Motion Furniture 101: A Brief Guide for New Shoppers

While deep, stuffed upholstery rightly has a fine reputation for offering a most welcome respite for your tired body after a stressful day, motion furniture such as reclining sofas, rocker or glider reclining chairs, or power recliners offers more support, adding infinitely more value to your purchase and giving you at least a decade of wonderful service relieving achy joints. With literally hundreds of options in a showroom such as ours, and with jargon confusing to the novice motion furniture shopper, choosing the right kind of reclining sofa or chair may seem daunting but need not be. Here is our short guide to finding the right motion furniture for your needs.

Recliner or Tilt Motion?

The recliner option in motion furniture gives you a footrest and, normally, a choice of up to 3 positions: upright, “TV” midway between upright and fully open, and entirely reclined. These seats require less floor space to unfold than your tilt-back models, whose moving backs can be extended to any reclining position, so you have a trade-off between a full relaxation experience and square footage in your living room. Carefully measure the available space in your room to make your selection. Also, tilt-back chairs don’t come with footrests so you would need an ottoman.

You Have the Power!

Power lift recliners understandably cost a bit more but arguably are worth that for their versatility alone. These offer a gentler reclining motion, more possible positions, and a smooth ride back to the upright setting. Some motion furniture features power headrests to boost neck support. Manual recliners, on the other hand, are simpler so they are less likely to need servicing.

The Importance of Lumbar Support

Especially if you are nursing a chronic injury, sufficient support for your back, often in the lower part of your spine, in medical parlance the lumbar region, is essential for you to get the most out of your new motion furniture. Features to look for include adjustable lumbar support. If that region of your spine is particularly bothersome, look into a seat in which there is no gap between your lower back and the chair or sofa when you sit in it.

Gliders vs. Rockers: What’s the Difference?

Although gliders and rockers may seem virtually the same to the uninitiated, they differ significantly based on the kind of motion you prefer. The glider actually offers you a smoother “ride” because it contains a sliding mechanism attached to a sturdy base, as opposed to the rockers’ swaying motion on curved pieces at the ends of the legs.

While we at Red Barn Furniture Outlet offer you this online guide as a service, of course we hope you drop by our showroom in St. Stephens Church, VA just northeast of Aylett to sample our motion furniture models to find the sofa or chair that best makes you say “aah.”

Choose the Perfect Reclining Sofa for You and Your Guests

When you are shopping for a living room reclining sofa, consider your body’s needs for support and comfort, the amount of available floor space so the sofa has enough room to swing out smoothly, and your room’s style plus any long-term plans regarding moving so you can best select your reclining sofa’s style.

Be Sure to Have Enough Back Support
Too many of us have lingering back injuries, be they from high-school or college athletics, unfortunate accidents, or simply the ravages of time slowly taking their toll. Whatever the reason for your sore back, including simply a hard week on the job or strain from weekend gardening or hoops, a living room reclining sofa with enough support for your body is essential for your immediate and long-term comfort. An investment in a reclining sofa with enough lumbar support would be wise. Ask your health care professional’s advice, and once you know what your back needs, come to our showroom where our staff will direct you to our selection. Here you can try sitting in and opening different sofas to find your ideal fit. If you choose well, expect your new living room reclining sofa to last at least 10 years.

Accurately Measure Your Living Room Floor
Spare yourself the aggravation of a return by carefully measuring your living room floor space in order to learn how large a reclining sofa your space can accommodate, remembering of course to allow about 4 feet of extra space to the depth for when you and your guests feel the need to stretch and chill out. If your back can’t take the crawling required to do this, ask a partner, family member, or friend, perhaps promising extra time on the new reclining sofa with snacks.

Aim for Stylistic Harmony
You might have a favorite style, from curved Victorian flourishes, to sleek, clean mid-century modern, to bold, almost overstuffed luxury in contemporary designs. Well and good, and many new homes can accommodate either or even all of these. But when you are choosing your living room reclining sofa, consider any unique design aspect to your current home that you would like to complement, as well as whether you will be moving in 5, 10, or more years. Think long-term.

Stop by our St. Stephens Church, VA showroom soon to sample our living room reclining sofas!