Sofas: The Ideal Sofa Width & Depth

You have to measure out the sofa you’re considering buying in your current living room. If you don’t do this I guarantee you it probably won’t fit. It’ll either dominate the space and leave no room for a coffee table, or it will be too small and you’ll be left with a dwarfed-looking sofa. The sofa needs to fill the room nicely without feeling too large or too small. To get this right, grab your tape measure and measure out your sofa width first. Consider if you want side tables bedside your sofa, in which case you’ll need to add around 50cm width either side of your sofa measurement (most decent side tables hover around 50cm in width). Sofa depth is also vital to measure out. Some sofas can be up to one metre in depth (from the front of the sofa cushion to the back of the sofa). Given you’ll need to allow 50cm from the front of your sofa to the edge of your coffee table, and then 50cm minimum on the other side of your coffee table, you’d also be wise to measure your current coffee table and ensure it will work with the sofa you want to buy.

The Height is Also Important

This element is particularly important if your sofa is cutting across an open plan living room. If it’s a sectional sofa, for example, one of the edges is likely to cut across the room, so you want to ensure that the back is low, so your eye can still glide across it. If the sofa is backing onto a wall, the height isn’t of major concern, although it is still worth thinking about what size art you want to hang above it. Low-back sofas might not work for you if you’re the kind of person who wants neck support when watching TV.