Selecting a Sofa For Beige Painted Walls

My sister-in-law recently asked if I could help her find a new sofa for her family room. It is a well used, busy room for an active family and is a really nice and bright sunny spot in their home.Lynn’s existing family room wall color is Ben Moore Shaker Beige:Before she even went shopping, I gave her a few tips to remember:* Bring a painted sample of your wall color to the store. The bigger the better I say.* FYI- When looking at various sofas, if you like the comfort and design of the piece, but not the fabric, there are other choices of fabric to choose from. There are usually around six to twelve other colors of fabric that you can choose from for the same cost. There are also other fabric options, but that is getting into custom and that means the price tag will go up. Just so you know that you have other choices besides the sample on the floor. The store never seems to mention that!* When purchasing a good sofa that you want to last for a few years and you want to be comfortable, a suggestion I strongly recommend is to go and actually sit on the sofa, (instead of buying online). It is a very expensive purchase you want to get just right.While she was visiting a local furniture store, Lynn text me a couple photos of sofa fabrics and ask which I thought looked better with her wall color? One was a beige:And one was a blue she liked:One thing I always do when working with a client, is to first ask what they like best. I gain a lot of inside information by seeing what the customer prefers. I knew which fabric would work best right away, but I asked Lynn which was her favorite. She liked the green beige:So I told her to look at the (green) beige sofa with her Shaker Beige sample she brought and then also the blue fabric with the paint sample. By comparing the two, she knew right away that the red undertones in the Shaker Beige was not working as well with the sofa because of it’s (green) undertones:She thought the blue looked fabulous with the Shaker Beige. I agreed. I especially loved the tone, (lightness or darkness of a color) of the blue!Decision made. The blue sofa with Sunbrella fabric which I thought was a great idea because of the durability. Next she wanted to find an accent chair for the room. I told her to take the pillow fabric and paint sample and look around at the store. This time I wanted her to find something with a pattern because of the solid walls and solid sofa fabric. Again, the comfort of the seat and looks were the most important, the fabric could be changed.Lynn text me this photo first:The blue sofa would look nice with this chair. But can you see the what beige undertone is in this sofa? The answer is yellow. I told her to keep searching because the beige in the sofa would clash with the walls. Then she sent me these two fabric choices for an accent chair:I knew which one I loved right away, but it is not supposed to be about me. My job is to look at her choices and see if they will work together well. And they both absolutely work together beautifully. There is no right or wrong choice. It all depends on the style/taste of the individual.There are of course other sofa colors that will work with Shaker Beige walls. And that is another reason I ask for the client’s opinion first. I like to let the client narrow down their choices to a few favorites. Then it is my job to make sure her choices will work with the existing furnishings.Also one more quick tip: Try to paint your paint sample boards all the way to end:Because now the white of the poster board is affecting the comparison.One final piece of advice: If your walls are painted in beige and you are shopping for a sofa, to make things much easier for yourself, I suggest staying away from purchasing a beige sofa. There are too many variables when working with beige and you do not want to get it wrong.Here is a quick photo she took to show me how well her walls worked with her new blue sofa:Looks great Lynn! Thank you for letting me share.Have a great weekend everyone!