How I came to realize that I’m a sofa-snob
I don’t consider myself a particularly picky person. Or at the very least, I think that I’m much less picky than I used to be. Sure, there are a few things that I can be particular about, but generally speaking, I feel I like to keep my options open and hear others’ opinions. If it’s not something overly important, it’s best not to sweat it, in my opinion.
Apparently not when it comes to couches, however. This evident sofa-snobbery is a recent revelation. I would have never pinned myself for one to be so choosy when it comes to comfortable seating, but over the course of a weekend, it is something that became obvious.
It came of a bit of a shock, personally, to discover I have such deepseated (pun not intentional, but here we are) tastes when it comes to loveseats and sectionals. Mikaela and I have done a fair bit of refurnishing as of late, and while I’ve had my opinions on certain things, my approach has been largely one of “well, if you like it” and letting her pick out whatever it is that suits her fancy. I’m sure it helps that her tastes and mine generally overlap and if there is something that I really don’t like, I’ll make it known, but for the most part I had chalked it up to the fact that I wasn’t particularly picky when it came to these types of things. As long as it functions and isn’t 70s burnt orange, it’ll get a passing grade from me.
But, oh no, not when it came time to find a seating set for the living room.
As we walked through Ashley Furniture and the Furniture & ApplianceMart and Mikaela asked the obligatory question of “well, what do you like?” I fully expected to give my typically vague answer and just go with the flow. To my great surprise, opinions on material, firmness and color flowed forth. Apparently, I had very specific wants and needs when it came to where I would be relaxing for the foreseeable future, and I had no idea where they came from.
It needed to be something sleek, but also comfortable. A perfect middle ground between soft and firm, and something that would be warm in the winter and cool in the summer. The margins for error on the specs of this hypothetical sofa were slim and finding one that matched would certainly be a bit of an adventure.
I think my more solid opinions on this particular bit of furniture also surprised Mikaela, as she started to become frustrated that we weren’t finding anything that matched both of our wants. We walked around for quite some time without finding anything that particularly caught our eye, with each piece having one thing or another that earned a “no” from us.
At some point, I was ready to concede that we wouldn’t find anything that day, a result that I was fine with but that only seemed to build my wife’s frustration. If walking away empty handed wasn’t an option, I was ready to concede that what I was looking for didn’t really matter all that much (which, while not entirely true, seemed like the more agreeable of the available options), but given that nothing had really struck her fancy either, the point was largely moot.
But that’s when we found it. The living room set we had been searching for all this time.
From afar, it looked like a gift dropped from the heavens. But this wasn’t the first to have gotten such high marks from just the eye-test, so I remained skeptical as we approached. We had been fooled before, and it still remained to be see if it would pass the comfort barrier.
It only took a moment to realize that this particular set passed that with flying colors. I looked over to Mikaela to see her reaction and, upon seeing it, I knew that we were on the same page. This was it. This was what we had been looking for. Our impeccable taste had found the diamond in the rough, and we walked out of the store confident in our choice.
Later that evening, while sitting down in my parents’ living room to watch whatever sporting event was on, I came to another realization. With my newfound critical perspective for all things sofas and loveseats, I saw the couch I had just sat myself on with new eyes. And what I saw I could scarcely believe.
If you ever come to realize that you have the same taste in couches as your parents, I can only send you my sincerest regards, as one who has come to the same conclusion.
Ah well, at least I know it’s a good couch.
A C ertain Point of V iew
