When customers visit Surrey’s Knock on Wood Furniture Gallery looking for a sofa, they often ask Dawn, Laura and the rest of the knowledgable staff which brand is best. But the truth is every furniture brand in the store is well made and competitively priced, with a great manufacturing reputation.
“Two of our most popular sofa brands are Van Gogh Designs and Stylus, both made right here in Surrey and Burnaby. Customers will ask us which one is better, but they’re both great options. I own both Stylus and Van Gogh in my own home,” Dawn says.
What to look for in a sofa
The best sofa is the one that suits your needs and your style — and that will be different for everyone. If you’ve narrowed your needs down to Stylus vs. Van Gogh you’re going to end up with a great sofa either way, but the staff at Knock on Wood Furniture Gallery can help you make an informed decision.
“We can even teach you how to use our sectional planner: how to measure your room, how to plan, how to connect the pieces to see how it will look in your space. There’s a lot to it, but we take a lot of pleasure from empowering people to be self-sufficient.”
- Style: “Stylus has more traditional sofa styles, and Van Gogh has more modern styles — they’re deeper, and they update their fabric options more frequently,” Dawn says. Choose the style that works for you, and the existing aesthetic in your home.
- Customization: If you want a simple solution, Stylus is the brand for you. But if you want to pour over details, Van Gogh offers more customization options. If you’d like to add a sofabed to your favourite design, Dawn says Stylus is the way to go. “A sofabed can drop into almost any Stylus style, but that’s not the case with Van Gogh.”
- Fabric: Staff at Knock on Wood Furniture Gallery want to help their customers to make knowledgable choices, and that includes teaching shoppers how to read furniture tags. “I tell customers, if you’re browsing in another store and staff aren’t helping you, look under the sofa cushion to find out who made it, what the fabric is, and other information,” Dawn says. Not all manufacturers display their fabric’s Double Rub Count, but Knock on Wood has compiled that information for every item in the store. “If you have pets or kids, you want something durable that’s easy to clean. But if you make an uninformed purchase you may end up with a sofa fabric that’s dry clean only, and find yourself incredibly frustrated.”
- Foam: Both Stylus and Van Gogh offer soft, medium and firm foam, and both offer feather seating for those looking to invest in extra comfort. However only Stylus offers Ultracell, a higher standard of foam available for an extra fee.
Knock on Wood Furniture Gallery believes the more you understand about the product you’re buying, the more likely you are to be satisfied with your purchase.
“People come back into the store all the time just to let me know how much they love their sofa. That’s because they knew what they were buying, inside-and-out.”
Visit Knock on Wood Furniture Gallery at 7533 135th St. in Surrey (behind Costco), or find design inspiration on Facebook and Instagram.
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