If you’re working from home like the rest of us amid the COVID-19 pandemic, you’ll already know what a literal pain in the neck (and the back!) your makeshift office can be. Of course, sitting on your sofa whilst hunched over your coffee table isn’t the best for your body, but that doesn’t mean you can’t still work on the couch.
Contrary to popular opinion, we totally disagree with the notion that you should avoid using your sofa when working from home. In fact, we have a few golden tips on turning your sofa into the ultimate workstation!
Get a lap-desk
If you work on a laptop and like sitting on the sofa with your feet up, a lap-desk will provide just the support you need. It isn’t as heavy or bulky as a table, so it will provide you with a proper flat surface to prop your laptop and mouse on comfortably! The general rule of thumb is to always have a solid flat surface to work on. With a lap-desk, you’ll be able to have this while still being able to change your sitting position on the couch every now and then.
If you are like me and love sitting cross-legged on the couch, a side desk may be your new best friend. You’ll be able to prop your laptop on it and pull it as close to you as you need while keeping your posture upright. You can even drag it to the very side of your sofa so that you can have your own little corner work-station.
2. This neat little sofa side-end table (from Amazon)
Buy this sofa side end table
Use lumbar-support cushions
This may seem a little overkill, but the truth is most couch cushions are designed for non-productive comfort at the end of a long day. While they may be super comfy at first, you may find your back seriously hurting in the long run. Using a lumbar cushion can significantly increase your long-term comfort and overall spinal health when working remotely on the couch. For the most part, it will keep you sitting upright and better focused on your tasks.
Our picks:
1. SOFTaCARE Seat Cushion Set of 2
Buy the SOFTaCARE Cushion Set
2. This cute little lumbar support pillow (from Amazon)
Buy this lumbar support pillow
Make sure you have appropriate lighting
To avoid eye-strain and petty distractions, getting enough of the “correct” lighting is key. Too much or too little light may very well affect our productivity and eyesight in the long run. Of course, this is a matter or personal preference so be sure to spend some time looking for the best table/standing lamp or even install a dimmer to your ceiling lights at home. Whichever works! *Pro tip: get a pair of anti-blue light glasses as added protection against eye-strain caused by blue-light rays from your laptop screen.
While they may be small, these added accessories tend to get more use than you might expect. Since it molds to the shape and size of your sofa’s armrest easily, it makes an ideal addition to your lap/side-desk and offers just enough space for your drink/phone/tablet or any knick-knacks you might not want on your little desk. When your sofa isn’t serving as a workstation, you can still use the tray to put your drinks on while watching tv.
Alright, this might not be an accessory for your sofa but it does make a huge difference in comfort. Using a regular mouse actually requires us to keep our wrist upturned and this may lead to wrist strain or even carpal tunnel syndrome in the long run. The discomfort may not be so apparent when sitting at a desk, but you might feel it when you’re on the couch (especially in all the different sitting positions!). A vertical mouse allows us to keep our wrist straight while using it, which relieves a surprising amount of wrist-strain and discomfort while working.
When it’s hot and humid, a leather sofa is the worst. When it’s cold, you might want to keep warm with a velvet sofa. When you have removable slipcovers, never again do you have to be limited to the sofa you have as long as you change it up for the season.
With our slipcovers, you can even opt for smart sofa options such as built-in USB options and wireless charging pockets so that you’ll never have to leave your sofa.
Spotted something you like? Then you’re one step away from turning your sofa into the ultimate WFH station! And if you plan on switching it up with a set of Comfort Works slipcovers, be sure to give our fabric samples a test in person to find out which works best for you.
It’s been a while since many of us packed our bags and jetted off somewhere for work or pleasure. I’m starting to forget what being at an airport feels like. For some, travel has resumed, but for plant parents, it’s also the return of the anxiety of leaving their many plants for days to weeks. (But if you’re going to say months, better just stick to cacti, and even that’s a gamble.)
