6 Reasons to Float a Sofa
Use a Sofa's Long Shape to Direct Traffic, Define a Space and More
I started JASON BALL interiors out of a passion for the design and building process. For me, it's all about learning about my clients and creating a personalized space that fits the way they live.
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One of the disadvantages of the open floor plan is the lack of walls that define rooms or against which furniture can be placed. If you're faced with this problem, consider pulling the sofa away from a wall. "Floating" the sofa can solve a multitude of decorating issues. Here are 6 reasons floating your sofa might be the way to go.
| 1. Direct traffic. One of the drawbacks of the open floor plan, especially in smaller homes, is the lack of halls or clear traffic patterns. The back of this sofa creates a "hallway" from the entry to the rest of the home, and defines the living room. The light colors and clear accent tables keeps this smaller space open and airy. Private Comment
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2. Create multiple seating areas within one room. If the love seats had been pushed back against the side walls in this room, the seating area would have been too spread out. By pulling the sofas up around the fireplace, it creates a more appropriately sized conversation area, as well as another area by the window, perfect for reading the paper on Sunday mornings.
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| Here's another example of how to create multiple destination spots within the same room. The pair of occasional chairs by the windows are a perfect space for an intimate conversation. Private Comment
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| 3. Focus on the view. Sometimes it's whats outside of the room that dictates how a room is arranged. The fantastic water view outside this window is the real show stopper. This furniture arrangement takes full advantage of it. Private Comment
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| 4. Divide a large space into "rooms." Focus on the sofa in the middle of the picture. This one acts as a "wall," helping create distinct rooms within this one very long space. By placing the sofa perpendicular to the long walls in the rooms also helps visually widen the room while minimizing its length, making it seems less like a bowling alley. Private Comment
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| Placing two loveseats back to back in the middle of this large room creates two distinct areas, each with its own decorating scheme. This is a great way to treat a large space, yet make it feel livable. Private Comment
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| 5. Separate a room by function. In this setting, the deep brown sofa is used to divide this playroom into a TV area and a game area. This allows several activities to take place at the same time without kids tripping over each other. Private Comment
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| 6. Maximize seating. Had these two large-scale sofas been arranged differently, they would have taken up too much space in this room. By flanking the coffee table and placing two slipper chairs at the end of the rug, a seating area has been created for up to 10 people. And, as a special bonus, there's not a bad seat in the house for taking in the view.
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Next: Browse more photos of sofas in design |
Comments
Denise Vilim says:
So many gorgeous spaces here!
I heard somewhere over a decade ago that floating the sofa adds comfort, conversation and life to a living space. My sofas have been floating ever since with never a regret and tons of freed up wall space to work with.
I heard somewhere over a decade ago that floating the sofa adds comfort, conversation and life to a living space. My sofas have been floating ever since with never a regret and tons of freed up wall space to work with.
14 months ago ·
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Frisson says:
Great ideabook! So many people have such a fear of floating furniture, but nothing's worse than a room lined with furniture and a big empty space in the middle!
14 months ago ·
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jeg700 700 says:
My family is less than graceful when sitting down and I dislike carpets more than anything, so when I floated my sofa it was forever being moved backwards every time someone sat down. Extremely annoying! I moved the sofa back against the wall:(
14 months ago ·
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Amy says:
Such a great ideabook! I am dying to float my sofa, but my family room is so narrow that when I do it really blocks off the room and there is not a enough space to enter the seating space (less than 18" on either side). Is there a good solution? My family room feels like a bowling alley and I hate it ... but with such a narrow space I don't know what else to do. Advice???
14 months ago ·
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Amy says:
To "obsessive" - I just found these new pads to put on the feet of furniture. They help protect the floors like felt pads do, but they are made of a foam material so the furniture doesn't slide. I found them at Target in the "hardware" section, right next to the felt pads. Just a thought ...
14 months ago ·
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laureldesign says:
When I stage homes for clients they are often leary of "floating" seating arrangements. I have added these pictures to my idea book to convince my clients and Sellers. Thank you for the reference pictures
14 months ago ·
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mcgrathinnola says:
Yes floating is great but keep in mind that not all households have overhead spotlighting for reading/ etc. nor do they have floor outlets for table/floorlamps. Therefore most folks in ordinary homes need to be near walls just for that purpose.
14 months ago ·
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All 6 are great reasons to float the sofa. All of the rooms in the examples are pretty large or open floor plans. I'd just like to add that even the smaller rooms many of us live in can benefit from pulling the seating pieces away from the wall into a comfortable conversation grouping. Even if you don't have enough spare room left over to add another "room" or seating area, you'll be more comfortable talking with each other -- you'll generally create a better focal point if grouped near a view or fireplace -- and you'll have room to walk around and get right up to windows or to put up larger art on the freed up wall space.
I'm sharing photos of a couple rooms that were not in open plan homes and were not very big, but it totally worked to pull the seating in away from the walls. My apologies for the crummy snap-shot-no-wide-angle photos and horrible black-hole night time photo :0( At least you can see the rooms aren't big and the furniture is well away from the wall.
Oh -- and to amy_p: could you get rid of the sofa and go with a love seat instead? Unless you lie down on it to watch tv, most of the time a love seat will give you as much functionality for seating and give you more options for placement.
I'm sharing photos of a couple rooms that were not in open plan homes and were not very big, but it totally worked to pull the seating in away from the walls. My apologies for the crummy snap-shot-no-wide-angle photos and horrible black-hole night time photo :0( At least you can see the rooms aren't big and the furniture is well away from the wall.
Oh -- and to amy_p: could you get rid of the sofa and go with a love seat instead? Unless you lie down on it to watch tv, most of the time a love seat will give you as much functionality for seating and give you more options for placement.
14 months ago ·
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mabies says:
Our couch is "floating" the only downside is how to light the couch for reading.
14 months ago ·
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christinesafriet says:
we too have a floating couch, with a console table behind that doubles as a buffet when we have company.
14 months ago ·
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@Amber_allen. The best way to find out information on a particular photo is to post a question with that designer/builder. If you click on the picture, it will take you to their page where you can post a question on that photo. Happy rug hunting!
14 months ago ·
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