Did you guess your sofa? Yes, that's right, the humble sofa. Maligned by so many, but truly indispensable - truly a critical item of home furnishing. It plays an important role in your home - both as decoration, as well as functional furniture.

This means that when it comes time to buying a new sofa, you must make your choice carefully and thoughtfully. A sofa can make or break your home decorating efforts.

As no two homes (or homeowners) are the same, there is no type of sofa that is 'right' for everyone, only the type that best meets YOUR needs. You can evaluate sofas from the designers perspective: how they look - their appearance. But you can also judge and categorize sofas based on functional criteria: their components and how they work.

>From a functional point of view, you have several choices in sofas. A perennial choice is the sectional sofa. With a sectional you can move the sections all about as you please. You can also buy sleeper sofas (that unfold into a spare bed), recliner sofas, and even outdoor sofas for your porch or deck area outside. It is best to consider functional aspects first: what you will you need your sofa for? What will you need it to do (if anything)? Where will it be used - and how often? And just how much space do you have? The fact is that once you have a handle on the TYPE of sofa that you need, you can then move on to consider design options.

Speaking of design options, you have endless varieties of choice. Sofas with a traditional feel are easy to spot: they use thick fabrics, have deep cushions - and are my personal favorite for napping! Or if you like you can go with a sofa that has contemporary styling: slick fabrics, minimalist design, crisp lines.

Let me give you some basic recommendations. The first is to always match your sofa style to your overall room decor. If you try to match a contemporary sofa in a room with traditional decor (or vice versa), the resulting clash of styles will look very out of place. Don't make that mistake!

Need some more recommendations? If extra bed space will be needed, buy a sleeper sofa. And again, consider use: if you need a sofa for the guys to sit on while they eat potato chips and drink beer as they watch the Super Bowl, make sure the fabric will clean up easily! And if the kids will be using the sofa as a trampoline (and they usually do), then don't get one of those crappy sofas that are constructed of thin fabric stapled over a weak pine frame - get something that can handle what they are going to be throwing at it. Make sure you get a good warranty - from a reputable dealer. Properly selected, your sofa will last for many, many years.