Reality check: choose plants that suit your hectic lifestyle. Here are five cool plants that demand very little even if you’re not around much. Or maybe you’d just really like some low-maintenance plants for a change because the frequent watering is starting to get to you and your water bill.
Hoya
Image credit: Andrea Tim
Why: Some species in this diverse genus have semi-succulent leaves that help the plant store water, allowing it to withstand a bit of drought (emphasis on ‘a bit’, because many hoya are native to Asian countries where frequent rainfall keeps them happy, hydrated, and thriving). Also, hoya flowers are the cutest!
Plant tip: Consider the more fuss-free varieties like hoya carnosa, obovata, mathilde, obscura or lacunosa.
Ficus Elastica
Image credit: Andrea Tim
Why: It’s a highly underrated plant for beginners that is super rewarding to grow with minimal care. This ficus will bounce back even if not watered for up to a week or two in a temperate environment. It is typically not prone to pest pressures, but don’t neglect it completely as stressed plants make easy targets for pests.
Plant tip: Add extra perlite or your preferred porous amendment to your medium to ensure the roots don’t suffocate in boggy soil. Be consistent with your watering where possible for the plant to thrive.
Tillandsia
Image credit: Andrea Tim
Why: Also known as air plants, tillandsias don’t need soil to grow and can be left unattended for up to a couple of weeks between waterings. They also make very pretty hanging ornaments in the home!
Plant tip: Most air plants can be soaked, but some species can be fussy about this watering method. The common tillandsia ionantha is a good one for beginners! Submerge your air plant for 30-45 minutes. Shake off excess water before placing it in a bright, well-ventilated area, but avoid extended periods of harsh sunlight.
Stephania Erecta
Image credit: Andrea Tim
Why: It’s an increasingly popular plant and for good reason – it makes quite the statement with its coin-like leaves and unique growth structure! The caudex (not bulb) stores water for the plant, meaning that it generally prefers to stay on the drier side.
Plant tip: The plant has very fine roots, so use a well-draining medium. Grow it in a bright area, but keep it out of the scorching sun, which can hurt the caudex.
Terrarium
Image credit: Susanna Marsiglia/Unsplash
Why: Okay, this is not exactly a single plant, since you can grow all sorts of humidity-loving plants in a terrarium, depending on its size. A closed terrarium can be left to its own devices as water recycling sets it up for self-nourishment for several weeks at a time.
Plant tip: If you employ artificial lighting for your terrarium, set it on a timer to run for 8-9 hours a day, so you don’t overexpose the plants to light during your absence.
But if you’re away for much longer…
Ask a friend to come in weekly to help you (gently!) water your plants. Give them the how-to before you leave. As hardy as the aforementioned plants can be, excess neglect can be a siren call for pests like spider mites, those fast little buggers.
If you still want to keep plants that get a little thirstier than others, like the easygoing heartleaf philodendron varieties, try converting them to a semi-hydroponics system, which can be more easily set up for temporary self-watering.
Andrea Tim drinks more coffee than she should and has more plants than she should. Follow her plant rants on Instagram @plantcaffeine.
The median tenure for workers aged 25 to 34 is 3.2 years. How did a 32-year-old like me end up working at the same company for eight years – and counting?
The background history
In 2009, I was an about-to-be homeless student looking for a place to stay in Melbourne. My brother’s advertising junior needed a new housemate to pay rent, and that’s how I met Henry and Rachel. For the next six months, they saw me struggling at uni while I watched them (then boyfriend and girlfriend) party hard as well as literally start what we now know as Comfort Works. Fun fact: they were originally trying to sell curtains.
Housewarming at my university accommodation, 2009
After graduating in 2012, I worked as an English and Maths tutor for a while before finally giving in and accepting a corporate job as a ‘web content developer’. The advert said it was a growing brand to 45,000 cost centres across the globe, but in reality I was only their second confirmed employee.
Start-up life was pretty fun though, and I built the foundation of my internet marketing skills here, as well as picking up some HTML and CSS – all skills that would soon come in handy.
