3 Hacks for Choosing the Right Sofa for Your Living Room

White three-seat sofa in a living room with an end table and a decorative ladder.

Choosing a sofa is harder than it should be. Walk into any furniture store, and you’re faced with sectionals, recliners, standard sofas, modular pieces, leather, fabric, and price tags that vary wildly. Then come the questions: will it fit through your doorway? Is a reclining sofa too casual for your space? Do you need a sectional sofa, or will a smaller piece work better? These three hacks will help simplify your decision so you can pick the perfect living room furniture for your space.

Measure Your Space Before You Shop

The biggest mistake people make is finding a sofa they love, only to discover it doesn’t fit their living room. To avoid furniture heartbreak, make sure you measure your space before you start shopping. You need to know the width of the area where the sofa will sit, the depth (how far it can stick out from the wall), and the height of any windows or obstacles behind it.

Don’t forget: you need to measure your doorways, hallways, and stairwells, too. That gorgeous black sectional sofa with the perfect measurements for your living room still won’t fit if you can’t get it through the front door. Write these measurements down and bring them when you shop.

Match Your Sofa Type to How You Use Your Living Room

Different lifestyles = different sofa styles. A modular sofa with rearrangeable pieces gives you flexibility if you like mixing things up. The pieces separate and reconfigure, so you’re not stuck with one fixed arrangement.

A reclining sofa makes sense if you’re using your living room to relax and watch TV. Choose a leather reclining sofa for added durability—leather wipes clean easily and holds up better to daily wear and tear than fabric (perfect for homes with kids or pets).

Sectional sofas are perfect for larger living rooms or open-concept spaces where you need to define your seating area. They offer more seating than a standard sofa and often include a chaise for stretching out.

Prioritize Comfort and Durability Over Trends

That trendy sofa with the low profile and stiff cushions might look great in photos, but if it’s uncomfortable to sit on for more than 20 minutes, you’re not going to use it. Test sofas in person whenever you can and check the frame construction. Ask about the cushion fill—high-density foam keeps its shape better than low-density foam, which compresses flat after a year.

Realistically consider your household: do you have kids who spill? Pets who shed? Look at leather reclining sofas or performance fabrics that resist stains and are easy to clean.

Visit Cincinnati Overstock Warehouse for Living Room Furniture

Finding the right sofa means measuring your space accurately, matching the sofa type to how you use your living room, and prioritizing comfort and durability. Cincinnati Overstock Warehouse offers low prices on living room furniture from quality manufacturers, including Ashley, Jackson, Catnapper, and more.

Visit our Florence, KY, or West Chester, OH locations to see our selection. We serve Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky. As a convenient furniture store near Florence, KY, we’ll help you find a sofa that fits your space, your style, and your budget.