Interior of sofa?

Sofa is in a lot of ways similar to a mattress. A lot of times the importance/emphasis is understated, due to the fact that we spend more of our time on a mattress than on a sofa. Usually the emphasis or time spent on choosing a piece of furniture is in direct correlation to the amount of time we spent on this piece of furniture.

Sofa is usually the next most important thing as it’s the other thing that we will have direct body contact with and giving us the comfort which we seek.

Like I mentioned in my previous post, there are different material being used for the interior of a sofa. At times it might be even more complicated than a mattress, which a lot of people are having difficulty in choosing one.

As indicated in the diagram, underneath the seat cushion, there are springs support, however at times there are also sofa with leather belting system, replacing the spring seat springs. A sofa comprises of a wooden structure, then within the seat there are either foam, spring, pocketed spring or polyester or even a combination of all this being laid before the external “wrapping” of the sofa.

One common misconception is the external cover of the sofa matters the most in whether it’s a warm or not so warm. But the most important determining factor is the internal of the sofa. I would like to emphasis on the fact that the softer the sofa the warmer it is. Thus when the interior of the seat or the back is polyester, it will be softer, than it tends to sink in and almost definitely it will be warmer.

Looking at the above one would safely say that a wooden or even a stone sofa tend to be the least warm. Will I have to agree, but a lot of times its not that easy to find a wooden sofa that would blend into our design and there would definitely some compromise on the comfort level.

Thus for those out there who like a softer sofa like me, there is definitely a trade off between the comfort level and how warm the sofa.

A lot of people rush into getting a L-shape sofa just because its something that they never had before and feels that its something different. Though to me its so cliché that I see it like 8 out of 10 new house which I went to. Before deciding on a L-shape you have to see the layout of your house and decide whether it fit into your living room and leaving enough space to watch and not blocking the window. Therefore meaning you would need to decide to L on which side of the sofa. Though some can shift to the left or right whenever you like, but there are some which you need to decide the direction during upon order.

A 3 seater + 2 seater is usually cheaper than 3 + 1 + 1 because of the 2 extra set of armrest and the extra amount of material needed. When deciding on the number of seater you need or whether you like a L-shape sofa or just a 3 seater, please take your measurement 1^st before going to source for your sofa. Else a lot of time the sofa might turn out bigger than you imagine when placed in your home.

Which material is warmer for my sofa?

Been pretty busy lately due to shortage of manpower. Thus you might realise the time lapse since my last post.
Today let’s look at 1 of the most important piece of furniture in the living room. “SOFA !!!”
I always hear people telling me ‘oh leather sofa not so warm right? The pvc sofa warmer right? ’ Well, i can only say it’s true to a certain extent. Why? Whether it’s warm or not, it’s all dependent on your environment and to me both are warm.

You might have the same experience of how come the sofa is so comfortable when i tried it in the showrooms but how come it feels so different when placed in my house? The reason is simple, when you tried it in showrooms you are in an air con environment thus most of the sofa you tried feels quite comfortable and when in your home, most probably, you do not on your air con most of the time right?
In my opinion, all sofa will be warm, its just the difference of how long does it take before you feel the heat or the sweat dripping from your back.
Assuming all condition the same, i.e same sofa, place at same place but with different material, making things easy to understand, you might start to sweat on a pvc sofa in 10 mins, a PU sofa 15mins and a leather sofa 20min and a fabric sofa 25mins. The numbers are just for illustration purpose but if i were to rank their heat dissipitating abilities i would rank them as follows, assuming we are comparing the better grade of the individual material.

1) Fabric (preferable 100% cotton)
2) Genuine leather
3) PU
4) PVC

One most important aspect to take note is that the softer the sofa, which most people consider as more comfortable, it will be warmer. Reason being that when it is softer, our body tend to sink in more at the back and the seat thus not leaving any room for your body to “breath”. That’s also why when we sit on a wooden sofa its more cooling.
Thus whether a sofa is warm or not, its not only dependent on the material of the material covering the sofa but also the material underneath. I’ll touch on this more in my next post. Hopefully i'll have time to touch on how to choose the ideal sofa for your living room.

3 things to do to alleviate the problems of a warm mattress?

“i love this mattress leh, but i heard that memory foam and latex very warm leh, so how???”

All the different materials will have their pros and cons, and not all are made the same. So we must take note of certain things during our search for the ideal mattress, else we can only use “add-ons” to improve the conditions.

After more or less decided on the type of mattress you like, you might want to note the materials that are used to wrap the mattress. Some materials are better is dissipating heat and some are not as efficient. Most commonly used materials are as follows:-

1) Polyester

2) Bamboo fibre

3) Cotton (different variation of cotton)

Careful choice of material of the mattress fabric

Polyester are usually used in the lower end mattress, as they tend to give a less natural feel thus not as comfy as cotton. It’s a less breathable product, when not allowed to breath; your body will feel the heat faster.

Bamboo fibre, the fabric is made from the fibre of bamboo, (yeah i know its obvious), this material is more organic and are eco friendly. To some extent its antibacterial, the fabric is very soft and can be worn directly next to the skin. Bamboo also has many antibacterial qualities, which bamboo fabric is apparently able to retain, even through multiple washings. This helps to reduce bacteria that thrive on clothing and cause unpleasant odours. More importantly, it has insulating properties and will keep the wearer cooler in summer and warmer in winter.

Cotton is one of the most popular and commonly found material, be it in bed sheets or clothing. There are also numerous variation to cotton. Such as combed cotton, egyptian cotton, sateen etc. Combed cotton is an extremely soft version of cotton made by specially treating the cotton fibres before they are spun into yarn thus softer to the feel. Egyptian cotton are the standard in high quality bedding. It is considered the “king of all cottons” due to its luxurious feel and its durability. Egyptian cotton is a very breathable fabric. It also resists piling, as the cotton plants used to make it don’t produce a lot of lint. Even though new sheets may start out a little coarse, they will become softer with each washing. Thus its also one of the not so warm fabric around.