A few months in, my brother reconnected me with Henry and Rachel. They were now married and had their first baby, Oliver. We reminisced about our uni days of infusing vodka into watermelons, and the next thing I knew, Henry had offered me a job at Comfort Works.
Honestly, I was pretty skeptical at first because it was supposed to be a 50% customer service role… and 50% everything else.
Some would say that’s the dodgiest job description in the world.
“Sounds exciting,” I thought. I took the job.
How it started
True to Henry’s word, the first thing I had to do on the job was not customer support-related. On my first day, Comfort Works was in the midst of migrating their website so I had to manually list fabric options for each product. Fun times.
That was my on-boarding. I soon learnt that if a problem arose that needed to be fixed, I would either:
Be taught to fix it there and then or
Learn to fix it there and then.
So I learnt a lot of things, really quickly.
Three months in, I went to China with Henry and Kenny to check out our workshop for the first time. It was an apartment with two rooms: one for admin and e-commerce, the other for storage and napping.
This was the first time I could see the entire supply chain at work, after I confirmed an order on the website. From bringing rolls of fabric in from the lifts, to cutting, sewing, quality testing, packing and shipping – it was an eye-opening experience. Needless to say, I was also helping out (mostly quality testing because I wasn’t really qualified to do anything else) – and partaking in the very important siesta.
Nap time in Shenzhen, China, 2013
I returned from China with a fresh pair of eyes, and great admiration for our production team.
My biggest takeaway: making a slipcover is really hard work. It was my duty as the customer-facing representative to not let our team’s craftsmanship go to waste. Gradually, I learned not to cheapen our products’ value by offering discounts, as much as customers threatened to go to the competitor. I learned to offer value, by making sure I was able to resolve every single customer’s sofa problem – even if ultimately it meant sending them to a competitor.
I learned to keep on learning. Be it customer service, sales, content writing, supply chain management, hiring, training, process optimisation, product management – you name it, I did it.
And as long as I continued to absorb new knowledge and grow with Comfort Works, I knew it wasn’t just another job to make ends meet. I had a role which pushed me to my fullest potential as long as I felt I was capable enough to do so.
How it’s going
Eight years ago we were a team of three, working in a freezing rented room no bigger than a queen-sized mattress. Now we work in a bungalow with a pool, housing close to 70 employees (although these days it’s closer to 20 people at a time thanks to Covid 19 protocol).
We’ve come a long way, and I’m truly proud to have been part of this journey.
Never did I expect to lead a team of 15 when I used to be hammering out 50 tickets a day and crafting a blogpost every week. Never did I expect to think about managing a Profit & Loss statement before I sleep, when I used to go home and dream about different fabrics and IKEA sofas.
If you’d asked me eight years ago whether I ever saw myself becoming an Operations Manager, I guess I would have cheekily said, “Maybe in 10 years?” Heck, I didn’t even think I’d get married, buy a condominium and have four three cats (R.I.P Clio)!
My wedding, 2018
The person I was back then is still who I am today: someone who has stage-fright, loves crunching numbers and will steal your fries if you’re not looking. The difference is I’ve been gradually overcoming my weaknesses and honing my strengths (you wouldn’t even know your fries are missing nowadays).
Will I ever leave Comfort Works?
No company or human being is infallible. I’d be lying if I said I’ve never considered leaving Comfort Works. In fact, I’ve spoken to Henry about it at a time when I felt like I wasn’t growing anymore. I was stuck trying to do as much work as possible to grow the business, while also trying to coach my juniors to scale it to the next level.
We had a good chat, with Henry delivering the ultimate takeaway of, “If you believe that another company is offering more than Comfort Works can – then you have my blessing.”
That’s why it resonates so much whenever I hear the phrase, “People leave managers, not the company.” It also means that we stay for the managers who coach us to become the successful professionals we should be.
Moving to another job can mean a lot of uncertainty: you don’t know what your manager, colleagues or environment are truly like until you start working with them. Sometimes you’ll find different workplace cultures incompatible with your own style of working; so I’m glad I found one that has worked for me so far.
