Is a Brown Couch or a Garnet Couch a Better Decorating Choice?

Brown

• As a neutral color, a brown couch gives you more design options and color choices while pairing nicely with most wood furniture and trim. Brown ranges from a light tan through a deep chocolate color, creating different design effects for each. A chocolate brown sofa pairs nicely with sage, moss or forest green if you are looking for a rustic or nature décor. A sand or camel colored sofa works equally well with an aqua or navy blue for an ocean motif or a cheerful red or yellow décor. For a sophisticated room, pair tan with black.

Garnet

• The garnet stone ranges from colorless to black; however, in fabric, garnet refers to a deep red. A warm color that pairs well with other warm tones, a garnet sofa against a yellow wall brings energy and light into a room. When paired against a red wall, the couch will seem to disappear into the wall. Create a sophisticated or Victorian palette with a garnet sofa and a moss green or sage green room. Combining a garnet sofa with black or gray gives you the basis for a Renaissance or Gothic room.

Advantages

• A brown sofa offers several advantages over a garnet one. Since brown goes with most items, changing the style of the room merely requires repainting the room and switching out the fabrics as you can reuse the brown sofa in the new décor. However, in the same situation, a garnet sofa may have to be replaced, or the new room changes may need to adapt to fit the color of the sofa, limiting your design options. As most wainscoting and room trim are brown, there is a natural blending between a brown sofa and the woodwork in the room.

Other Considerations

• Besides color, when selecting a sofa for the room, you should consider the fabric choices. A leather sofa may cost more but gives a polished look to a room, stands up well to animals and children, can be easily cleaned with a swipe of a cloth and lasts longer than most fabrics. An added benefit to leather is its ability to soften and contour to your body over time. A patterned fabric may become too busy or dated while a solid fabric may tear or get soiled easily.