Designer’s Tricks: Go Radical with a Sofa-Less Living Room!

Of course Roses Flooring and Furniture has amazing living room sofas and loveseats, and most households swear by the tried and true room setup with your seating gathered around the trusty coffee table or facing the TV stand or entertainment console. But maybe you follow a different fashion muse. Do conventional living rooms BORE you? Here’s a subversive design thought: DON’T get a sofa exactly BECAUSE everybody else has one! That’s right. In this blog post we are encouraging you NOT to buy a piece of furniture that most people think is indispensable. This inside designer info also comes in handy for those of you whose “cozy” living space as described by the ad or realtor turns out to be “cramped.” You too can have an awesome living room with ample comfortable seating MINUS a sofa.

Mix It Up with Benches and Chairs

If easily movable furniture is your ideal, consider the recent trend of multiple chairs to make your living room lively. Armless chairs are a designer’s choice for this look, with a lack of barriers enhancing conversation. Add upholstered benches to the mix and you’ve got a comfy sofa-free party. You can gather around a table or sit theater-style for movie night or the big game.

All Hail the Mighty Ottoman

It’s time the dependable living room ottoman came into its own. It can be so much more than a footrest. A few oversize ones double as both seating and tables according to the situation, plus the ones that open give you more storage. And if you go this route you can be even more rad by ditching both the sofa and the coffee table. More floor space, more fun!

Sprawl on Thick Floor Cushions

If your idea for novel living room furniture is along the lines of the ’70s beanbag fad, we’ve got a more accommodating suggestion. Try thick floor cushions for poufs for the same disarming informality but a smoother “ride” for your guests.

For still more living room furniture ideas nothing to do with sofas, check out our Whiteville, NC store or any of our Roses locations!

How to Make Sure Your Entertainment Furniture Measures Up

First of all, readers, if you’re checking out this blog post, congratulations are in order. You’ve got your dream entertainment room almost all picked out: your cable or satellite service, awesome big-screen TV, games, and sound/speakers. Okay. All you need now is the perfect size TV stand to hold it all! Easy, you might think. But with all the brands and styles at your disposal, your final entertainment furniture selection might well have you stumped. That’s why we at Roses Flooring and Furniture, with our many years of helping households fit out their perfect TV rooms, offer you some free help in making your decision so much easier.

Make Sure It All Fits!

You may be in love with a wall unit but before you buy, do some prep at home. Of course your new TV furniture has to fit into its allotted space! Time to break out the tape measure and pencil. Determine the size you have to fill. Once you’ve done that, check that your set will fit in a given piece of furniture. Your screen size printed on the box it came in measures diagonally, so check the space in an entertainment center accordingly. Extra credit for being extra careful: measure and write down the height of your TV including of course its base.

The Right Sightlines for Health and Perfect Viewing

You get only one pair of eyes so make sure they stay in as good shape as you can. For one thing, your mother’s nagging was right: don’t get too close to the TV! For sets up to 29 inches, make sure you have at least 3 feet between you and the screen. For a 46-inch set up that number to 5 feet, and for jumbo screens just sit yourself back about 7 feet.

Now for something more fun, consider the most comfortable positioning of your TV and furniture for ideal viewing. The best sightline for this is from your eyes when you are seated to the bottom of the screen. To find this out when planning for entertainment furniture, enlist a volunteer for help. Have this person sit on the sofa or chair hold an end of something straight while you walk toward the wall holding the other end and gently mark the spot on the wall with your pencil or crayon. Great. Next, get out your tape measure again and record the height from the floor to that mark. The shelf on which your TV will sit should be 1 foot or less below that mark.

For even more home entertainment furniture ideas stop by our Franklin, VA store or other locations.