Can I put a big couch in a small living room?
Here’s the conundrum: you stay in an apartment, or a tiny residence, with a small living place – but you like entertaining and want as much seating as attainable. Or maybe you just want to ramp up the coziness in your place and feel a enormous couch is the way to go.
Possibly way, you’ve questioned the problem: can I set a huge couch in a tiny dwelling space? It is a dwelling room concept that can quickly go incorrect – and the industry experts are not automatically in settlement about what performs.
We spoke to some of our beloved interior designers to get their ideas.
Ellen is Livingetc‘s print editor, and an knowledgeable interiors journalist. She spoke to interior designers to get the lowdown on squeezing a massive sofa into a smaller living space.
Can I place a major sofa in a smaller living room?
One of the greatest arguments for an outsized couch is that it creates a sense of relaxation and even luxury. ‘A substantial couch in a compact place can make it added cozy – stuffy, but in a very good way!’ states inside designer Samantha Struck of StruckSured Interiors (opens in new tab). ‘For men and women seriously seeking that “lived-in” search where by you sink into a space and it evokes stability and convenience, an overfilled home is excellent!’
‘There are no little rooms – only little wondering,’ states interior designer Lisa Sherry (opens in new tab). ‘Large or modest, a beautiful area is about balancing scale and proportion, and that doesn’t necessarily mean significant rooms get major sofas and lesser rooms get Lilliputian sofas. When thoughtfully imagined, a larger sized sofa in a much more modest place feels cozy, comfy, a just-correct suit. The residing place couch also turns into the focal position of the home. And, amazingly, a number of significant-scale items can make the place truly feel more substantial.’
(Image credit score: James Merrell © Long run)
Most of the designers we spoke to agreed that a even larger couch performs as a tiny living place strategy in the ideal conditions – but the crucial is in the proportions. ‘I believe anything will come down to scale,’ says Lauren Sullivan, inside designer at Properly x Design and style (opens in new tab). ‘With decor, it can be pleasurable to engage in with scale and often break the procedures – but when it comes to household furniture parts, I consider it’s essential that they don’t overpower a room.’
‘A huge sofa in a little space can produce an intimate and cozy place, and it can also aid increase seating options,’ claims inside designer Marie Flanigan (opens in new tab). ‘You should generally maintain scale in mind when selecting sofas for selected spaces. You really don’t want a couch that totally dominates a room, but as an alternative enhances the room’s flow and has comfort and ease.’
Designer Meredith Owen (opens in new tab) also warns from forgetting the sensible side of things, also. ‘When men and women are scheduling household furniture for a area they frequently fail to remember about targeted visitors stream from one particular space to the upcoming,’ she says. ‘It’s essential to not fill a space with around-scaled household furniture so you have adequate area to move close to or the adaptability to entertain. I’ve utilized bigger sofas in cozy scientific tests prior to – commonly this just improves the emotion of comfort as extensive as it’s not overpowering the place.’
How can you make a greater sofa function in a smaller area?
First up, imagine about what it is you want from the room. Will opting for a big sofa signify you have to sacrifice other home furniture pieces, like a espresso table – and if so, does a dwelling home want a coffee desk? Emma Deterding, founder and imaginative director of Kelling Styles (opens in new tab), advises getting simple at this phase. ‘Consider who’s likely to use the room, how they’re going to use it and program your layout about this,’ she suggests. ‘While the room is empty, laying newspaper to mimic the measurement of the household furniture items you might be seeking to place in will aid you visualize just how significantly room all the things will choose. It will also help you make significant selections about measurement and scale of huge items and whether or not the area will really feel spacious or limited.’
(Image credit history: Brie Williams. Design and style by Lisa Sherry)
Spend notice to how the couch performs with the other, non-negotiable aspects of the home, far too. ‘Try to stay away from overlapping openings, home windows, fireplaces, TVs, bookcases or any other focal details in a bizarre or uncomfortable way,’ states Samantha Struck. ‘Make guaranteed you can still navigate the place and walk by way of it with ease.’
Soon after that, there are some hacks to support a greater couch experience additional at simplicity in a small place. ‘Consider a sofa frame with a minimal arm or even go armless, which opens the sofa to the home,’ states Lisa Sherry. ‘It may look counter-intuitive, but a sectional may be a great fit, defining the room and generating an all-inclusive seating place. Embrace a neutral palette, that means paint hues and fabrics – this makes unity and relaxed in a place. Incorporate texture to generate quiet nuance and interest: pillows and throws are incredible accents. And provide the outside in. If privateness is not a concern, contemplate forgoing your usual modern window treatment plans to open up up a place.’
‘When employing a significant couch in a smaller space, I check out to use a couch that is not so tall in peak, and with small cushion lines,’ provides Tom Lawrence-Levy of interior design studio Normal Asthetik (opens in new tab). ‘This way, the sofa never ever blocks your eyesight when you stroll into the property, and the small traces make the spot glimpse much more clean and integrated. I uncover obtaining a significant couch that is not also hectic in a more compact area would make the space experience much larger, and also much more purposeful.’
When is it superior to use a smaller sized sofa?
There are some scenarios where a big couch just won’t perform for your place – but that doesn’t imply you will have any fewer of a cozy residing home, or a useful one, for that make a difference. ‘Today, so many rooms are multi-functional: it’s the way we reside,’ suggests Lisa Sherry. ‘A massive sofa in a modest house can be great, but it is a motivation. If the strategy doesn’t assist your functional residing desires, search for a plan B. Even with a generously sized couch, the place should really be quick to maneuver and tasteful.’
(Impression credit history: Mary Wadsworth. Style by Gunter & Co)
‘So much is dependent on the room’s structure,’ says Meredith Owen. ‘If your sofa is the only factor that fits or it blocks the pure flow of site visitors – it is far too huge. Let your place dictate the scale of your home furniture, not the other way around. More compact seating is awesome for occasional use, or lesser rooms that are tight on area. There are several more compact scaled chairs/sofas that are wonderfully relaxed – the top secret is that it’s all about the cushion.’
For solutions to a more substantial sofa, Lauren Sullivan recommends a person more substantial piece grouped with some smaller sized items, or a couple groupings of smaller sized seating possibilities. Marie Flanigan also recommends hunting for studio-sized offerings with slender and compact profiles for a smaller dwelling place format. ‘If you’re however confined on house, you can often use two chairs and an ottoman that doubles as a espresso table,’ she states. ‘When a sofa dominates a space and leaves no area for items like a coffee desk, side tables or accent chair, it is possible far too huge. Modest areas can even now stay like bigger spaces when furnishings picks are scaled appropriately.’