhelmed selecting the right sofa? That’s understandable. Between sofa shapes, arm styles, cushion sizes, and fabric options, you have no shortage of choices. Let’s break it down to a few guidelines to simplify the process.

Size

Although finding the perfect size sofa for your space can start to feel like a Goldilocks experiment, sticking to a minimum guideline will narrow down the choices for you. Select a sofa with a seat height of at least 17 inches. This will ease sitting and standing, as well as put less strain on your knees and back. In the same vein, look for a sofa with a maximum depth of 18 inches. If you fall in love with a sofa deeper than that, adding throw pillows will shorten it, as well as add a pop of accent color and flair. 

Space

Undoubtedly you’ve stood in the showroom of a furniture store, admiring the sofa of your dreams and picturing it nestled perfectly into the available space in your living room. You’d not be alone, however, if you got that sofa home and found it was either too big or too small for the room. It can be hard to eyeball what’s going to be the right fit. Before you hit the store, measure the available space. Remember to leave 12 to 18 inches between the sofa and the coffee table. This allows sufficient room for slipping in and out, while keeping the table close enough for comfortable use. Also take into account the other furniture pieces you’d like in your room. Will you include a chair and end tables? How much clearance will you need between the sofa and entry way? The most gorgeous, lush sofa will lose its luster if it’s out of balance with the available space.

Livability 

Certainly aesthetics are important, but don’t overlook functionality. Will your sofa be a central spot for movie night, complete with popcorn and drinks? Look for durable fabrics. Real life is happening on these cushions, and you’re going to want material that can handle it. Likewise, do you like to stretch out to watch TV on your sofa? Do you find yourself falling asleep cuddled up into the corner of the sectional? Look for the arm style and couch shape that is most comfortable for the way you use your sofa.

by Anjie Cho

---

Visit the Holistic Spaces Store

This Week on Instagram

closeup of a light tray for a ceiling ... lighting goes in there! #architecture #inconstruction #ceilingdetails

#mantraMonday! the sun yantra today. Sun is a planet that is associated with individuality, radiance, and yang energy.
The associated mantra is:

Om Hrim Hrim Suriyaye Namah Om

#mantra #yantra #vedicnumbers #sacredart #sacredgeometry #holisticspaces #thesun #theplanets

The Lunar New Year is fast approaching, and Holistic Spaces now has new charms for the upcoming year is the Year of the Monkey. The snake is the best friend of the monkey, so keeping one nearby is good luck! holisticspaces.com #snakecharms #chinesezodiac

My favorite #woodflooring #whiteoak #interiors

5 Tips for Green Cleaning with White Vinegar

If this isn't your first visit to Holistic Spaces, you may know how much I love to use household products to create safe, non-toxic and eco-friendly cleaning materials. In fact, we've even discovered new ways of using coconut oil, apple cider vinegar and lemon juice to handle household cleaning and even as all-natural beauty products. One of my all-time favorite household products for use in green cleaning is white vinegar. 

You can check out my recipes for eco-friendly washing detergent, natural shower cleaner, all-purpose cleaner and even my tips on how to use white vinegar to make a smelly chair smell new or to get rid of those pesky salt stains on suede shoes, and on top of that, white vinegar can do so much more!

Neutralize Odors

White vinegar is an amazing tool for making a place that may not smell so good, smell better! Whether you've recently burnt supper, painted with some not-so-eco-friendly paint, cooked with lots of garlic or just need to refresh a new space with icky odors, placing a shallow bowl of white vinegar in the area can do the trick. Lots of times, we dilute vinegar with water, but in this case, just let plain old, 100% white vinegar do the trick all on its own.

Disinfect Air Filters

While you're busy making the air in your home smell better, take a peek at your air conditioner filter, if you're lucky enough to have one. Air filters can collect a ton of gross stuff (think dust, germs, and if you have a pet, pet dander too)! Soaking your filter in a 50/50 water to white vinegar solution for about an hour can help get rid of these unhealthy particles and make sure you're putting clean air back into your home.   

Unclog Drains

We all know the pain of dealing with a clogged drain and a landlord who won't put that on his list of priorities. If your efforts at unclogging haven't worked so far, or if you're looking for a less toxic route than store-bought chemicals, try baking soda and white vinegar! Be careful with this combination, because it does cause a chemical reaction and will bubble and fizz, so you'll want to keep that reaction in the drain...not on your counter. Just pour boiling water down the clogged drain, follow it up with a half cup of baking soda, and a few minutes later, add a mix of 1 part boiling water and 1 part vinegar (2 cups total). Plug up the drain, let it sit for 5-10 minutes, then flush with more boiling water. After a few minutes, flush with cold water, and you're good to go!

Clean Kitchen Gadgets

Some kitchen utensils and pieces are easy to clean and require nothing but soap and water. But other gadgets aren't so easy, and that's where white vinegar comes in. 

To clean a coffee maker, just run a batch of white vinegar, diluted 2:1 with water. Make sure to use a clean filter, and once the brew cycle is finished, run another cycle with a clean filter and pure water. You'll want to run two batches with just pure water after the vinegar to make sure you don't end up with a cup of black coffee and a touch of vinegar. 

Can openers are another kitchen gadget that can't be cleaned as easily as a dish wash cycle. If the rotating wheel is starting to look filthy, dip an old toothbrush in 100% white vinegar, then turn the wheel and clean with the brush. This works for manual can openers as well as electric! 

Keep Colors Fresh

Nothing's worse than buying a new red shirt and watching it turn every other piece of clothing in the washing machine a cool pink. Sometimes this can happen even if you wash it with "like" colors! If you're worried about a bright new piece of clothing fading or running onto other shirts or towels, soak it in pure white vinegar for 10-15 minutes before the first wash. A few cups should do the trick!

by Anjie Cho

---

Visit the Holistic Spaces Store