According to a statistic, the average American has spent at least two hours a day sitting on the sofa, totaling 448 hours in the 32 weeks. That further illustrates how vital the sofa and living room environment can be.
A proper arrangement on the sofa, especially the reclining sofa and loveseat, is the key to creating cozy and relaxing living room vibes. Because compared with a standard sofa set, reclining sofa and loveseat tend to be more comfortable, thanks to their designs.
To arrange your reclining sofa and loveseat, you’ll need to ask yourself several questions, that determine how they should be settled:
- How do you want your room to function?
- What are the focal points of the living room?
- Will they influence the traffic flow?
- How to maximize a small living room?
Now, follow our steps to arrange your reclining sofa and loveseat appropriately.
1. Maximize the Function of Your Reclining Sofa and Loveseat
How do you want your room to function? To satisfy conversational demands or to provide a cozy place to watch videos? The functions you want to achieve will be a final determination on how to organize your sofa set.
U-shape creates a face-to-face environment for conversations.
If you intend to set up a conversational area, you’ll want to arrange your sofas into a U-shape, and your reclining sofa and loveseat can either be in the middle or on the side.
Form A round U-shape for watching TV
A close U-shape for a large get-together
Set the Single Armrest on the side
You can also arrange an ottoman on one side
L-shape provides a broad view to get you immersed in TV programs.
If you spend a considerable amount of time watching TV on the recliner sofa, then you can choose to arrange your recliner sofa and loveseat with L-shape.
Arrange them with a chaise for extra comfort
Get an extra loveseat to make the activity space larger
Arrange separate arm sofas for a small space
2. Determine the Focal Points in the Living Room
The focal points in the living room mean this is the center of the room; all your seating areas should be around the focal points instead of scattering them in each corner.
For interior design, if you want to balance the room decoration, you need to set a focal point: a TV set or a fireplace. Simply put, arrange your bulk furniture, especially your sofa, around the focal points.
Let’s say you want a large TV to be the focal point of your living room, then arrange your recliner sofa and loveseat in a U-shape, and make sure people sitting on the sofa face the TV so that anyone can enjoy the TV program whichever seat he or she takes.
And once a fireplace becomes a focal point of the room, you can adopt the same principle, getting the sofa set to a U-shape or an L-shape facing the fireplace.
I am not saying the focal point must be a TV or a fireplace; the recliner itself can also be a focal point. You can place it in the middle of the room and set a coffee table around it; getting a small loveseat or one or two separate armchairs on the opposite side is also a good choice.
The focal points can be anything, a decorative shelf, a wall painting, a TV set or even a unique-designed recliner or chair. As long as the focal point is set, turn the sofa so that all the seats face to the focal point.
3. Spare Enough Space For Traffic Flow
The room’s space determines how many sofas set you can place, yet the arrangement of those sofa sets determines how much space you can have visually in the living room.
The traffic flow may not be a consideration for a large living room. But for a small living room, leaving the traffic flow behind means, you will find no place to set your foot when walking.
To avoid causing chaos in your living room, when arranging your recliner sofa and loveseat, take the FOUR DISTANCES into your mind:
Distance Between Sofas
When you arrange the recliner sofa with other sofa sets, be it a loveseat, armchair, or a chaise, and form an angle, make sure the recliner sofa won’t disturb others when stretching out.
You may place the recliner sofa in the middle or side where no other sofa set is around. For this arrangement, the extended leg support part won’t touch the person sitting on a nearby sofa when you sit on the recliner sofa.
Distance Between Sofa And Coffee Table
To avoid knocking into the coffee table when sitting on the recliner sofa and loveseat,
- leave enough space for the recliner sofa to stretch out
- leave enough room for getting in and out of the area
Unlike a typical sofa, the depth of a recliner sofa includes the leg part and seat part (also the back part if it stretches), so make clear the recliner sofa measurement and then determine where your coffee table should be.
Leave no less than 20 inches between stretched recliner sofa and coffee table so that there’ll be no trouble getting in and out of the sofa area.
Distance Between Sofa And the Wall
Always remember that there must be ample space for a recliner sofa to recline backward; that is why the distance between the sofa and the wall is crucial in the arrangement.
If your recliner sofa reclines only on the leg part, then you can set them as the regular sofas.
However, if your recliner sofa can recline backward, leave around 12 inches between the sofa and the wall to protect both of them from wearing.
Distance Between Sofa And Existing Furniture
As the sofa is normally set in the middle of the room, you’ll have to consider other furniture when arranging.
When you walk around the sofa set, ensure there is ample space left between the existing furniture, such as a bookshelf, fireplace, or floor lamp.
Leave around 18 inches between your recliner sofa and the existing furniture to protect other furniture from being knocked off.
4. Expand the Visual Space at Full Steam
The size of the living room has a lot to do with the scale of the recliner sofa.
Select the ample proportional recliner sofa and loveseat if you own a large living room. But for a small living room, you may want to get a wall hugger or a small space recliner.
Apart from the sofa choice, the placement of each item set in a small room also matters. For example, you can have many bulk furniture in a large living room; even placing them together won’t make the space too stuffy.
Yet, in the small living room, never stuff the room. You may get a small piece of furniture around and place them separately; the fluid of the small room will create a comfortable and extended feeling.
