Tiny Spaces, Big Seats
By Christa TerryThe obstacles one encounters when furnishing smaller homes are many. As wonderful as itty-bitty flats and miniscule houses can be, the reality is that most furniture is scaled for the comparatively palatial homes that remain en vogue in the US. As reader jojokaffe recently found out, the makers of things like couches either assume either that their buyers have large living rooms or that buyers who want smaller furnishings are only interested in modern pieces. Wrong and wrong.
My own living room is by no means large, but it does accommodate a full-size couch and a few chairs, so I had my pick of the furniture litter. However, as I’ve mentioned, I did once live in a tiny little flat in NYC, and my roommate and I did not furnish it in the modern style. I suppose our style might have been called “scavenged,” but that’s beside the point. Instead of a couch that would have overwhelmed our small space, we filled our living room with a love seat, a not-quite Louis chair, an armchair, and some cute side tables.
If you need to do the same and are currently shopping around, Furniture for Small Spaces published this helpful — but by no means exhaustive — sizing chart:
Other than that, fitting a sofa into a small space is a matter of downsizing certain features. A couch with no arms or slim arms and one with no legs or hidden legs will usually look more natural in a small room, even if it is taking up a great deal of that room. No matter what style of sofa you prefer, look to avoid excessive curves that widen the sofa without adding usable seating space.
(And speaking of accents for small spaces, don’t forget to enter to win a 3’x5′ FREE hand-woven jute rug!)
June 18th, 2009 at 7:26 am
Even though my couch looks huge in my living room, it was the smallest one in the store (Jordans). The nice saleslady helped me find it after we returned the couch we *wanted,* but couldn’t fit through the hallways. I think it is about 70″.
June 18th, 2009 at 12:50 pm
OMG, I was referenced! Thank you very much.
I looked for a sofa for months and ended up at a Bassett’s sale (local store closing). I ordered an ‘apartment size’ variation on this Jefferson sofa, for 45% off.
It was the magical 68″, less than a sofa, bigger than a love seat, for which I had been looking.
More over, it was one of the first grown-up, read non-hand-me-down, pieces of furniture that I acquired.
June 22nd, 2009 at 9:10 am
Angela: I would not have thought your couch was that big!
jojokaffe: I do believe that my living room set was the first grown-up furniture I acquired. Which was rather nice in that my previous living room set had belonged first to my grandparents for many years, then to my mother for many years, and then to me, where it began to simply (and literally) fall apart. Someone actually took the loveseat I left on the curb with a sign reading “FREE,” so I can only imagine that someone else is sitting on it even now… The couch, however, went to the dump.
March 6th, 2010 at 9:26 pm
Tendencies for 2010 when it comes to furniture design, look for a minimalist approach. The Asian trend will be a big hit this year. Think floor sitting arrangements and low linings.