When you’re deciding whether or not to stay in a company, think about the level of growth that you want for yourself. How much will you be able to attain at your current company? And how easily can your manager get you there? When these three are aligned (and, importantly, you’re being paid competitively to market rate), you should stay.
Don’t stay solely for the sake of loyalty, especially if you feel the workplace is negatively affecting your mental health and/or your own learning and progression. You just have to open up a conversation with your boss to work things out.
For me, so long as I’m mastering my craft and upskilling to deliver a value bigger than myself – is there really such a thing as “staying too long” in a company?
In 2010, Henry and I inherited a secondhand sofa which our cat shortly destroyed. We loved entertaining and decided that we could no longer live with such an embarrassingly ugly sofa. As luck would have it, IKEA discontinued making slipcovers for our specific model. We couldn’t afford to buy another sofa nor get it upholstered – that would have set us back thousands. So by sheer willpower and a couple of YouTube tutorials, we managed to hack together a sofa cover.
Friends and family who visited us noticed our sofa – and started paying us to make sofa covers for them. We thought they were being kind because we always ate $2 sushi rolls. But when we placed our covers on Gumtree Australia and strangers started clicking, we were ecstatic. It turned out that a lot of people had the same problem we had and they wanted to give us good money for a solution! I taped our first $100 note in my notebook.
A few months later, we accidentally forgot to turn off the international shipping option on eBay and requests started coming in from all over the world. We freaked out.
We knew we had potential, and that people wanted our products, but we knew nothing about running a business. We attended startup networking sessions, management training programs and bought lots of books on “business”. After reading the 4-Hour Work Week by Tim Ferriss, we were inspired (duped) by the idea of creating a globetrotting, coconut-sipping lifestyle business which would liberate us from the daily grind of a 9-5 job. We honestly believed that we could outsource everything, work four hours a week on any wifi-enabled beach, build passive income and join the new rich. Intoxicated by the possibility of freedom and independence, Henry quit his stable paying job, we did a fist bump and registered our business.
Brooklyn, Melbourne, 2010. Our home & garage on the right, where our first few orders were made and dispatched from.
Step 2: Quit your day job and hustle like mad.
Put yourself in my shoes for a second. You just graduated, with no real work experience, in the early stages of a relationship with a now jobless dude. I had no business starting a business. In retrospect, I can see why my mum freaked out. But I was never one who listened, and forged ahead with the blind optimism that only a 24-year-old would have. We had a plan and believed that one day we would achieve that idealised 4-hour work week. Dear 24-year-old self, it’s 2021 now. It still hasn’t happened.
Henry and I worked day and night, weekends and holidays. We had savings to last us six months, so we only outsourced what was absolutely necessary, like hiring a part-time seamstress to help us fulfill orders and a developer to build a custom e-commerce website (10 years ago there was no Wix, BigCommerce or Shopify). We pushed ourselves to develop skills like marketing, sales, customer service, design, accounting, photography, blogging and product development simply because we couldn’t afford to hire anyone else. We never thought of outside investment because: a) we didn’t know we could and b) we were only focused on making enough money to pay our bills.
We drove miles to buy old IKEA sofas and collected discontinued sofa covers from all over Melbourne so that we could learn how to make templates. Henry would memorise which days and towns had the cheapest petrol to make our dollar stretch. We cleaned, ironed, packed and carried 10-20kg parcels to the post office daily. Our house was filled with piles of fabric and old sofas. On weekends, throughout winter, we would haunt IKEA car parks just to put our flyers on people’s windshields. And when people across the world started showing interest in our product, we knew we couldn’t continue producing covers from our garage in Melbourne. It was time to move.
Shenzhen, China, 2011. Waiting for agents to speak to us about the possibility of manufacturing.
Step 3: Move to China. Without speaking Mandarin.
We sold everything we had in Melbourne and moved to Shenzhen, China – the world’s factory floor. Armed with suitcases of sofa templates and an English-Chinese dictionary, we started visiting factories with our business plan. We didn’t speak Mandarin. We didn’t know anyone. And we didn’t know anything about starting a business in China or working with the locals. They all looked at us and laughed.
