Certainly the largest piece of furniture in your home, and one that says the most about the overall design style of your home is your sofa. Some prefer the straight lines and minimal design of contemporary sofas. Others like sofas with lots of soft cushy pillows and floral patterns. Still others like sectional sofas. Today sofas come in literally hundreds of styles with endless choices of upholstery. You can order your sofa mail order through companies like Pottery Barn and Crate and Barrel. Most people will tell you that after style the most important thing they look for in a sofa is comfort. Choosing the right style of sofa to enhance your home is key. There are many different styles of sofa to choose from, but most manufacturers break them down into two distinct styles, traditional and contemporary. For instance, more traditional styles of sofa would include barrel back, English arm, tufted back, tight back and tuxedo. However, depending on fabric choices a Tuxedo sofa could be used in a contemporary home. Contemporary styles include sock arm, channel back and sectional. Some sofas come with pillows attached to the sofa, some come with loose pillows that you can free style any way you choose. Another thing that gives your sofa a definite style is fabric choice. When you visit most furniture stores you'll have the ability to first choose the style sofa you want and then pick your choice of fabric. Some manufacturers have 30 or more different fabrics you can choose from when you are designing a sofa, with the only limit being how much money you want to spend. The choice of fabric can add thousands of dollars to the final cost of a sofa. Bold bright colors and geometric designs would be used on contemporary sofas and softer muted colors and prints would be used on traditional sofas.

Leather sofas are very popular. With routine care leather is a very durable upholstery choice on a sofa. You'll want to keep a leather clean and moisturized.

Another sofa option you will want to consider is whether you want a sofa bed, also known as a sleeper sofa, or a reclining sofa or a convertible sofa. Obviously a sleeper sofa or convertible sofa can come in very handy as an extra bedroom for someone who may live in an apartment or have a smaller home who still wants to be able to accommodate guests overnight.

As with any major purchase, shop around. Look around online at different sofa selections so that you can get an idea of what you want before you visit store after store after store. If you see a sofa doing an online search you should be able to find a store that sells that particular brand.

Another great sofa option you may want to consider is a reclining sofa. It really is the best of both worlds. Sofas that are reclining sofas generally have two seats that recline, for maximum comfort. You can get a reclining sofa in most styles, contemporary and traditional.

The most important thing is that our sofa is comfortable for you. Sit in it, recline back if it's a recliner, lie down across it, after all, that's where you'll be napping, isn't it?