Rose Charcoal Corner Sofa: planning the 240 x 183cm corner

The Rose Charcoal 2+1 Recliner Corner Sofa is less a single piece of furniture than a starting point. The listing sells a 2+1 corner base, then offers single centre consoles and single extra seats alongside it, so the sofa that ends up in your room is the one you assemble from that list. It is one of the more flexible things in the sofas range, and one of the most worth measuring twice, because every piece you add lengthens the run it sits in.

The footprint as the listing gives it

The corner base is quoted as L240 x L183 x D95 x H107cm. It carries two lengths, 240cm and 183cm, which is how a corner's two arms are normally quoted, at a labelled depth of 95cm and a labelled back height of 107cm. The listing does not actually say that the two lengths are the arms, or which arm is which, so have the shop confirm it. A 107cm back is tall for a sofa, so hold a tape up the wall before you decide where it goes. Check it against window sills, a dado or picture rail, a radiator, and anything hung on the wall you would rather not lose behind a cushion.

Nor does it say whether the corner can be supplied the other way round. Handing is the one thing a corner sofa cannot be corrected on once it is in the room, so settle it with the shop before you order.

What a console or an extra seat adds

The console and seat figures arrive without labels. They follow the same pattern as the base, which would make a console 32cm wide and a seat 57cm wide at the same 95cm depth and 107cm height, but ask the shop to confirm which figure is which before you plan a wall around them.

Then do the addition on the width. Drop one console into the 240cm arm and that arm wants 272cm. Add a seat as well and it wants 329cm. Two consoles and an extra seat take it to 361cm, and that is before any gap you want at either end. Mark the finished length on the floor in tape and walk round it before you commit to a layout.

Recline clearance, power, and what the listing leaves out

Clearance is what catches people out with reclining seats, and the listing is silent on it. There is no figure for how far the footrest travels forward, and none for how much room the back needs behind it when a seat goes back. Both decide whether this fits where you want it, so ask for the recline depth and the clearance behind, and add them to the footprint above.

On this model the end seats recline at the touch of a button, so a socket has to be within reach of wherever it lands. The consoles are described with cup holders, USB charging ports and plug sockets, which means more cable again. No cable lengths are given and nothing says where a transformer sits, so check both while you are asking.

Read the configuration list carefully at the basket, too. It carries the 2+1 in a manual version as well as an electric one, alongside the single consoles and single additional seats. The description is written around the electric seats, so make sure the line you choose is the one you meant.

Beyond that, the listing does not state:

• the upholstery itself. Charcoal is the colour; the material is not named
• seat height or seat depth, as opposed to the 95cm overall depth
• whether the corner is offered in both hands
• how the pieces join, and whether a layout can be rearranged later
• how many boxes it arrives in, or the size of the biggest one

None of it is unknowable. The shop can answer all of it on the phone.

Where it sits against the other reclining sofas

If separate pieces suit the room better than a corner, the Rose Charcoal E-Recliner Sofa (3+2+1) carries the same Rose Charcoal name as a 220cm three-seater, a 160cm two-seater and a 106cm chair, each sold on its own, so you can take two pieces and leave the third. The Rose Brown E-Recliner Sofa (3+2+1) is the brown reading of the same idea. For a reclining suite without the consoles, compare the Montana Grey Recliner Sofa (3+2+1). And if the room really wants one long straight run rather than a corner, the Siena 08 5 Seater (LH/RH) Sofa is listed at 325 x 95 x 78cm, a longer run on a much lower line.

Before you order

Measure the wall, then measure the way in: door widths, the turn at the top of the stairs, the tightest point in the hall, and the height of any doorway you have to tip a seat through. Delivery is free within 50 miles of the Glasgow store and £50 beyond. Once the handing, the clearance and the final run all add up, order the Rose Charcoal 2+1 Recliner Corner Sofa with the consoles and seats you have planned for, and ask the shop for the current lead time while you have them on the line.