Almost every furniture return comes down to one of four measurements, and none of them is the one people take first. The wall gets measured, the sofa arrives, and it turns out the stairwell turn is 4 cm too tight. Here is the order that avoids it.
Shop the pieces in this guide
1. The wall, between the skirting boards
Measure the usable wall, not the room. Skirting boards take 2–3 cm on each side in most European flats, and a radiator takes far more. A 200 cm sofa against a 205 cm wall with skirting on both sides does not fit.
2. The narrowest doorway on the route
Walk the route the delivery will take and measure the tightest point: the front door, the hallway corner, the lift opening, the stairwell turn. Write the smallest number down. That number, not the room, decides whether a piece can be delivered at all.
This is why flat-packed furniture exists. A three-seat sofa that will not go round the turn will still arrive as three boxes that will.
3. The stairwell or lift turn
A sofa 240 cm long cannot go up a stairwell with a 200 cm landing, no matter how narrow it is. Diagonal clearance through a turn is roughly the square root of (landing width² + landing depth²) minus the sofa's thickness. If the arithmetic looks marginal, choose a modular piece and carry it up in units.
4. The 80 cm walkway
Subtract 80 cm from the room's clear width for walking, then subtract the coffee table depth. What is left is your maximum sofa depth. In a room 300 cm across: 300 − 80 − 40 = 180 cm of depth available, which is generous. In a room 220 cm across: 220 − 80 − 40 = 100 cm, which is a cloud sofa and nothing more.
What to check on the product page once you have the numbers
- Overall width, depth and height in centimetres
- Packed dimensions — compare against your lift and corridor
- Assembly requirement — some pieces arrive assembled and will not fit through a narrow door
- Maximum recommended load — total and per seat
Two shortcuts worth knowing
Masking tape on the floor, at the sofa's exact footprint, tells you more in ten seconds than a floor plan does in ten minutes. And if a room is under 12 m², buy for sitting rather than lounging: a 170–190 cm sofa at 85 cm deep will feel better in daily use than a deeper one you have to walk around sideways.
The five numbers to write down before you shop
Floor area is the least useful measurement in furniture buying. These five decide whether a piece physically gets in:
| Number | Where to measure | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Door clear width | Between the door stop and the frame, door open | Any box or sofa panel must pass this. A standard interior door gives 75–80 cm |
| Stair turn width | The narrowest point at the half-landing | The real limit on long items — a 2 m sofa often has to go up on its end |
| Lift depth | Inside floor to back wall, doors closed | Deep sofas and wardrobes are shipped flat-packed for this reason |
| Ceiling height | Floor to ceiling, and floor to the underside of any beam | Decides whether a tall wardrobe stands up or must be assembled lying down |
| Skirting depth | Skirting board projection | Any unit that sits flush to the wall needs a 10–15 mm gap or a notched back |
Measure a room without moving anything
You need a tape measure, a second pair of hands and about ten minutes per room.
- Measure wall to wall at three points — near each end and in the middle. Older flats are rarely square, and the smallest figure is the one that counts.
- Note every fixed obstruction on the plan: radiators (and their 10 cm clearance), sockets, meters, pipe boxes, window sills that drop below 80 cm.
- Mark door swings in a quarter circle at 90 cm radius. Anything inside that arc is unreachable floor.
- Record the walkway you actually use. If the main path through the room is under 80 cm wide, no furniture should narrow it further.
Keep the sketch: every future purchase decision becomes a check against the plan rather than a guess in the shop.
Keep reading
- Sofa size guide — room area against realistic seating
- Modular vs cloud sofa — which shape suits a small flat
- All furniture
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