“Wait, you want to produce how many models? In how many fabrics? And produce only when your customers order? At how many SKUs again? Bèndàn!” (That’s ‘idiots!’)
We thought that if we knocked on enough doors and talked to enough factories, we would find one that would work with us. No one did. We were too small and too complex. Our product had too many customisations, template variations, fabric offerings, and required just-in-time production. Factories were built for mass manufacturing and we were looking for answers in the wrong places. We didn’t have a plan B.
We wandered through street level wholesale kiosks, narrow alleyways, and low-rise “handshake buildings” (structures built so close together, neighbours could shake hands through their windows) to find someone who would work with us. We eventually found the mom & pop sewing shops, the kind that sew covers for wedding chairs, and started working with a couple of suppliers. Every day, under the scorching heat, we weaved through sardines of people on the street, carried rolls of fabric twice my height up and down stairs, hauled back finished sofa covers, each order weighing 5-7 kgs, back to our apartment to be cleaned and packed.
Some days, I wondered why we hadn’t decided on smaller, lighter products… like socks.
We sat on the floor and ate on cardboard boxes, because our tables were used for cutting fabric or packing samples. We only bought and slept on sofas because we wanted to make templates for them. We worked till 12am most days because that was when the most economical rate for logistics pickup was. It was gruelling and unglamorous.
Step 4: Drive suppliers mad with your unreasonable quality requirements.
When we had chosen to produce outside of Australia, leaving all our comforts and security behind, we knew that we would face language barriers and logistical hurdles. These sacrifices and complications would be worth it, so long as we could achieve higher gross margin at scale. But the reality was we were bootstrapped. We needed to keep our overhead costs modest, and we were trying to get our products to a worldwide audience faster than our competition in the most cost-effective manner possible.
But we also believed that the success of a brand selling a tangible product lives or dies by its quality. We were working with so many different suppliers that the quality of the finished product was inconsistent and not up to our standards. We wanted products that were well-made inside out. Even though no one really looks at the underside of a sofa cover, we cared. We wanted to give our customers a product that we would love to use in our own home. We wanted to be proud of what we put out into the world.
We would constantly get into arguments with our suppliers and be told, “In China, we can make A grade quality but you want A+++ quality. You are too demanding. No one will work with you.” They would quit, and we’d be left in the lurch.
Shenzhen, China, 2012. Ivy, AhYun and Ali, our first in-house quality control agent, seamstress and cutter.
But one of our suppliers was a husband-and-wife curtain making team, AhYun and Ali. They were unlike anyone we had ever worked with. Their shop was pristine and their sewing impeccable. They understood that we needed a quality standard that Australians were used to but we believed we could do more. We wanted to make sofa covers that looked like fitted upholstery (the industry standard then was covers that looked loose and baggy) and get people to fall back in love with their sofas again.
This vision drove us. It meant that every centimetre mattered and we would have to start from scratch every time a centimetre was off. We had finally found someone who understood the vision and could help us make it a reality. We had conversations about types of thread, the upholstery grade of our fabrics, how wide the cushion openings had to be for home-makers to slip them in easily, how to make the seat cushions non-slip and how many millimetres each sewing gap had to be.
AhYun and Ali were friendly, honest, hardworking and brilliant. It made logical sense that we asked them to close down their business to join us full time. Right?
Imagine two lǎowài (foreigners) who spoke broken Chinese asking you in broken Mandarin to give up your livelihood and join them. We weren’t too convincing. It took us six months to persuade them but they eventually said yes. We did another fist bump, rented a three-bedroom apartment, and got to work with a five-person team trying to get products shipped across the world. 10 years, 1 million sofas and 100 people later, they are still with us.
Shenzhen, China, 2021. Our leadership team in China today. AhYun, Ali and Ivy are still part of the team!
Step 5: Have a baby, move countries again, and start growing the team.
