Comfort · The later life chapter

A sofa that is Easy to get up From.

Getting older has its upsides and its downsides. Being stuck in a sofa you cannot get out of need not be one of them. Because ours are made to order, the height of the seat, the depth, the firmness of the cushions and the shape of the back can all be made for you, and it will still look like a beautiful sofa, because it is one.

Sophie Conran sitting forward on a striped sofa with her hands on the seat, about to stand — Sophie at home · sitting on an Isobel sofa in Chocolate fine stripe organic cotton

Getting older has its upsides. You know what you like, and you have stopped apologising for it. You have the time, at last, to sit down in the afternoon with a book and a cup of tea, and the good sense to do exactly that.

It has its downsides too, and I am not going to pretend otherwise. Knees. Backs. The small indignity of needing a run-up to get out of a chair. But being uncomfortable in your own sitting room, or quietly trapped in a sofa you cannot get out of, does not have to be one of them. That one, at least, we can do something about.

Sophie Conran in a pink pleated dress, arms wide, laughing in a pink drawing room — The upsides · Sophie at home

Two people laughing together on a grey wool sofa in a timber-clad room — The upsides · Coco in a grey wool

I am sixty now, and I have started to notice it myself. The sofas I fell for at thirty, the deep, low, sink-in-and-disappear sort, are not always the ones I want to get up from at the end of an evening.

A great many of the people who write to us say the same thing. Sometimes it is about a parent, and often it is about themselves. The sofa is too low. It is too soft. The seat is so deep that you either perch on the front edge or slide back and slump. There is nothing firm to push against when you want to stand, and not much behind you once you are sitting. And then there is the plumping, which nobody has the energy for every single day.

The answer the furniture world usually offers is a special chair. You know the sort. Perfectly sensible, and the last thing anyone wants in the middle of their sitting room.

I think there is a better answer, and it is the reason we make our sofas the way we do. Every one is made to order, so almost everything about how it sits can be made for you. The height of the seat. The depth of the seat. How firm the cushions are and how quickly they spring back. The height and firmness of the back. None of these change how the sofa looks. They change how it feels to live with, and how easy it is to get up and put the kettle on.

What we can change, at a glance

Barton Coco Isobel

An illustrated Barton sofa with seven numbered callouts: back cushions, seat cushions, seat depth, seat height, arms, fabric and covers, and the hidden frame — Barton · seven things we can change, none of them visible from across the room

An illustrated Coco sofa with seven numbered callouts: back cushions, seat cushions, seat depth, seat height, arms, fabric and covers, and the hidden frame — Coco · seven things we can change, none of them visible from across the room

An illustrated Isobel sofa with seven numbered callouts: back cushions, seat cushions, seat depth, seat height, arms, fabric and covers, and the hidden frame — Isobel · seven things we can change, none of them visible from across the room

Questions, answered honestly

What seat height is best as you get older?

There is no single number, because it depends on the length of your lower leg. The guide is feet flat on the floor with your knees level with your hips or a little below. For many people that means a seat between 48cm and 55cm, which is higher than most sofas. Our standard seats run from 45cm to 55cm and we can go higher.

Can you make the seat firmer without it feeling hard?

Yes. The trick is a firmer core wrapped in feather and down, so the cushion is firm underneath and soft where you touch it. Fibre-filled cushions are firmer still and hold their shape beautifully. Tell us how you like to sit and we will suggest the right filling.

Will a higher or firmer sofa look different?

No. The frame, the shape and the fabric are exactly the same. A few centimetres of extra height or a shallower seat are invisible from across the room, and firmness cannot be seen at all.

Can one end of the sofa be different from the other?

If one of you likes to sink in and the other needs to sit up, do ask. The seat cushions are separate pieces, and we can talk through making them differently for each seat.

Does any of this cost more?

Many of these choices are simply part of our made to order service rather than an extra. Where a change needs more material or a different specification, it may affect the price, and we will always confirm that with you before anything is made.

How much plumping will I need to do?

It depends on the filling. All-feather cushions want plumping every day. Feather-wrapped foam needs a shake every week or so. Fibre needs almost none. If plumping is a worry, say so and we will choose accordingly.

Can I try one before I buy?

Yes. We have several pieces on display in a show home in London, by appointment, and we are happy to arrange a video visit over WhatsApp if travelling is difficult. You can also sit on our Cocobella, Salthrop and Felix sofas in John Lewis, though Cocobella and Salthrop come in set sizes and cannot be adapted in the ways described here.

Will it fit through my door?

Almost certainly. Any of our sofas can be made with a split frame so that it arrives in two halves and is put together in the room, and the join is invisible once assembled. Send us a photograph or a short video of your access route and we will tell you honestly what will go in.

