L-Shape, Chaise or Modular: Which Sofa for Your Room

Three sofas in our catalogue turn a corner, and in a thumbnail they look much the same. In a room they are not. A sofa with a chaise is one sofa with one long seat. An L-shaped sectional is two full sofas meeting at a corner. A modular set is a kit of seats and corners you arrange yourself. The right one depends on the wall you have, who sits where, and whether the room will change.

The Sofa with a Chaise

A chaise sofa is a two or three seater with one seat extended forward, so one person lies back while the others sit. It is the lightest of the three on the floor. The Giovanna 3 Seater with Chaise is 235 cm wide and 167 cm deep at the chaise: the footprint of an ordinary three seater plus one deep seat. It suits a living room with one main wall and a television opposite, where the chaise points into the room rather than along a second wall.

The L-Shaped Sectional

An L-shaped sectional fills a corner with seating on both walls. The Loft L-Shaped Sectional 370 runs 370 cm along one wall and 172 cm along the other; its smaller sibling is 271 cm on both sides.

That is a lot of sofa. It is the shape for a large open-plan room, a family that gathers on it every evening, or a home where the sofa is the room's main event. It needs two clear walls, or a corner it can float in front of, and a coffee table big enough to serve both runs.

The Modular Set

A modular set is built from pieces: seats, a corner, a chaise, sometimes an ottoman, each a module that stands on its own. The Koala U-Shaped Modular Set puts 475 cm of seating round three sides of a coffee table, and the same modules can be split into two sofas when the room changes. The Oburr Side/Corner Modular Sofa is the opposite scale: a 100 cm square module that joins others of its family into whatever length the wall allows.

Modules are the answer for a lift that will not take a three-metre sofa, a room whose plan is not final, or a family that will grow. Measure the assembled length and depth rather than the seat count: a corner module adds its full square to both runs.

Shop the story

Giovanna 3 Seater with Chaise235 cm wide, 167 cm deep at the chaiseRM 5,700 RM 8,800 35% offLoft L-Shaped Sectional 370370 cm on one wall, 172 cm on the otherRM 7,200 RM 11,200 35% offKoala U-Shaped Modular Set475 cm of seating round three sides of a tableRM 7,600 RM 11,800 35% offOburr Side/Corner Modular SofaA 100 cm square module that joins its family in any lengthRM 2,500 RM 3,850 35% off

Left or Right

Every chaise and every corner has a side, and getting it wrong is the one mistake a delivery cannot fix. Decide where the chaise should sit by standing in the room: the open side is where people walk in, and the chaise side is the wall or the window. Each piece's page shows its drawing with the chaise on the side it is made, so check the drawing against your plan before you order, rather than the words. Many of our chaise and corner modules are made in both hands.

Choosing Between Them

For one main wall and a television opposite, a sofa with a chaise. For a corner in a large open room, or a family that sits together every evening, the L-shaped sectional. For a room that may change, a lift that is tight, or a plan that is not final, a modular set.

In a flat where the living room also seats dinner guests, a chaise sofa and two lounge chairs keep the room open. In a landed house with a television wall and a family of five, the sectional is the easier life.