Measuring for a Scandi corner sofa takes about twenty minutes and needs nothing more than a tape measure, masking tape and a piece of paper. Measure the two walls the sofa will sit against, subtract 10cm from each, check the return length, confirm the walkways, then measure the route into the house. Scandinavian designs make this slightly easier than most, because raised legs, slim arms and lower backs mean the sofa occupies less visual space than its footprint suggests.
Work through the nine steps below in order and you will know with confidence whether a particular design fits, before anything is ordered.
Scandinavian design favours clean lines, tapered wooden legs, narrow arms and a lower back height. Three of those details affect measuring.
Raised legs mean you see floor beneath the sofa, so a given footprint reads as lighter in the room. A sofa that would feel oppressive in a heavier design often works comfortably in this style.
Slim arms mean more of the overall width is usable seating. Two sofas with identical widths can differ by 20cm of seat space depending on arm construction.
Lower backs keep sightlines open, which matters if the sofa will float in the room or sit in front of a window.
Measure the wall where the long side of the sofa will sit, at skirting level and again at around waist height. British houses, particularly older ones, rarely have perfectly parallel walls, so take the smaller figure.
Note the position of radiators, sockets and light switches along that wall.
Measure the adjoining wall where the chaise will extend. If the return will end near a doorway, measure to the edge of the architrave rather than the corner of the room.
This is the measurement most often skipped, and it causes more problems than any other.
Take 10cm off each wall measurement. That allowance covers skirting boards, uneven plaster, radiator pipework and the fact that a sofa pushed hard against a wall looks wrong and marks the paint.
The resulting two figures are your maximum sofa width and maximum return length.
Measure how far into the room the sofa can project before it interferes with the walkway. Most Scandi corner sofas have an overall depth between 85cm and 95cm on the main section, with the return extending 150cm to 200cm.
Compare the return figure against the distance from your wall to the nearest obstruction: a doorway, a coffee table position or a radiator.
Main routes through the room need 90cm. Secondary routes can work at 75cm, and a rarely used gap can be 60cm.
Between the front of the sofa and a coffee table, allow 40cm, or 35cm in a compact room.
Mark these gaps on your plan before you fall for a particular design, not afterwards.
Mark the full footprint on the floor, including the return, using masking tape. Leave it there for a day.
Walk your normal routes. Open every door to its full swing. Stand where the coffee table will go. Check you can still reach the curtains, the radiator valve and the window catch.
Twenty minutes of tape saves a great deal of difficulty later, and it is the single most useful step in this list.
Work along the delivery route in order: garden gate or communal entrance, front door, hallway, any turn, internal doorway, then the room.
Record the narrowest width and the lowest height. In terraced houses the tight point is usually a stair turn or a low landing rather than a door.
Most corner sofas arrive in two or three sections with removable legs, which resolves the majority of access problems. Confirm this in the product description rather than assuming.
Stand in the room facing where the sofa will go. If the chaise should extend to your right, you need a right hand facing design. If it should extend to your left, you need left hand facing.
Position the chaise away from the main door so people are not walking around the deepest part of the sofa. If a chimney breast creates alcoves, the return often fits neatly into one.
Where the orientation is uncertain, a universal or modular design lets you change it later. Our modern corner sofas UK sale listings state the facing direction for each design.
Once the sofa position is fixed, measure the remaining spaces. A coffee table should be roughly two thirds the length of the main sofa section and a similar height to the seat, which for Scandi designs is often slightly lower than average. Wooden options from our wooden coffee tables UK sale range suit the style and the proportions.
At the arm end, allow 40cm to 50cm for a side table. Slim designs keep the walkway clear.
For a rug, measure so that the front legs of both arms of the L will sit on it. That usually means a rug at least 40cm wider than the sofa on the open side.
If lighting is part of the plan, a floor lamp needs around 40cm of clear floor beside the chaise, and the shade should sit above shoulder height when you are seated. Our modern floor lamps UK range covers most standard heights.
Write your figures down in one place: long wall, return wall, both minus 10cm, maximum depth, walkway widths, narrowest access point and facing direction. Photograph the taped floor plan on your phone.
With those numbers you can compare any product listing in under a minute, and you will not need to remeasure every time a design catches your eye.
Every corner sofa listing at Furniture in Fashion includes width, depth and return dimensions so the comparison is straightforward, with free delivery to most UK mainland postcodes. Returns are available up to 30 days. For the pale woods and soft weaves associated with Scandinavian interiors, our corner fabric sofas UK range is the natural starting point.
Two details specific to this style are worth building into your figures.
Tapered legs angle outward, so the widest point of the sofa at floor level can be a few centimetres beyond the frame width. If the sofa is going into an alcove, measure the alcove at floor level as well as at seat height.
Lower seat heights, often around 40cm to 44cm, change what works alongside. A coffee table at standard height will feel tall next to a low Scandi seat, and a side table at 55cm will sit well above the arm. Measure the seat and arm heights from the listing and choose surrounding pieces within a few centimetres of them.
Before ordering, it helps to simulate the sofa rather than simply outline it.
Use dining chairs positioned along the taped footprint to represent the seating, then sit in them and look at the room. You will quickly notice if the view is towards a blank wall, if the light falls behind you, or if the television is at an uncomfortable angle.
Cardboard boxes stacked to roughly the back height of the sofa give a sense of how much the piece will block sightlines, which matters in front of a window or in an open plan space.
Neither takes long, and both reveal things a tape measure cannot.
Measuring only the long wall and assuming the return will be fine. It frequently is not.
Forgetting the door swing. A door needs its whole arc clear, not just the doorway width.
Working from the seat count rather than the dimensions. Seat counts vary between manufacturers and tell you nothing reliable about footprint.
Ignoring the delivery route until the order is placed. This is the cause of most failed deliveries, and it is entirely avoidable.
Measuring once. Walls are uneven, tapes slip and it is easy to misread a figure. Measure twice and use the smaller number.
About twenty minutes for the measurements, plus a day of leaving masking tape on the floor to test the layout in practice.
Compact designs work in rooms from around 3m by 3.5m. Larger designs need 4m by 4m or a defined zone of that size in an open plan space. Raised legs and slim arms help smaller rooms considerably.
Only along the delivery route. Low stair landings and sloped ceilings on turns cause more access problems than doorways do.
Measure at skirting level, since that is what the sofa base will meet. Taking a second measurement higher up will reveal any lean in the wall.
Look for a similar design with slimmer arms, or consider a modular version where a section can be omitted. Forcing an oversized sofa into a space rarely works out well.
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