Sitting pretty in a sofa
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Choosing a sofa-set with equal emphasis on elegance as well as comfort is indeed a tough task, says Swathi. V
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Photo: Satish. H
One for everyone: Sofa sets on display at a showroom in city. -
The largest spending spree after the construction of a new house would be on furnishing it. Cosy bedrooms, comfy kitchens and classy showers are what most people look for in their dream abode. However, welcoming a guest into the house is the incontrovertible prerogative of a drawing room. And the largest chunk of space even in a dwarf of a drawing room is devoted for the seating arrangement.
Selection of a proper seating arrangement, like everything else, depends upon the purse and the proportion. Sinking into the soft invitation of a sofa cushion was, once upon a time, a luxury that only the upper-crust could afford. The rule had to change with the upwardly mobile middle-class seeking opulence on par with their rich brethren.
However, choosing a sofa-set with equal emphasis on elegance as well as comfort is indeed a tough task.
“Nowadays customers prefer sofa sets inclusive of diwans,” says Amit Bantia of Bantia Furnitures in Secunderabad. Their seating plans include diwans along with 3-seaters, 2-seaters and singles ranging from Rs.14,000 to Rs. 1 lakh. The latest fad is for multi-hued sofas, which come with the seat and the backrest in one colour and the bottom and the side in another.
“Brown is the preferred colour for the seat because it doesn’t get soiled very easily. For hands and the bottom cream looks wonderful,” says Mr. Amit.
Talk of multi-coloured sofas and Mr. Ramesh Gupta of Srushti Bath’s and Interiors gets all perked up about the range available at his new showroom in Banjara Hills. The exquisite designs and colours there will put the customers into a selection fix. Perhaps to facilitate choice, he set up concept sitting areas and bedrooms where the customers could get a fair idea of how the furniture in question would contribute to the aesthetics of their home.
A textured fabric sofa-set with diwan costs about Rs.44,000 at Srushti. A Polyurethane piece with three-plus-two-plus-one arrangement looks much sober but would come for nothing less than Rs.1,13,000.
“Polyurethane is sweat resistant, will not fade and has a longer life,” explains Mr.Ramesh. Swab it with soap and water, you will still have it intact.
However, attractive multi-coloured pieces from Malaysia and Dubai outdo everything else in aesthetics as well as economics. One peep at the low-height cuties will amaze you at the miracles wrought by creative designing. These miracles are available in a range of Rs.25,000 to Rs.57,000. Each set comes with sufficient number of pillow cushions. However, if you are the one whose brows would knot at the mention of furniture without a glimpse of wood, then these sofa-sets are not for you.
“Rubber wood from China and Malaysia is replacing teak these days. Only the rich and affluent care for teak wood,” says Amit. Rubber wood is available for as little as Rs.12,000.
His showroom boasts a sofa that could also serve as a bed when its backrest is loosened. He recommends it for guest houses and hotels. Sofas with storage, however, are a pass now. They are used only in cities having space crunch.
Amit recommends framed sofas with zipped cushion covers for “kid-infested” households.
“It would help one to wash off the stains easily,” he says.
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