Lucy Sofa for small rooms: 172cm or 132cm, and the door

Most sofa problems in a small flat are not comfort problems. They are geometry problems: the piece fits the room but not the stairwell, or it fits the stairwell but swallows the walkway. The Lucy Sofa is listed as a compact design intended for apartments, offices, waiting rooms and tight living areas, and the numbers behind that claim are worth going through carefully.

Two lengths, 172cm and 132cm

The listing gives two sizes: 172 x 78 x 86cm and 132 x 78 x 86cm. The configuration menu on the product page offers four combinations, pairing each of two seat counts with each of two upholsteries, but the description does not actually say which length belongs to the 3-seater and which to the 2-seater. The obvious reading is that 172cm is the larger, and 40cm between them is about one seat's worth, which supports it. Even so, if you are ordering to the centimetre, have the shop confirm the length against the configuration you have selected.

The practical difference: 132cm takes two adults sitting properly, while 172cm takes two with space to spare or three at a push. For a room where the sofa also has to let someone past, the shorter one usually wins.

78cm deep, and what that buys you

78cm is shallower than much of the Sofas range, and in a small room that is the headline figure rather than the length. Four or five centimetres of depth saved across a 3m room is the difference between a coffee table fitting in front and not. Lay a tape on the floor at 78cm out from the skirting, then stand in the gap that is left and decide whether you would walk it daily.

The 86cm height is the other end of the trade. That is taller than a low-backed sofa and gives the shoulders something to rest against, which tends to suit a room used for working or waiting rather than sprawling. The listing does not give a seat height or a seat depth, so how it feels to sit in is a question for the shop.

Grey fabric or black PU

The listing offers the sofa in a grey fabric and in a black PU, and the configuration menu carries both against each length. Beyond the colour, the two behave differently in use: a PU surface wipes clean, a fabric does not, and a fabric breathes where a synthetic surface can feel warm against the skin in a hot room. The listing states the materials and nothing further, so there is no composition, rub count or cleaning instruction given. If the sofa is going into a waiting room or a house with young children, ask the shop what cleaning the supplier recommends.

A sofa in a box, and the front door

The description sets out a sofa-in-a-box format, which is the reason this one goes places a conventional sofa cannot. It does not give the boxed dimensions, so the useful question to put to the shop is simply the size and weight of the carton. With that figure you can check the three measurements that defeat deliveries: the narrowest door frame on the route, the height of the stair turn, and the diagonal of the lift if there is one. Measure doors with the door open, across the stop, not across the frame.

If the room can take something larger, the Paris Grey Sofa offers separate 3, 2 and 1-seat units in a Chesterfield outline. For a single compact two-seater in a mixed fabric, see the Roma Grey & Cream Mix Sofa, and for seating that can be rearranged rather than fixed, the Milan Compression Sofa arrives in sections.

Ordering

Choose the length and the upholstery on the Lucy Sofa page. Delivery is free within 50 miles of the Glasgow store and £50 beyond, and the shop will give you the current lead time when you order.