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TV Units by Region: How Britain’s Tastes Differ
September 2, 2026

TV Units by Region: How Britain’s Tastes Differ

Furniture in Fashion finds that regional differences in how Britain chooses a TV unit are driven by the housing stock rather than by the counties. Where older, smaller homes dominate, people buy shorter units and wall mount the screen; where newer, larger homes prevail, low wide units and media walls become practical. Our report is careful on this point: comparable national data on TV unit dimensions by region is not published, so we describe patterns tied to building era and room proportion rather than asserting regional rankings. It explains how a chimney breast governs the whole TV wall in period rooms, why open plan living favours low units that protect sightlines, and why the centre of the screen should sit at seated eye level of roughly 105cm to 120cm. It also sets out the width rule, the cable and ventilation details that cause most dissatisfaction, and how to match a unit format to a real room....

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The UK Households Report 2026
September 2, 2026

The UK Households Report 2026

British households are not buying smaller furniture, they are buying furniture that earns its place twice. That is the headline conclusion of our 2026 assessment of how UK homes are furnished and why. The national footprint has not grown, but the list of jobs each room performs has: dining rooms host homework and laundry, bedrooms host desks, and hallways absorb the storage that converted lofts and cupboards displaced. We examine the constraints that decide whether a room works, from the 90cm walkway behind a dining chair to the standard UK bed widths that make bedroom planning arithmetic before it is taste, and we set out why tall shallow storage consistently outperforms short deep storage in small British rooms. The report draws on the room proportions common in terraced, semi detached and new build housing, published context from the English Housing Survey and the Nationally Described Space Standard, and our own editorial judgement as a UK furniture retailer....

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The UK Room Layout Planner for Small UK Flats
August 30, 2026

The UK Room Layout Planner for Small UK Flats

Small flats are rarely failed by the size of their furniture but by the space between it, according to layout analysis from Furniture in Fashion. When circulation is treated as leftover space rather than a designed element, the result is a flat that must be navigated instead of used. Planning routes first and placing furniture into what remains usually accommodates more furniture, not less. Depth matters more than width, since a longer sofa on a long wall costs nothing while ten extra centimetres of depth intrudes across the room. Round tables outperform rectangular ones in tight rooms because they have no corners projecting into a walkway, and they seat more flexibly. The view from the front door determines perceived size more than actual floor area, which is why tall solid furniture belongs out of the entry sightline....

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The New Build Home Planner: A Data-Led Layout Tool
August 30, 2026

The New Build Home Planner: A Data-Led Layout Tool

New build homes are hard to furnish for the opposite reason to period properties: flat walls and no alcoves give furniture nothing to anchor to. That is the conclusion of a 2026 layout report published by Furniture in Fashion, which argues that furniture must create the structure the architecture does not supply. The analysis notes that the Nationally Described Space Standard sets minimum gross internal areas and a 2.3m ceiling height over at least 75 per cent of the floor area, and that homes built close to those figures leave little tolerance for furniture brought from an older house. It identifies wall space as the scarce resource once doors, windows and radiators are deducted, and covers two construction details that change what is possible: stud partition walls, which limit wall mounting, and underfloor heating, which favours furniture on legs. A sizing table matches typical new build room dimensions to workable furniture footprints....

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The UK New Build Home Report 2026
August 25, 2026

The UK New Build Home Report 2026

Furniture in Fashion's UK New Build Home Report 2026 concludes that newer British homes fail on furnishing not through lack of space but through lack of anchor, because a room without a chimney breast, bay or alcove gives the furniture nothing to organise itself around. Our analysis finds that sofa depth is the most common oversizing error made by buyers moving from older housing, and that reducing from a deep lounging profile to a standard 85cm to 95cm depth typically recovers 10cm to 20cm of floor in a compact living room. The report sets out furniture specification against typical new build room types, explains why lower ceiling heights favour wide low storage over tall narrow pieces, and covers the practical constraints of plasterboard fixings, fixed radiator positions and the higher airtightness of modern construction....

