Two-Seater, Three-Seater or Chaise: Choosing a Sofa for a Smaller Living Room
By Furniture1004 min read
A sofa is the biggest thing you will buy for a living room and the hardest to get wrong quietly. Too big and the room is a corridor around it. Too small and it looks like it is waiting for the real sofa to arrive. This is how to size one for a British living room that is not enormous, and what the fabrics we stock are actually like to live with.
Measure the way in before the room
The number that stops a sofa is rarely the wall. It is the front door, the turn in the hallway, or the door into the room. A sofa goes through a doorway on its side or on end, so it is the sofa's height and depth that have to clear, not its length.
Walk the route with a tape measure and write down the narrowest point. Then check it against the sofa. If it is tight, a sofa with legs that unscrew buys you a few centimetres, and a low-backed design clears more than a tall one.
Two seats, three seats, or a chaise
Measure the wall the sofa will sit against, then take off room to walk past one end. What is left is your maximum length, and it is usually less than people expect.
A two-seater with air either side makes a room feel bigger than a three-seater that touches both walls. Most of our range is two-seaters for exactly this reason: the CloudNest, the Calder and the Como are all built for a room where two people sit and a third is occasional.
A three-seater earns its place when three people genuinely sit at once, or when the wall is long enough that a two-seater would look lost. The Winston chesterfield is our three-seater, and it is a sofa that wants some wall.
A chaise is the answer to a room with one long wall and nowhere to put a corner sofa. One end extends forward so you can lie along it. The Luna Cloud is 240cm, so it needs the wall, but it gives you the lounging of a corner sofa in a straight line.
Legs or no legs
A sofa raised on legs shows floor underneath it, and a room where you can see the floor feels bigger. That is why the Calder and the Como sit on wooden legs. A sofa that goes to the floor, or sits on a low plinth like the Luna, feels more grounded and more generous, and suits a larger room or a scheme that is going for softness rather than lightness.
If the room is small, choose legs.
The fabrics, honestly
Ribbed and corduroy are the texture of the moment and they earn it. They catch light, they hide everyday marks better than a flat weave, and they feel warmer. Vacuum along the channels, not across them. The CloudNest is ribbed, the Calder is corduroy.
Boucle is soft and cloud-like and it is what the Luna's look is built on. It is a looped pile, so it is the one to keep away from a cat that scratches.
Leather-look is a coated fabric, not hide. It wipes clean, it does not fade, and it gives you the chesterfield look at a fraction of the cost of leather. It will not soften and patina over years the way leather does, and we call it leather-look rather than leather so nobody is surprised. The Winston and the Richmond are both this.
Colour
Cream and beige make a small room feel bigger and go with everything, which is why they sell. They also show a spilled coffee. Grey is the safe middle. Green and blue are the ones people are nervous of and then never regret: a green corduroy two-seater is the most compliment-generating thing in the range.
If you are torn, choose the colour for the sofa and let the cushions do the changing.
Find yours
Free UK delivery and 30-day returns on every sofa. Measure the way in, then the wall, then choose.
Browse the sofas. If the room needs an armchair to go with it, our guide to accent chairs and lounge chairs explains the difference.
Frequently asked questions
Will a sofa fit through my door?
Measure the narrowest point on the route in, not the room: the front door, any hallway turn, and the door to the room itself. Compare that with the sofa's height and depth, because a sofa usually goes through a door on its side or on end. A sofa with legs that unscrew gives you a few extra centimetres.
Two-seater or three-seater?
Measure the wall, then subtract room to walk past. A three-seater that fills a wall edge to edge makes a room feel smaller than a two-seater with air either side. If two people usually sit on it, a generous two-seater is often the better buy.
What is a chaise sofa?
A sofa where one end extends forward so you can put your feet up along it. It gives you the lounging of a corner sofa without the corner, which suits a room that has one long wall and not two.
Is ribbed or corduroy fabric hard to keep clean?
No harder than a flat weave. Vacuum along the ribs rather than across them so the brush follows the channels, and blot spills rather than rubbing. The texture actually hides everyday marks better than a smooth fabric does.
Is leather-look the same as leather?
No. Leather-look is a coated fabric made to look like leather. It wipes clean and holds its colour, and it costs a fraction of hide, but it will not develop the soft patina real leather does over years. We describe it as leather-look rather than leather for exactly that reason.