Adding a mattress protector

By adding a layer of mattress protector, it has a few advantages,

1) It will add a layer between your body and the mattress thus cushioning out some heat generated from the mattress materials.

2) At the same time it could also add the soft and comfy feel to your mattress

3) It protects your mattress from stains such as sweat, children peeing, etc.

Bed sheets

Bed sheets are one of the most important and final touch to your prized trophy after that long search for the mattress. Its the one that is in direct contact to your body and by choosing the right fabric material, it could dissipate the heat and make your sleep more comfortable. Most people talk about thread count, but most people ignore or neglect the measurement unit. Thread count refers to the number of tread running vertically and horizontally within per square unit. Most people only look at the number thinking the larger the number the better, WRONG!! Or you can say half correct.

Most importantly you must look at the unit of measurement, is it per 10cm square or per square inch (both unit are pretty common in the market). For example if the number is 300 it could measure better than one that indicates 450. Cos per square inch is about 6.45 square cm, thus having 300 per square inch is better than having 450 per 10cm square which is a larger area. Its like saying having 10 players on a basketball court is being more spacious than having 22 players on a football field?

Tread count also determine how durable the fabric, the softness and how it feels when touched.

The type of commonly found material is as per the mattress, polyester, bamboo fibre, satin, combed cotton, Egyptian cotton, etc.

Quality:price ratio of Mattress

I’ve been thru a number of forums recently and the number one misconception is “…the more expensive mattress the better it is...” though it is true to a certain extent, but in my opinion it is more of a half truth.

As I always advocate, 一分钱一分货, a cent paid is a cent of quality and much as we would like to have it in the quality:price ratio of 1:1, this may not always be the case with mattress. As highlighted in the graph, the ratio is closer to 1:1 when the price range of the mattress is less than $1k. However when the price exceed this mark, the ratio usually drop to 1:1.2, as it moves towards $1.5k, it tend to drop further to 1:1.5. When the pricing goes past the $2k mark, it’s more like 1:2 or even less.

So where does the excess money goes to? And why the difference in ratio? The missing dollars usually goes to the cost of branding, A&P, rental cost within large shopping malls etc.

Just ask yourself some simple questions:-
1) If the cost of the item is the same, wouldn’t the retailers with more costly rental need to charge more to cover their overheads?
2) If someone tell you the discount is 50% so how much would their margin be prior to this?
3) Would anyone in the right mind be selling an item at a loss?

The more expensive mattresses usually plays on human psychology and the perceived value rather than the actual value. (Note that it’s the value and not the price which I am referring to). This is similar to buying branded apparels which is working more on our perceived rather than actual value.

But do take care to note that I am not saying a $1.5k mattress is better than a $2k mattress, but rather the additional $500 you are paying, are you getting the same amount of quality in return?

Irregardless of the price of the mattress, be it a $300 or a $3000 mattress, as long as you are comfortable and feels good sleeping on this mattress, then it is a good mattress.

Bottomline is buy what we can afford and don't look back, just enjoy the shopping experience and sleep well.

The above numerical example is purely base on my personal observation and experience.

Preparations before sourcing for furniture

Being well prepared prior to purchasing furniture could saves you time and money and also giving you more flexibility. I believe in being well prepared not only when purchasing furniture, but it applies to a lot of aspects in life. We can’t plan or be prepared for all possibilities but we can try to minimise the uncertainty.

1) Always measure the area and place where you want to place the furniture

- If possible, mark out the area of the furniture to help you visualise the amount of walking area free space available after placing the furniture

2) Do note if there are beams across the wall.

- Most HDB rooms would have a beam across 1 of the 4 walls in the room.

- It is especially important when you are buying a wardrobe as the beam would determine whether you could get a tall wardrobe or the short one?

- Sometimes for feng shui purpose it might affect whether you want to place a bed there

3) Have your floor plan ready

- The original plan, because any experienced sales person would be able to tell you the recommended size of the furniture which you could get.

- It would be useful when determining the size of the cupboard, tv cabinet or a sofa etc.

4) Things look bigger when place @ your home?

- Usually a piece would look smaller @ the showroom due to the amount of space available in the showroom, coupled with the lighting and the high ceiling, the piece of furniture might look smaller than it really is.

- High chance the furniture would look bigger when place in your house and I have heard of people saying “wah the thing look so small when I saw it at where and where, but come to my house it look so big….”

- Personally I would always ask the customer staying in how many room flats and living in which area to have a rough idea of their layout and floor area. I have seen so many customer who like those big and bulky sofa which no doubt looks good and comfortable, but upon knowing they stay in a smaller floor area house, I would always remind them and recommend them to take a 3 seater sofa only instead of the whole set of 3+1+1 or 3+2.

5) Be realistic

- Plan your budget beforehand

- Are you the type who likes to change furniture or the look of your house every now and then?

- It’s always better to give yourself ample time when purchasing furniture for maximum flexibility. You might extremely like a particular design but due to the fact that there is no stock for it, you might have to change your preference.

- Most important is not to hope for the sky when you are paying peanuts.

One real life eg is I ever encountered a customer coming in saying” I’m looking for a chest of drawers, but I have a budget cant expensive.” Thus I showed them the $100+ range, but the response was “but it look so cheap leh” when presented the more elegant and solid type $200+range, “wah so expensive arr” do you guys thinks this couple is realistic?

Everyone like “nice and cheap” but in this world, its always一分钱一分货, though the correlation may not always be 1:1.If you prefer coffee over kopi-o you also have to add another 10 cents right?