Choosing a Couch for Movie Nights: Check Every Seat

The chaise can be the best place in the room until you realize it faces away from the television. Before choosing a movie-night couch, look at the screen from every seat you expect to use, including the end someone usually gets left with.

Then think about how you sit. One person may stretch out while another prefers a place to sit upright with a drink nearby.

Place the seats before adding more of them

Put a chair or a floor marker where the couch seats would be and check the view. Repeat it with your evening lights on. A lamp reflected in the screen may be easier to move than the couch.

If you sometimes have more people over, find a place for a chair that leaves the doorway clear. Keep the regular arrangement suited to the people who watch together most often.

Give the lounging spot room to work

The chaise on our 96-inch L-shaped couch lets one person put their feet up beside the regular seating area. Check which direction it faces in the selected configuration and where that end reaches in your room.

A side table should be close enough to use from the seat. Keep a drink on a stable surface rather than balancing it beside your legs on the upholstery.

The couch has soft, textured corduroy with individually pocketed coils and high-density foam beneath it. If you have a preferred seat height or depth, compare those measurements with furniture you already know.

Try getting up halfway through

Leave room around the coffee table and the chaise when feet are extended. Someone should be able to reach the doorway without making everyone else fold up a blanket or move their legs first.

For casual gaming, try the same seat with a controller in hand. Decide where it goes afterward, and keep charging cables out of the route across the room.

Use the screen maker's guidance for viewing distance, then check your proposed positions in the room. The seat at the far end is worth testing before you agree who gets the chaise.