Living Room Layout Planner
Check whether a sofa and coffee table fit your room with comfortable clearances, and see how much open floor you have left.
Does the layout fit?
Depth needed = sofa depth + a ~45 cm coffee-table gap + the table + a ~75 cm walkway behind it. A coffee table reads best when it is no longer than the sofa.
Clearances make a room work
A living room feels right when the spaces between the furniture are right. Leave roughly 45 cm between the sofa and the coffee table so you can reach it and still step past, and keep about 75 cm for the main walkway so people move through without a shuffle. Those two gaps, plus the depth of the sofa and the table, are what a room’s front-to-back dimension actually has to hold.
This planner adds those up for the most common arrangement — sofa against a wall, table in front — and tells you whether it fits and how much open floor is left. It is a starting point, not the last word: once the numbers look right, tape the plan out on the floor and live with it for a day before you buy.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much space should there be between a sofa and a coffee table?
About 40–45 cm is the sweet spot: close enough to set down a drink or put your feet up, far enough to walk past and to get in and out easily. This planner uses a 45 cm gap by default, which you can adjust, and includes it in the depth the arrangement needs.
How wide should a walkway be in a living room?
For a main traffic route, aim for about 75 cm of clear width so people can pass comfortably; 60 cm is a tight minimum for a secondary path. The planner reserves a 75 cm walkway behind the coffee table when it checks whether the layout fits the room's depth.
How does the planner decide if a layout fits?
It places the sofa against one wall and adds up the depth the arrangement needs — sofa depth + coffee-table gap + the table + the walkway behind it — and compares that to your room's depth. Separately it checks the sofa fits along the wall. If both pass, the layout fits, and it reports the open floor left over.
What size coffee table suits my sofa?
A coffee table generally looks and works best at about half to two-thirds the length of the sofa, and no longer than the sofa itself. The planner flags when the table you entered is longer than the sofa; height is best kept close to the sofa's seat height.
Is this a full room-planning tool?
No. It checks one common arrangement — a sofa against a wall with a coffee table in front — against standard clearances. It doesn't account for doors, windows, walkways to other rooms, rugs, or additional chairs. Use it as a first-pass sanity check, then tape the plan out on the floor.
Estimates for planning — not professional interior-design advice. Measure your own space and doorways, and tape out the plan before you buy.