In early 2013, as the business gained traction, Henry and I were expecting our first child. We soon realised that growing a business is a lot like a newborn. Both are extremely demanding and have no respect for your sleep schedule, your bank balance, your emotional or mental health. The journey was equal parts euphoric and terrifying. We knew we needed help.
We moved to Malaysia, my hometown, for family support. Henry spent the next few months flying back and forth between Malaysia and China while I regained my balance. We fell in love with Malaysia and decided that we would build our headquarters here. While our Shenzhen office focused on supply, our Kuala Lumpur office would create demand. We shifted gears and started working on growing a team.
For first-time founders, hiring your first key team members is a huge step (and responsibility). With a newborn in the mix, we were losing our marbles. We sacrificed our own pay to make room for our first few hires: Kenny, our designer and Chuck, our first dedicated customer experience agent. Then we kicked ourselves for not doing it sooner because they were more than worth it. Things that would have taken us weeks were doable in days. Entire work streams disappeared from our to-do list. Suddenly we had extra bandwidth to tackle other business needs.
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 2013. Working from my mum’s dining table while taking care of a newborn. It got pretty lonely sometimes, so Kenny and Chuck would also migrate from the storage unit to keep me company.
Our first ‘office’ in Malaysia was a storage room at the back of an event company in Kelana Jaya. The room was big enough to fit one single executive table which Henry, Kenny and Chuck mostly shared. We stayed there for the next two years. As the business grew, we hired more people and moved out of the storage room, but for years we kept to a team size suitable for two large pizzas. We worked on personal laptops and had zero processes and zero HR policies. We were action-oriented and opportunity-driven. Nobody paid attention to documentation, titles, systems, or procedures. In order to secure positive cash flow, long-term planning often took a back seat. Each day brought unique problems, which required creativity and agility to solve and we valued making decisions quickly. Everyone was busy trying to keep the business afloat.
Step 6: Keep growing, keep learning
Comfort Works has grown from a garage in Melbourne to a 15,000 sqft workshop in Shenzhen and a company headquarters with a pool in Kuala Lumpur. It was forged over the years, not just by Henry and I, but with a team of a hundred brilliant, driven, humble individuals across the world. It progressed from selling covers of five to six templates to building the world’s biggest library of sofa covers and saving over 1 million sofas from the landfill. The journey hasn’t been easy or comfortable. We certainly didn’t get everything right, and we still don’t. But perfection isn’t what we are after, progress is.
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 2020. The Comfort Works team in Malaysia.
As the company grows in size and scope, we will continue to face obstacles and issues. It is a different set of problems to the ones we’ve experienced when we were a small scrappy startup. But building a business is all about facing those challenges head on and mindfully scaling. The best memories we have and the best stories we share are when we struggled, punched above our weight and got through to the other side. Although these challenges might seem unique to us now, they’re often universal to any company that’s lucky enough to experience scale.
Yes, we are the lucky few. We are thankful that we didn’t have to do it all alone. We were never meant to. Having the right team dedicated to building a great culture together has made the journey forever special.
So, you’ve already given your WFH set up a refresh. The essentials taken care of to make your one space serve two purposes. At this point, it looks like we won’t be going back into offices anytime soon. By now, the novelty of being at home while working has worn off.
What your current WFH situation may be missing is switches – rituals and small habit shifts to turn your home into office mode, and for you to turn on your work mode. The best thing about switches? You can always turn them off.
Build some boundaries with the help of work ‘buttons’ you can install into your home. It’s the only way we’ll be able to get through this (what seems probable) endemic, with all our faculties and sanities intact.
Get dressed (up)
Even if it’s just from the waist up, it’s more than half the battle won. Yes, wearing non-stretchy pants at home feels weird but try putting on a nice top and starting your day with a light skincare and makeup routine. With or without a Zoom meeting in your calendar – a fresh pop of colour on your lips or a swipe of eyeliner will make you feel like you’re ‘showing up’. Also, let’s be real – are any of our lipstick collections seeing the light of day with all of that mask-wearing?
