What Size Couch Do You Need for Your Living Room? 6 Expert Steps to the Right Choice, First Time
Working out what size couch for your living room isn’t always a walk in the park, as anyone who has struggled to fit a couch through their doorway knows. There’s a whole lot to take into account: your lifestyle, your height, and your existing furniture, to name just a few possible considerations.
Luckily, you have me (and a few bonafide sofa experts) to walk you through how to find the best sofa; one that is the perfect size for your space.
So, What Size Should Your Living Room Couch Be?
Unfortunately, the answer to this question is “it depends” — the right sofa dimensions for you could be the wrong size for someone else. That said, we can give you the tools you need to arrive at the answer on your own.
Here’s what you should consider when determining what couch to buy, to ensure it’s the right size for your space:
1. The Size of Your Room
(Image credit: Norm Architects)
First and foremost, measure the length and width of your room. This will tell you how much space you have to play with. It’s all about scale here, and while you can put a big couch in a small living room as a way of creating dramatic and cozy visual impact, you don’t want it to feel cramped, nor sparse.
So, once you’ve established the size of your space, outline the dimensions of the proposed sofa using masking tape to better visualize its footprint. Ideally, the piece should take up no more than two-thirds of the room’s length, with 18” of space on either side.
You can tweak these guidelines should you need, but they are helpful guardrails. The last thing you want to do is overwhelm the room or take up too much real estate with one piece of furniture.
2. The Size of Your Doorway
(Image credit: Brooke Holm. Design: Worrell Yeung)
We’ve all heard the stories, or maybe even lived through the horror ourselves — you buy your perfect couch, only to realize upon delivery that it won’t fit through the door. That heartbreak plus the ensuing return nightmare is enough to make you never purchase furniture again.
Avoid this pitfall entirely by measuring your doorways (as well as hallways, and elevators … anywhere the couch must squeeze en route to its final destination) before placing your order. It may seem obvious, but you’d be surprised how often this happens. (There is even a Couch Doctor in NYC who specializes in cutting up and reconfiguring couches through tight doorways.)
3. Your Size
(Image credit: SML Architects)
It might sound crazy, but your height should influence the dimensions of your couch. If you’re taller, you will likely want a deeper sofa depth — something closer to 24” or 25” — while shorter sitters might prefer something a bit shallower — around 20”.
Average-height folks should be good with the standard 21” to 22” seat depth.
4. Your Lifestyle
(Image credit: Smac Studio)
Think about how you plan to use the sofa. Are you a hostess who loves to entertain, or a parent with one too many kids? If so, you might prefer a three-seater or a sectional to a loveseat, so as to accommodate more than two people.
If you live alone, however, or tend not to host, a loveseat might work just fine. Don’t fall victim to sofa trends and buy something bigger than you need.
“A good rule of thumb is 24 inches per person for a cozy sofa and 30-36 inches per person for a formal space,” Mackenzie Collier of Mackenzie Collier Interiors says. “For formal areas, maintain appropriate distancing between guests.”
Consider your intended use, as well. If you see the couch as a place for napping, all-day lounging or curling up with a book, you’d probably prefer something with a deeper seat. But if you’ll be using the sofa as, say, a cocktail couch or a place to work, a shallow seat might be better.
5. Placement and Traffic Flow
(Image credit: Paul Massey)
It goes without saying that the size of your room will change the size of your sofa — but what about the shape? For instance, curved sofas (sectionals in particular) are great in large, open floor plans, as they naturally divide the space while adding visual interest, while a loveseat with legs (touching the wall or not) can make a small room look bigger.
That said, you should consider how you plan to move throughout the room, as well. If your chosen sofa will hinder traffic flow, you might need something smaller. Conversely, if there is too much space between furniture pieces, try something larger.
Where possible, Anna Tatsioni, lead interior designer and architect at Decorilla Online Interior Design, recommends “leaving at least 18 to 24 inches of space on either side of the sofa for side tables, floor lamps or just to give the room a more open feel,” she tells me. “If the sofa is floating in the middle of the room, I like to make sure there’s 3 feet of walking space around it to maintain a good flow.”
6. Existing Furniture
(Image credit: Ben Parry. Design: Jacqui Mitchell.)
People often wonder whether your coffee table should be lower than the sofa or higher, and while, of course, stylistically, the room is yours to curate — it always looks best when your furniture, including your couch, is all roughly the same height.
So, as part of working out the right size sofa for your living room, take stock of the furniture you already have in the space, and measure the rest of your living room vignette before going shopping to have a good frame of reference. That includes your coffee table, any armchairs, side tables, and consoles.
FAQs
What do I do if my sofa is too big for my doorway?
Oh no — been there, done that. If your new sofa doesn’t fit through your doorway, you have a few options (assuming you already tried to rotate it 90-degrees):
- Take the legs off — If the legs of the sofa are removable, take them off to see if that buys you a few inches.
- Try disassembling it entirely — If you can, try disassembling the sofa and bringing it inside in pieces.
- Try another door — Perhaps the door to your patio is bigger? If so, call a few friends and bring it around back.
- Remove the door and the hinges — if you can’t take the legs off the couch, or if you did and still need some extra room, removing the door (and possibly the hinges) might make a difference.
- Call an expert — Perhaps this is a job for a professional. Look into companies like Sofa Assist, which specializes in moving couches that are too large for doorways or staircases. (In some cases, they’ll even hoist the couch through your window.)
- Return it — If all else fails, return the couch. You’d rather get your money back than be stuck with a damaged piece.
