That large piece of upholstered furnishings for your lounge, where multiple folks can sit down at a time, and is perchance positioned basically based on the TV: Is it a sofa or a settee? This will seemingly also sound love a form of regional language questions (love “soda” vs. “pop” vs. “Coke”), however in this case, a sofa and a settee are surely two diversified objects of furnishings. Here’s what you would possibly perchance well well perchance must learn about what devices the two styles of seating apart.
The adaptation between a sofa and a settee
Even though we can also utilize the phrases interchangeably now, couches and sofas didn’t initiate out as the similar originate of furnishings. Here’s Meghan Overdeep from Southern Living with a like a flash historical past lesson:
Historically speaking, sofa and sofa are two diversified issues. The time length “sofa” is believed to hold reach from the French observe “couche,” which is aged to command “a a part of furnishings with out a hands aged for mendacity.” On the other hand, Merriam-Webster defines a “sofa” as “a protracted, upholstered seat on the total with hands and a lend a hand, and on the total convertible right into a mattress.”
In the aged days, it appears to be like that the adaptation between a sofa and a settee needed to create with hands—or lack thereof. Which manner, technically speaking, “sofa” is the goal time length.
However this day, most folk exterior the furnishings and invent professions don’t design a distinction between the two objects.
What to know when furnishings having a search
Even though trips to a furnishings or division store have to no longer any longer the single ways to raise couches and sofas, some folks create receive to envision one out earlier than procuring for it—even in the occasion that they did their preliminary having a search online. And it’ll also appear love there are unending choices when it involves couches/sofas, however as soon as you would possibly perchance well well perchance hold a particular size, model, or imprint vary in mind, you would possibly perchance well well perchance also receive that your picks are extra cramped than you idea.
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So if you’re searching for a couch to fit your needs and coming up short, try doing the search using the term “sofa” instead. At this point, even furniture manufacturers use the words interchangeably, so the product description may not match the historical arms/no arms distinction (though it can come in particularly handy when shopping for vintage furniture).
But if you’re lucky enough to be working with a professional interior designer, or shopping at a higher-end furniture store, there’s a better chance that they’ll use the word according to their original meaning.
Another tip: If you’re looking to buy a loveseat (a small sofa that accommodates two people) or a sectional, they would possibly perchance well well be listed below the “sofa” category on furnishings internet sites.