Discover your ‘Let’s Get Down to Business’ ritual
If you’re using a space in your house that doubles up as your desk or home office, then a ritual to transform the space makes all the difference. It could be swapping out the dining chair to your desk chair, or setting up your laptop table, or setting up all the sofa cushions in a corner. It may seem tedious – but this rote daily habit will kickstart your brain into getting ready for business. For me, it’s opening the blinds, filling a jug of water and placing an empty glass next to me as I settle into work.
If you share a home with other humans (and/or pets), then it’s more than just carving out a physical space. It could just be the simple act of putting on your blue screen glasses, your noise-cancelling earphones or switching on a desk diffuser.
Also, there’s nothing like music to hype you up! Consider building a ‘switch-on work’ music playlist to kick off your ritual.
If you already use the Pomodoro technique for productivity, kudos to you. To the uninitiated, Pomodoro is a time management method using a timer to break work down into intervals – traditionally 25 minutes each and separated by short breaks. The Focus To-Do app takes it one step further – it takes your to-do list and bakes it into a Pomodoro timer. Make a list, decide how much time each task will take, and get started!
It seems like a no-brainer but a beeped timer will keep you from getting distracted with overly ambitious tasks.
Honour that lunch break!
A lunch break is the best way to remind you that work is work. Order a lunch delivery in advance, or prepare it the night before. If you were at the office, you’d stop for lunch too. That shouldn’t change at home – use it to step away from your work zone, meaning no eating at your desk, even if it’s the dining table! Find another part of the house to eat at and if the dining table is your only option, then try it on the other side where your workspace is not set up.
Boundaries, a concept! It’s one that’ll change your WFH life, even if it’s not literal spaces carved out for an office at home. All that work may seem tedious, but when you do clock off and ‘go home’ aka packing up your computer and makeshift office for the day, switching off work mode will feel that much sweeter as you settle into the sofa to unwind.
Mabel Ho is a writer and editor. She loves pop culture criticism and podcasts, often listening to them at 1.5x speed like a monster. Follow her at @lynnegweeny
A couple of months ago, we interviewed Comfort Works users about their favourite activities at home. At the end of these long and heartfelt conversations, we found that most of us have two things in common:
1) Family time at home is one of the most important parts of our lives, and
2) The couch is the heart of the living room!
Image credit: Pexels
As couch nerds, we totally understand the significance of a sofa at home. Whether you’re a small family of two or a loving couple with five furkids, quality time at home is irreplaceable.
And most times, so is your couch. We’re of the opinion that nearly every sofa in the world can be saved, and the easiest way to do it is by choosing the best sofa materials for your family and lifestyle, and getting the most out of every moment.
The best material for dogs and cats (the children we can never say no to)
What’s the best couch material for dogs?
Go for velvets, cottons, or even polyester for something durable and easy to wash. You’ll want something that can take a good pounce (for bigger doggies) but still stay in place and feel comfortable.
Polyester: Abrasion-resistant, making it perfect for dogs…yes, even big ones.
Cottons
Cottons are generally durable and anything between a duck canvas to a tight-weave cotton material will hold up well. They’ll also feel softer and more comfortable over time, wash and with use. If you love a soft, simple look, try our Madison Cotton.
Velvets
Velvets offer great practicality and great comfort. They also make beautiful additions to a home. Soft and easy to fall asleep on, velvet is absolutely perfect for cuddling! The tight-knit weaves of the fabric prevent claws from getting snagged so you don’t have to worry too much about those kinds of accidents, either. (We even have a special claw-proof velvet.)
Polyester
Polyester will provide more use at the end of the day, as it can generally take more rubs and sit-downs while retaining a clean, neat look. While it may not feel as soft or as smooth as cotton, it can be easily washed so that’s a plus.
Leather
Leather is also a good option, as it can easily be wiped off without further fuss. You don’t have to worry about fibres getting caught in claws, or soaking up accidents. Small con: leather isn’t as breathable as fabric-type materials.
