To know whether a corner sofa with chaise will fit, you need four measurements: the overall width of the main run, the depth of the chaise from front to back, the height of the back, and the clearance you will leave in front. As a working rule, add 60cm to the front of the sofa for a walkway and 10cm behind it for a wall gap. If the resulting footprint fits within your room with a clear route from the door, the sofa will work.<\/p>\n
Most sizing mistakes come from measuring the sofa carefully and the room casually. Reversing that order solves almost everything.<\/p>\n
Overall width is the longest dimension of the sofa, measured along the main seating run including both arms. This is the figure that must fit your chosen wall.<\/p>\n
Chaise depth is measured from the front edge of the chaise to the back of the sofa. On a corner sofa with a chaise this is usually between 150cm and 180cm, considerably more than the 90cm to 100cm depth of the main run. It is the measurement people most often overlook.<\/p>\n
Back height determines whether the sofa will sit below a window sill or a radiator. Seat depth, measured from the front edge of the seat to the front of the back cushion, tells you how the sofa will feel to sit on. Note all four before you compare models.<\/p>\n
Draw a simple plan of the room with the dimensions of each wall. Mark the position of the door and the direction it swings, the window and the height of its sill, the radiator, the sockets, and the chimney breast if there is one.<\/p>\n
Then measure the alcoves separately. Alcove width is rarely the same on both sides of a chimney breast, and the difference can be 10cm or more. If you plan to set the chaise into an alcove, that figure is the one that decides which models are possible.<\/p>\n
The most reliable test costs almost nothing. Mark the full footprint of the sofa on your floor with masking tape, including the chaise. Leave it in place for a day and move around the room as you normally would.<\/p>\n
You will quickly discover whether the chaise blocks the route to the window, whether the door still opens fully, and whether there is room to walk past the front. This test catches problems that no amount of measuring on paper will reveal, particularly in rooms that are not perfectly rectangular.<\/p>\n
Allow 60cm as a minimum walkway in front of the sofa, and more if it is the main route through the room. Between the seat front and a coffee table, 40cm is comfortable: close enough to reach, far enough to stand up.<\/p>\n
Behind the sofa, a gap of 5cm to 10cm prevents the back from scuffing the wall and allows air to move, which matters near a radiator. At the open end of the chaise, leave at least 30cm before any other furniture so the sofa does not look wedged. Selecting a suitably proportioned table from our modern coffee tables UK<\/a> range is easier once these clearances are fixed.<\/p>\n Stand in the doorway and look into the room. The chaise should extend away from your entry path, not across it. If your room has a window on one side, placing the chaise at the window end usually makes the arrangement feel more natural, since the longer section faces the light.<\/p>\n Remember that orientation is fixed on most models. Left hand and right hand versions are described from the point of view of someone standing in front of the sofa. If there is any ambiguity in the listing, the tape outline on the floor will settle it. Comparing both orientations across the corner sofas UK sale<\/a> selection is worth doing before deciding.<\/p>\n A sofa that fits the room is useless if it will not reach it. Measure the width of the front door, the narrowest point of the hallway, the width of the staircase, and the diagonal clearance at any turn. For flats, measure the lift internal depth and door width.<\/p>\n Height matters at turns: a sofa can often be tilted, so the diagonal measurement of the sofa across its depth and height determines whether it will go round a corner. Modular and sectional corner sofas remove this problem entirely, which is why they are the safer choice in older terraced homes and upper floor flats.<\/p>\n Once the sofa footprint is settled, position everything else in relation to it. The television or media unit should sit opposite the main run rather than opposite the chaise, so most seats face the screen squarely. Keep the unit low and within the width of the sofa for a balanced composition, and choose from our modern TV units UK sale<\/a> range at a height that does not force you to look upwards.<\/p>\n A rug should extend under the front legs of the entire sofa, including the chaise. A rug that stops short of the chaise splits the arrangement visually and makes the room look smaller than it is.<\/p>\n Take a room measuring 4.2m by 3.4m with the door in one corner and a window on the long wall. A corner sofa with a 250cm main run and a 165cm chaise depth needs 250cm of wall plus 10cm behind, and 165cm of floor depth plus 60cm of walkway in front.<\/p>\n That gives a total requirement of 250cm by 235cm. In a 4.2m by 3.4m room, this leaves 170cm of width and 105cm of depth free, which is enough for a media unit opposite and a clear route from the door. The same sofa in a 3.6m by 3m room would leave only 65cm of free depth, which is tight but workable if the chaise sits at the far end from the door.<\/p>\nWhich side should the chaise sit<\/h3>\n
Delivery access: the measurement people forget<\/h3>\n
Fitting the rest of the room around it<\/h3>\n
A worked example<\/h3>\n