Living Room Layout: The Right Distances Between Sofa, Coffee Table and TV Unit

Short answer: what decides a living room layout is not the size of the furniture but the space you leave between the pieces. The ruler is this: 40-45 cm between the front of the sofa and the coffee table, 75-90 cm for the main walkway, 180-250 cm between facing seating groups, and a distance from the TV to the sofa of 2.5 to 3 times the screen diagonal. Put those numbers on a sketch and what fits in your room, and what does not, comes out by itself.

How do you lay out a living room? Start with a sketch

The plan starts at home, not in the showroom. Put the four walls, the door and window positions, the radiator and the sockets on paper; then, at a scale of 1 cm = 20 cm, cut the furniture out of paper as rectangles and move them around on the sketch. You can try five layouts without shifting anything. Where to take the measurements from is in our guide on how to measure for furniture; the dimensions of the pieces themselves are in sofa set dimensions. This article is about the space between those dimensions.

Critical distances in a living room layout

The "minimum" column is the limit below which use becomes awkward.

↔ Scroll the table sideways to see all of it.

The last row is missed in most homes: the coffee table top should not be higher than the top of the cushion. Taking a cup from a 50 cm table beside a sofa with a 43 cm seat means lifting your shoulder. The detail is in our article on coffee table dimensions.

How many metres should there be between the TV unit and the sofa?

Viewing distance depends on the screen diagonal: between 2.5 and 3 times the diagonal.

↔ Scroll the table sideways to see all of it.

The height rule is simpler: seated, your eye should meet the lower third of the screen. As eye height on a sofa is 100-110 cm from the floor, the bottom edge of the screen sits at 90-110 cm and the lower block at 40-50 cm high. Lifting the screen up towards the ceiling causes neck ache. For unit width see TV unit dimensions; for an example of a low block, the Electra TV unit.

Three layouts by the shape of the room

↔ Scroll the table sideways to see all of it.

In a narrow room the most useful move is to pull the sofa 10-15 cm off the wall and put a slim console behind it. For under 20 m² see our article on how to furnish a small living room. If you are considering a single-sided chaise module instead of a corner set, you can find how much depth that form needs in what is a chaise longue.

If the living and dining areas run together, how do you divide the space?

• 75-80 cm to pull a chair out. From the edge of the table to the first obstacle behind it.
• 100-110 cm if there is a walkway behind. About a metre between the table edge and the back of the sofa.
• At least 90 cm between table and wall, and 100 cm is more comfortable on the serving side.
• Let a rug divide the two zones. One rug for the seating group, a separate one for the table, with 20-30 cm of bare floor between them.

Choosing the table length is in dining table dimensions, and rug size and position in living room rug size.

How do windows, radiators, sockets and doors change the plan?

• Do not block the radiator. A sofa in front of it cuts the heat and dries the fabric; leave at least 10 cm.
• Keep under the window free. Pieces lower than the sill can stand in front; a high-backed sofa blocks the light.
• Do not leave a socket behind the unit. A socket that does not line up with the cable hole pushes the body 5-6 cm forward.
• The door sweeps a half circle. No coffee table or pouffe goes in that area.
• The balcony exit is a main walkway; do not let it drop below 90 cm.

Six common living room layout mistakes

• 1. Pushing everything against the walls. A room left empty in the middle does not look large, it looks bare.
• 2. Bringing the coffee table too close. Under 30 cm and you knock your knees.
• 3. Buying the largest set the room will take. Fitting is not enough — you have to be able to walk around it.
• 4. Putting the TV opposite the window. There is glare on the screen by day; choose the wall at right angles to the window.
• 5. Buying too small a rug. The sofa legs should be on the rug.
• 6. Leaving the lighting to a single ceiling fitting. A floor lamp and light inside the unit divide the room into zones.

Once the plan is settled, compare the models that fit your measurements in the living room category; you can also send a photo of your sketch to the Selishome team for a second opinion.