What you should definitely avoid
Soft, delicate fabrics
If your dogs are large and love to jump on the couch, we’d recommend steering clear of the lighter and softer side of things. While undoubtedly comfy, softer and more delicate fabrics (like linen, for instance) cannot take too much washing, drying or rough use.
The loose weaves have a tendency to lose their shape when used roughly. Heat exposure from frequent washing and drying will further derail the material as it shrinks and expands. Without proper care, the lifespan of your couch’s upholstery or covers may be considerably shortened.
Fabric blends
Fabrics that are made of two or more kinds of fibres naturally tend to pill more than others. This happens when the different fibres become tangled together and pushed out to the surface.
Blends may be pretty, but the material does become thinner over time, so they aren’t the most suitable for a household where sturdiness is needed, unfortunately!
Image credit: Comfort Works
What’s the best couch material for cats?
The key is to look for the tightest, closest-knitted fabrics possible. The tighter the weave, the harder it will be for your cats to literally get their claws into it. This will allow your couch to survive more claw-related incidents without losing its looks, practicality or comfort.
Velvets
Velvet is our first pick. It’s harder to scratch up compared to fabrics and is easy to clean. Most of the time, a simple swipe takes the fur right off the fabric surface.
Cotton would also be a good bet, provided you pick a tightly woven variety. There are many different textures of cotton, but we have found that cotton generally doesn’t feel scratchy and most of them are suitable for all-around use.
The best part is how simple it is to look after. Even if your cat makes a mess, a quick rinse generally does the trick!
What you should definitely avoid
Fabrics with large and rough weaves
Any kind of loose weave may catch kitty claws, even when they’re merely walking over the couch. Over time, you’ll be dealing with possibly derailed seams, tears and snags all over.
The scratchy texture may also entice some cats to start clawing at the sofa, which often turns it into a scratching post. The same can be said for fuzzy fabrics like wool!
Leathers
Leathers, too, collect scratches easily. We have had readers (and customers) share that their cat’s claws leave marks on the couch even just by walking on it. Bummer!
What about the best couch material for kids?
There are so many factors to consider when thinking of kids, but we’ve narrowed it down to three simple points: comfort, practicality, and aesthetics!
Comfort is for everyone at home.
Look for the material that feels the best on your skin. For optimum comfort, we always recommend sticking to natural fibres like cotton and linen as these get so much softer over time. They are also breathable, so it is easy to spend time on the couch without getting too stuffy or feeling too cold.
Velvets can be incredibly luxurious too, so they’re a good option if you just want that buttery soft feeling.
Practicality is all about finding what works for us and our families every day.
If your living room is a high-traffic area, then the ideal material would be one that is relatively hard-wearing and easy to wash. Usually, this means an upholstery made of cotton or a smooth kind of polyester.
Enjoy the occasional wine-and-dine (and have friends that can’t seem to stop spilling theirs on your couch)? The obvious choice would then be a fabric that is treated with liquid resistance for a super quick cleanup. Think of Scotchguard on your sofa; that’s generally what you’ll want your couch material to be.
Living with pets and kids? Then aim for something as close to indestructible as possible. We’d always stick to velvets for this one. Rule of thumb: the shorter and tighter the weave, the harder it is to destroy. Cats, dogs, and even kids will have a really hard time scratching that up!
Living room aesthetics – who says looks aren’t important?
If you know the style you’re after, choosing the right type of fabric in the right type of colour is essential. Going for a minimalistic vibe? Then you’d probably want something sleek and neutral in tone, like a skirtless velvet sofa in medium grey.
Or, are you leaning towards a farmhouse finish? Then you’re probably on the hunt for something with a fresh crisp overall, like a sofa with pleated skirts in a beige to cream linen material.
In this day and age, the possibilities are seemingly endless, but there is always something for everyone.
Spotted something you like? Take our fabric samples for a test drive and find the one that works best for your house and lifestyle – we’ve got over 70 fabric options to choose from! When you’ve found your favourite, upgrade your existing sofawith our bespoke slipcovers.