What if I cannot get to London?

Send us a photograph of the room, your measurements and a description of how you like to sit. We create complimentary floor plans and photorealistic renders of our sofas in your room, and we post fabric samples free of charge, so you can do the whole thing from your armchair.

What gets harder, and why

It helps to understand what is actually going on, because it is nearly always the same five things.

A seat that is too low leaves your knees higher than your hips, and standing up from there asks a great deal of the thighs and the knees. A seat that is too soft does the same thing by a different route, because you sink until you are sitting lower than you meant to. A seat that is too deep means your back cannot reach the back cushion unless your legs stick straight out, so you either sit forward with nothing behind you or slide back and slump. A back cushion that is too soft or too low gives you nothing to lean against. And arms that are too low, too soft or too far away leave you with nothing to push on.

Put those five together and you have described a great many very good looking sofas. Change them, and you have a sofa you can live happily with for the next twenty years.

Sophie Conran stretched out across a striped sofa, legs over the arm, smiling — Sophie at home · stretching out is lovely. Getting up again should be too.

What we can change for you

Here is what we can do, one thing at a time. You will not need all of it. Most people need two or three of these, and the rest of the sofa stays exactly as it is.

The height of the seat

Our standard seat heights run from 45cm on Henrietta to 55cm on Barton, with Coco and Sophia at 50cm. For most people, the seat that is easiest to stand from is the one that lets you sit with your feet flat on the floor and your knees level with your hips, or a touch below. If that is a few centimetres higher than our standard, we can build the seat higher or raise the sofa on a taller leg, and we adjust the rest of the proportions so it still looks exactly right. Barton, as it happens, already sits a little higher than most.

A taller leg, three ways

A turned wooden leg in a black ebony finish under an olive green velvet sofa — **Plate I** A turned leg in Ebony

A tapered wooden leg in walnut with a brass castor under a navy velvet sofa — **Plate II** A tapered leg in Walnut, on a brass castor

A tapered walnut leg with a brass castor under a floral linen sofa — **Plate III** The same leg and castor, under a floral linen

A simple way to find your number is to sit in the chair you find easiest to get out of, and measure from the floor to the top of the seat cushion while you are sitting on it. That is the height to ask for.

Sophie Conran on a white Henrietta sofa in a pale pink drawing room with tall sash windows — Henrietta in the drawing room · our lowest seat, at 45cm

The depth of the seat

Seat depth is the distance from the front edge of the cushion to the back cushion. Ours run from about 58cm on Sophia to 70cm on Barton, which is the deep, stretch-out end of things. The test I would use is this. Sit right back so your lower back meets the back cushion. You want a hand's width between the front edge of the seat and the backs of your knees. Any deeper than that and you are perching or slumping. We can make the seat shallower, either with a fuller back cushion or in the frame itself, and we will tell you which suits the sofa you have chosen. From across the room, nobody would know.

Sophie Conran sitting back on a rose floral loose-covered sofa, feet flat on the floor, in front of a tall window — The sit testSitting right back, feet flat on the floor, knees level with hips, and a hand's width between the front edge of the seat and the backs of the knees. A rose floral loose cover.

How firm, and how quickly it springs back

This is the one people ask about most, and it is really two questions. Firmness is how far you sink. Resilience is how quickly the cushion comes back up, and how much help it gives you on the way out.

Our standard seat cushion in the UK has a foam core wrapped in a jacket of feather and down. It gives a soft to medium sit and needs very little plumping. For a firmer seat we can use a firmer core. For the firmest and most supportive seat of all we can fill the cushion with fibre, which holds its shape, needs almost no plumping and suits people who like to sit upright. Natural latex is another lovely option, a little springier and denser than foam, and it is the one I would choose if you would like a cushion that gives you a gentle push as you stand. What I would steer you away from, if getting up is the worry, is an all-feather seat. I adore them, but they are soft, they sink, and they want plumping every day.

Inside the cushion

Softest to firmest

A seat cushion unzipped to show an all-feather filling — All feather · the softest sit, and a daily plump

A seat cushion unzipped to show a foam core wrapped in feather and down — Feather-wrapped foam · our standard, soft to medium

A seat cushion unzipped to show a grey natural latex core wrapped in feather and down — Natural latex in feather · springier, a gentle push

A seat cushion unzipped to show a plain foam core — Foam on its own · firm, no plumping at all

Underneath the cushion is the part you never see, and it matters just as much. Coco, Barton and Henrietta sit on individual coil springs linked by a steel mesh, which spreads your weight evenly across the seat so there are no dips where you sit most. Felix sits on a sprung platform with a firm, reinforced front edge, which holds up exactly where your legs rest over the cushion, and where lesser sofas give way first. Both are guaranteed for 25 years, along with the frame.

