There are a plethora of catalogues, magazines, and tutorials that teach you how to pick sofas for large halls and living rooms. Much less material is available for smaller living rooms: how to pick the right sofa, how to deal with the space constraints, and how to make all the elements go together. In this article, we’ll go over 5 tips that ensure you pick the right sofa for your small living room and avoid the most common downfalls.

1. Always Consider The Space First

Before you do anything else, you must make sure you consider the space inside the living room first — as you’re already working within quite severe space constraints due to the fact it is a smaller living room, you need to be extra careful. Carefully measure the dimensions of your living room and then again measure the dimensions of the space you ideally want the sofas to occupy. This way, you can easily rule out the really huge sofa sets that won’t even fit in your living room. By limiting your options at the very beginning, you can dedicate more time to more useful research.

2. Decide The Size of Your Sofa Set

Sofa sets come in all sizes and shapes: 2 large sofas complemented by 2 small sofas, one king-size sofa beds, 3 seater leather sofas, etc. After measuring the space inside your living room carefully, next you need to decide on the number of the sofas and the size of each one. Usually, in smaller living rooms, people go for a large sofa and two smaller sofa seats to fill their rooms. But it is entirely up to you and it is entirely dependent on your taste and the shape of your living room. You need to do the research yourself and pick a set that not only fits inside your living room, but it also doesn’t make your living room look empty and spacious.

3. Learn How to Choose a Sofa Style that Complements Your Living Room

Now that you have the measurements and have decided on the size and the number of the sofas, next comes style. If you want a 1 large sofa, 2 sofa seats set, there are many different colours, shapes, and styles you can choose from, and this will ultimately decide how your living room looks.

If you’re looking to have a modern, minimalist living room that goes well with the minimalist design of the rest of your house, then you should obviously go for a black, grey, or brown modern sofa set that doesn’t look out of place. If you’re going for a more traditional look, you could go for a more colourful sofa set. This is just one example of the many designs, colours, and sets that are out there. You ultimately have to choose based on the design of the rest of the house and living room.

4. Don’t Forget About Upholstery Protection

After getting the design down and ensuring your room looks good, it is now time to ensure it keeps looking good. Sofas can deteriorate, lose colouring, and get dirty really easily, and it is paramount to ensure you learn how to protect it and keep it clean appropriately.

One of the first steps in this process is getting an upholstery protector to ensure the health and the consistency of the fabric. Next step is covering the sofa with a fabric or something, preferably something waterproof, which protects it from spills, food, etc. Lastly, you need cleaning tools and chemicals for when something goes south. By doing all these steps you can ensure the protection of the sofa set’s upholstery for a long period of time.

Written by: Liam Goddard

Liam Goddard is a furniture expert with many years of experience in this industry. He knows the business inside out and is always keen on exploring new solutions and possibilities - that's what makes him the best person to ask whether you're interested in the newest trends on the market, furniture design, or manufacturing process.