The sofa is nice and firm for sitting. I have arthritis, and I have no trouble getting to my feet from this sofa. The only reason I didn't give it 5 stars was due to the problem we had with the assembly. The directions were not very precise, and one of the pieces did not even fit!! thank goodness it wasn't a very important piece of hardware. My friends who assembled the sofa (it takes 2 people) for me took about and hour or so, not terrible, considering how poorly the instructions were. We will be searching hardware stores to replace the piece of hardware that did not fit. All in all, for the price, I'm pleased.