How To Use Newspaper To Pick The Perfect Size Sofa

Sofa styles run the gamut, but one factor is more important than any other when it comes to choosing the best one for your home — setting aside concerns of features, color, and price — first and foremost you need to determine the appropriate size. From a loveseat to a sectional and everything in between, sofa size can vary greatly, and the wrong size can make or break your living space. In order to visualize a new sofa in your empty room, lay down newspapers where the new couch footprint will be. This easy hack is a great way to decide how much sofa is too much... or too little.

Furniture is meant to last for years, so buying new pieces can be incredibly stressful, and finding ways to make the process easier is an invaluable step toward success. Using newspapers to gauge the proper size will also let you narrow down the type of sofa you're looking for. Do you have space for reclining pieces or a large corner sectional? Is a sleeper sofa an option or should you stick with a smaller piece like a loveseat or settee? Plan ahead, have a good idea of what size sofa you're looking for, and then buy the perfect sofa for your needs.

Whether you're looking for something cozy, something formal, or something sleek, the size of your sofa can have as much to do with the success of your design as the style. If you have a small living room, a sofa that is too big will actually shrink the room even further. However, a sofa that is too small for a larger, more open room will seem dwarfed. By laying down newspapers, you can get a feel for not only the space the piece will take up, but the flow of the walkways and the placement of accessory pieces.

The average size of a sheet of newspaper is 11 inches, left to right, or just under one foot. So the number of newspapers needed to create the ideal sofa space will inform just how big of a sofa you'll need. Whether shopping in a giant furniture warehouse or scrolling through the seemingly endless online options, knowing the correct size will shrink the enormity of your task by eliminating any and all couches that aren't going to fit your room.

The cost of a new couch can run into thousands of dollars, so picking the right one is crucial. A sofa should last for anywhere between 7 and 15 years, meaning it could bear witness to several different phases of your life. By taking the time to get the exact right size sofa for your room, you not only invest in your present, but you may also be investing in your future. According to home stagers, the right couch placed perfectly in a room can increase the appeal to prospective buyers, and potentially increase your home's sale price.

Regardless of current or future living arrangements, however, knowing how to properly size a sofa for a room — whether in a new home or in the process of redecorating an old one — is a skill that could come in handy many times over, and it will help ensure that the sofa you buy will be correctly proportioned and worth every penny.