How to Choose the Right Sofa Size for Your Living Room
A sofa that looked modest in the showroom can swallow a living room at home. Before you choose a model, spend ten minutes with a tape measure: three numbers decide whether it will fit and feel right.
1. The wall it stands against
Leave at least 30 cm between the end of the sofa and a corner or a door frame, so the room does not look crammed. On a 3 m wall that means a sofa of up to about 2.3 m, which is where a three-seater such as the Oslo at 214 cm sits comfortably.
2. The way in
Measure the narrowest doorway, the turn of the stairs and the lift if there is one. A sofa goes through on its back, so compare the doorway with its depth and height, not its length. Our two-seater is designed to pass an 80 cm door.
3. The space around it
- 45 cm between the sofa and the coffee table, so knees and cups both have room.
- About 90 cm for a walkway behind or beside it.
- Two to three times the screen size between the seat and the TV.
Mark the footprint on the floor with masking tape and leave it there for a day. If you keep stepping around it, choose the smaller size or a corner sofa that uses the wall instead of the floor.