Rows of coil springs linked by a steel wire mesh inside a sofa frame in the workshop — Under the cushionIndividual coil springs, linked by a steel mesh, in the workshop. The same principle as a very good mattress, built into the seat.

The back

A sofa back has two jobs. It should meet your lower back, and it should be tall enough to rest against. Our back cushions are feather and down as standard, which is heavenly to lean into but not especially firm. We can make them firmer, fuller or taller, so that your back is held rather than swallowed and your head has somewhere to rest. If you would rather not have loose back cushions at all, Felix has an upholstered back built into the frame, which is the neatest and most supportive back we make, and Henrietta has a back that is fully sprung, so it gives a little and then holds you.

Sophie Conran resting back in a green floral Henrietta armchair with carved legs — A back built into the frame · Henrietta armchair in a green floral

White loose-covered sofas with tall back cushions and bow ties in a sunlit drawing room — Loose back cushions, made taller and firmer · white linen loose covers

The arms

When you stand up from a sofa, you push on the arms, and a soft, low or faraway arm is no help at all. Ours are built up in layers over the hardwood frame, so there is something solid under the padding. On Coco, Barton and Sophia the arm sits at around 75cm from the floor, which for most people is comfortably within reach when you are sitting. If you need the arm a little higher, or firmer still, tell us and we will look at it with you.

Something to push on

A sofa arm being built up in layers of white wadding over a hardwood frame in the workshop — **Plate I** An arm, built up in layers over the hardwood frame

Close detail of a rolled sofa arm in a brown and white ticking stripe — **Plate II** The finished arm · Isobel in Chocolate fine stripe organic cotton

The scrolled arm and hand-carved leg of a green floral Henrietta armchair — **Plate III** Henrietta's arm, and her hand-carved leg

Less looking after

Happily, the cushions that are easiest to get up from are also the ones that need the least attention. A feather-wrapped foam or a fibre cushion wants a shake now and then rather than a daily plump, and a fibre cushion is noticeably lighter to lift.

Loose covers are the other kindness. On Coco, Felix, Isobel and Barton you can choose a cover that comes off, and many of our plain cottons and linens wash at home. If you would rather not be wrestling with a washing machine at all, our stain-resistant velvets and the English Garden fabrics forgive a great deal, and a spare set of covers means a fresh sofa while the first set is away being cleaned. And should a cushion ever soften more than you would like, the inside can be replaced on its own, without touching the rest of the sofa.

Hands cutting a green floral fabric with tailor's scissors on a workbench — Cutting a cover

An upholsterer's hand drawing a long needle and twine through a cushion — Stitched by hand

Getting it into the house

A sofa is a big thing to bring into a home, and I know that is a worry if the hallway is narrow or the stairs turn. Any of our sofas can be made with a split frame, so it arrives in two halves and is bolted together in the room, with no visible join. Our delivery team will bring it in, put it together and place it exactly where you want it. You don't need to lift a thing. There is more on this on our Will it Fit page.

It will still look like your sofa

This is the part that matters most to me. Nothing on this list changes the look of the sofa. The frame is the same. The fabric is whatever you fall in love with. Two people can order the same Coco in the same fabric, one made for stretching out and one made for getting up easily, and set side by side you would struggle to tell which was which. The difference is entirely in the sitting.

You don't have to choose between a sofa that looks right and a sofa that works for your knees.

Sophie

So have the one you want, made so that it works for you.

Two people sitting together on a grey wool Coco sofa in an open-plan kitchen and sitting room — Coco in a grey wool · the same sofa, however it is made to sit

If you are choosing for someone else

A great many of these sofas are chosen by sons and daughters for a parent, and a few by the parent, quietly, after years of making do. If that is you, the kindest thing you can do is measure the chair they find easiest now, send us a photograph of the room, and tell us honestly what has become difficult. We will take it from there. And we will never make the sofa look like anything other than a lovely sofa.

Close detail of a grey wool sofa arm, seat cushion and back cushion with a rust velvet cushion — Coco in a grey woolFeather-wrapped cushions as standard, a cover that comes off, and a frame and springs guaranteed for 25 years.

Lovely things to do next

Four doors onward from here.

How to choose your bespoke sofaEvery choice you can make, from the size to the piping. Our cushion fills, in depthWhat is inside each cushion, and how it feels to sit on. What lies beneathThe springs inside our sofas, and why they matter. Fabric samplesPlains, stripes and florals, seen in your own light.

A sofa that is easy to get up from.