Living Room Furniture Ideas

A mild, wet climate, cold external walls and washing drying on every radiator: Irish winters are hard on furniture. The first sign is usually a musty smell from a wardrobe, a white bloom on the back of a chest of drawers, or black spots on a sofa that sits against an outside wall. Here is…

Most people measure the wall where the sofa will go. Far fewer measure the route it has to take to get there: the front door, the hall, the turn into the living room, and in an apartment, the lift. In Irish homes with narrow terraced halls or tight stairs, that route is where deliveries go…

Two sofas can look identical and feel completely different, and the reason is almost always the cushion filling. It decides whether you sink in or sit up, whether the sofa still looks neat in five years, and how much plumping you will be doing on a Sunday morning. Here is how the main fillings compare….

Ask about a sofa fabric and sooner or later you will hear a number like 40,000 rubs. That is the Martindale rating, the most widely used measure of how well an upholstery fabric stands up to wear. Here is what it means, the number to look for on each piece of furniture, and the things…

Velvet is the fabric people fall for in the showroom and then worry about at home. Will it mark? Will the cat destroy it? Will it look tired in two years? The answer depends far more on the type of velvet and how the room is used than on velvet itself. Here are the honest…

A sofa bed is two purchases in one, and the second one is the one people forget to check. This guide covers what to look at before you buy a sofa bed in Ireland: the bed size it opens to, the mechanism, the mattress, how it will be used, and the delivery and lead-time questions…

A lot of people searching for sofa reviews in Ireland type a shop name first: JYSK, DFS, Harvey Norman, IKEA, Navan Sofa Factory. That tells you the real question is not “which brand” but “what should I check before I order a sofa from anyone”. This guide lists the eight things worth checking whichever shop…

Last updated: August 2026. Written by the M&I Interiors showroom team in Portlaoise, from the questions we answer most often on the floor. A corner sofa is the biggest single piece of furniture most people ever buy for a living room, and the one that goes wrong most often. Not because the sofa is bad…

Last updated: August 2026. Written by the M&I Interiors showroom team in Portlaoise. There is no right answer to fabric versus leather — there is only the right answer for your house. A leather sofa in a home with a golden retriever and underfloor heating is a different proposition from the same sofa in a…

To design a living room that feels timeless and truly yours, start by understanding your personal style through favorite colors and textures. Choose a neutral color palette to create warmth, and invest in classic furniture pieces like a cozy sofa and sturdy coffee table. Our interior design mistakes guide lists common choices to reconsider before…