Furniture Fundamentals: How to ensure my sofa fits my room

February 07 2025, by Ruth Wilbur, 4 min reading time

You’ve fallen in love with your future sofa so now’s the time to check that your chosen suite is going to be sitting pretty in its desired spot. This is one of those jobs where you can struggle to know where to start, but worry not, we’ve put together a guide to make the whole thing a breeze - from sofa dimensions to measuring your doorways - here we run through everything you need to know.

STEP 1: Tool up

Dig out your trusty tape measure (it will be your best friend for this job!), pen and pencil.

STEP 2: Time to measure up

To ensure your dream sofa is going to work with your space, you’re going to need sofa dimensions - specifically you'll need the width (W), height (H), and depth (D) of your sofa. All our sofas have these measurements to help you check this information and if you need further information our customer service team is happy to help.

Some sofas have a few other necessary measurements - for example corner sofas have two lengths (C1 and C2) and a depth for each section (D1 and D2).

Chaise sofas can also have a long section with a longer depth in one part.

Sofa beds also need the overall length considered when extended to sure you have enough space to comfortably move around when in use.

STEP 3: Measure your sofa’s new spot

Now it’s time to measure the room where you will be putting your sofa to check you have enough room to easily move around and so that you are sure it's going to feel right for the room in terms of scale. Depending on your room, you might find it useful to create a quick template of where the furniture is going with a newspaper to make it easy to see how much space you have to play with and check the flow of the room. Does it feel proportionally right for the room? Can you still easily move around?

STEP 4: Measure for delivery

An important step that shouldn’t be skipped in measuring for delivery. You also need to consider how your sofa will be manoeuvred to reach its perfect position.

Depending on your home and which room you want to put your new furniture in, it’s a good idea to check the width of doorways, any furniture that might be obstructing access, and if there are any tight turns that need to be taken into account.

Measure the tightest spaces and check the width of these areas exceeds the height of your sofa. You’ll want to have a little wiggle room, so your furniture can be manoeuvred through as easily as possible. And don’t forget to keep an eye out for any obstructions that might get in the way, such as radiators, shelving, and other pieces of furniture that can’t be moved.

Don’t forget stairs if your sofa is destined for the high life. You’re going to need to check that it fits through the stairway in the same way as doorways, measuring the narrowest point (don’t forget to measure banister rail to ceiling height if lifting over). If there are any landings, you’ll also want to measure the depth, width, and height to check there are no problems with narrow access.

We offer delivery to a ground floor room of your choice at Vintage Sofa, but if you are in need of extra assistance to tackle stairs etc. you can call us to make special arrangements. If space is particularly tight, we can also provide you with dimensions of the packaging to help you plan for an easy delivery.

STEP 5: Measure your front door

A step which would be so easy to forget (and frequently is!) is the front door. Measure the width of your front door frame and, if this exceeds the height of your chosen sofa, it should fit through the door without any trouble.

If you are worried the sofa won’t fit through your door, other solutions are possible. Consider if you have a large window or another entrance that it might fit through instead. As long as the route is safe, our delivery team will always try their best to deliver your sofa, we just need to know about the specific requirements ahead of delivery.

STEP 6: Still worried about furniture fitting?

We offer a bespoke sofa service where sofas are made to measure for your space as well as a range of modular sofas which make negotiating tricky access a breeze. And if there’s anything you’re unsure of, drop us a line and get in touch, we’re happy to help.

Here at Vintage Sofa we’ll do all we can to ensure your sofa is delivered without a hitch. Our reviews are top notch and our customer service team is on hand to help you with your questions ahead of time. We always recommend that you measure ahead of time to ensure that things don’t go wrong on the day and problems are avoided.