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The Living Room Set Index 2026: What Britain Really Buys
August 24, 2026

The Living Room Set Index 2026: What Britain Really Buys

British living rooms are bought in pieces but lived in as sets, and Furniture in Fashion's 2026 index argues that the binding constraint is usable wall length rather than floor area. The report explains why a coordinated set solves a sequencing problem: it fixes material palette and proportion in a single decision, avoiding the drift that happens when pieces are acquired over years. It sets out arrangements for the three room shapes that recur in UK housing, the through lounge, the bay fronted room and the open plan living zone, and gives the clearances that separate a comfortable room from a congested one: 40cm to 45cm between sofa and coffee table, 75cm to 90cm for circulation. It also addresses chimney breast alcoves, rug sizing and the television height error that causes neck strain. Compiled from editorial assessment, standard dimensions and named UK housing sources, with no sales data....

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The Open-Plan Living Space Price Index 2026
August 24, 2026

The Open-Plan Living Space Price Index 2026

Furniture in Fashion's Open-Plan Living Space Price Index 2026 concludes that furnishing an open plan home costs more than furnishing the same floor area divided into rooms, for structural rather than decorative reasons. The report identifies three cost concentrations: the scale premium required for furniture to hold its proportions in a large undivided volume, the storage that open plan architecture removes and furniture must replace, and the finish consistency demanded when every piece sits in a single sightline. It sets out the controlling lever for each zone, from extending dining tables that keep the everyday footprint small to consolidating storage into fewer wide units that double as zone boundaries. The index analyses cost structure rather than price levels and contains no monetary figures, as no verifiable published dataset covers UK open plan furnishing costs. The report is published as an editorial reference for journalists covering UK interiors and household spending....

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The Corner Sofa Buying Behaviour Survey 2026
August 23, 2026

The Corner Sofa Buying Behaviour Survey 2026

Corner sofas are bought for seating capacity and regretted for orientation, according to a new editorial analysis from Furniture in Fashion. The 2026 report identifies handing, the left or right position of the chaise return, as the decision that most determines long term satisfaction, and notes that the trade convention describing it is widely misread because it is expressed from the perspective of someone sitting on the sofa rather than standing in front of it. The analysis also finds that corner units frequently suit small UK living rooms better than buyers expect, because they occupy corner floor that a straight sofa and armchair arrangement leaves as dead circulation space, particularly in terraced homes with chimney breast alcoves. Where corner sofas divide open plan kitchen diners, the report recommends low backs, finished rear panels and 90cm of clearance on all open sides, and identifies the return dimension rather than overall width as the measurement most rooms fail....

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Do Rugs Go under Dining Tables?
August 20, 2026

Do Rugs Go under Dining Tables?

Rugs do belong under dining tables in most rooms, though the arrangement only works when the size and pile are right. This guide sets out the case for and against honestly, covering sound absorption, floor protection and zoning on one side, and cleaning, space constraints and existing carpet on the other. It gives specific rug dimensions for four, six and eight seater tables, explains why 60cm to 75cm of overhang is the figure that decides everything, and covers which materials survive dining conditions. There is also practical detail on rug pads, chair foot design, and alternatives if your room cannot take a rug....

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How Much Room for Dining Chairs?
August 20, 2026

How Much Room for Dining Chairs?

Allow 90cm to 100cm between the dining table edge and the nearest wall so people can pull out a chair, stand up and walk behind someone seated. Where nobody needs to pass behind, 75cm is workable. Alongside that, plan 60cm of table edge per person and 30cm of clear floor directly behind each chair. This guide shows how to mark out your room with masking tape to find the largest table it will genuinely take, gives room requirements for four, six and eight seater tables, and covers the tactics that make tight UK dining rooms and open plan kitchen diners work properly....

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