Your New Sofa Checklist: Delivery Day Through the First Month

Your first evening with a new sofa helps you work out where a lamp, drink, book, and throw should go. Over the next few weeks, small changes to the room can make those everyday moments easier. Use this checklist as a suggested order for settling the sofa into your home.

What Should You Do During the First Month?

Spread these activities around your normal use of the room. The timing is a planning suggestion; assembly, compressed-cushion expansion, and fabric care follow the directions for your sofa.

How Can You Make Delivery Day Easier?

Clear the route and prepare the room

Move small tables, floor baskets, and loose rugs out of the delivery route. Open the doors along the way and make a clear place for the cartons to be set down. Our doorway and delivery-path measuring guide explains which openings and turns to compare with the package dimensions.

Before lifting a sofa or module, arrange suitable help or handling equipment and decide where it will be placed. The UK Health and Safety Executive's guidance on planning a lift recommends planning the route and removing obstructions, including loose wrapping.

Lay out the parts where they will be used

Use the assembly diagram to identify the seats, arms, back cushions, and hardware. Keep small fittings together on a nearby table. Position the wrapped sections near their intended places so you have less furniture to move after assembly.

For a modular sofa, sketch the configuration before joining the pieces. Our modular sofa collection includes straight and corner arrangements with different combinations of seats and ottomans. Use the parts diagram for the configuration you chose to orient its sections.

Our Kenna sectional with a separate ottoman, for example, has left-arm, right-arm, and armless seats plus the ottoman. Identify those pieces before deciding where the ottoman will sit in the finished room.

Follow the assembly sequence for your model, fitting each leg and connection as illustrated. Keep the manual with any spare hardware. Compressed components need their stated expansion time and setup conditions before first use; keep another seat available while they expand.

What Is Worth Trying on the First Evening?

Walk the room, then sit in it

Walk from the entrance to every seat and onward to the next room. Open nearby doors and drawers. Then sit down and stand up at each end of the sofa. This simple sequence shows where a table or basket is using space you need for everyday movement.

Place tables where you can reach them from the seat you actually use. Our coffee-table placement advice for sectionals covers both reach and access. Try setting down an empty cup, then walk between the table and sofa to see whether both actions feel natural.

Allow for reclining and powered features

For a reclining seat, clear the area and move the back and footrest through their permitted range. Include any adjustable headrest. Position tables, baskets, and loose throws outside that movement, and use the manual's wall-clearance requirement for the exact model.

Place powered furniture within reach of the specified electrical connection. Keep its cable clear of rugs, furniture legs, and moving mechanisms, with enough slack for the permitted motion. The U.S. Fire Administration's electrical cord placement guidance covers cords beneath rugs and furniture. Clear any obstruction before operating a reclining function.

How Do You Make the Seats Work for Your Everyday Habits?

Try reading, conversation, and lounging

Start with the sofa's normal seat and back cushions in place. For upright reading or conversation, notice where your feet rest and whether your back reaches the back cushion. For lounging, try the position you naturally use when watching a movie. Give everyone who shares the sofa a chance to try their usual seat.

Overall sofa depth includes the back and frame; usable seat depth describes the space where you sit. Our seat-height and seat-depth measuring guide shows how to distinguish those measurements. Use them when deciding whether an extra pillow adds useful back support or takes up space you prefer for curling up.

Add pillows and throws where you use them

Begin with a small number of decorative pillows. Try one at an end for leaning sideways or one behind your back if you prefer a shallower sitting area. Sit again after each change. Keep the main seat cushions and required back cushions in their intended places.

Put a throw beside the seat where you reach for it, or fold it in a nearby basket outside the walkway. A side table can hold a book and remote, leaving the sitting area free. Let daily use determine where those items stay.

What Does a Simple Cushion-Care Routine Look Like?

Give each cushion the care its filling needs

After use, put loose back cushions upright and straighten their seams. Fluff loose filling with the method specified for that cushion. Rotate matching seat cushions when their design allows it, and flip them only if both sides are intended for sitting. Shaped foam sections use their own permitted smoothing or shaping method.

Choose the timing by what you use. If one favorite seat needs straightening after an evening, include that in your usual tidy-up. Other cushions may need attention less often.

Keep the fabric-care method easy to find

Keep the upholstery instructions somewhere convenient and identify the care method for each part: fixed fabric, removable covers, and cushions. The Drycleaning & Laundry Institute's W, S, W-S, and X cleaning-code definitions distinguish water-based cleaning, solvent cleaning, and vacuuming or light brushing. A removable cover can have separate instructions, including dry cleaning.

For routine tidying, use the vacuuming or brushing method permitted for your upholstery, including the spaces around loose cushions. Before treating a spill, choose the product and method named for that fabric and follow any hidden-area testing directions.

Which Small Changes Are Useful After a Few Weeks?

Move the accessory you keep reaching around

Think about a normal evening: which table do you stretch toward, where do you put your book, and which route do you take to the door? Move the item involved in that moment first. A small side-table adjustment may be all the room needs.

For a compact room, keep one clear passage beside the seating group. Our sofa layouts for small living rooms give examples of arranging the main furniture around that route. Try the layout with doors open and everyone seated before adding another large piece.

Give an extra chair a clear purpose

An accent chair might face the sofa for conversation or angle toward a reading light. A swivel chair can serve both directions when its back and arms have room to turn. Our swivel and stationary chair layout comparison explains the movement space to allow around a turning seat.

Try one furniture change at a time during ordinary use. Keep the table position that is easy to reach, the pillow arrangement you use, and the route that feels natural. The room can settle into your household's habits over those first few weeks.

FAQ

What should I set up first when my new sofa arrives?

Start with the delivery route and the sofa's intended floor space. Put the parts near their final positions, lay out the hardware, and follow the assembly sequence. Once the sofa is ready for use, arrange its cushions and try the walking route before bringing tables and accessories back into place.

How many throw pillows should I start with?

For a two-seat sofa, try one decorative pillow at each end as a starting arrangement. Sit with them in place and keep the center clear for the people using it. Add a pillow where you want back or side support, or remove one if it takes up space you prefer for lounging. Keep the sofa's required back cushions in place.

What should I try during my first few sits?

Try upright sitting, reading, and your usual lounging position in the seats you will use most. For upright sitting, check that your feet are supported and your back reaches the back cushion. Then sit down and stand up a few times. If a loose decorative pillow pushes you too far forward, reposition it and try the same seat again.

How often should I fluff or rotate the cushions?

Straighten loose cushions when their filling has shifted or their covers sit unevenly. For cushions designed to swap positions, alternate the most-used seat with a less-used seat as part of that tidy-up. Flip a cushion only when both sides are intended for sitting, and use the filling-care method specified for that cushion.

How should I prepare the room before using my new sofa?

Clear a route to every seat and make sure nearby doors and drawers open fully. Put tables beyond the sofa's moving parts, then test each reclining seat through its full range. For powered seating, keep the cable clear of furniture legs and the mechanism, with enough slack for the permitted movement.

How do I choose a useful position for the coffee table?

Place it where you can reach the surface from your usual seat, then walk between the table and sofa and sit down again. Adjust the position until reaching and moving past it both feel comfortable. For a reclining sofa, keep the table beyond the fully extended footrest; a side table can provide a closer drink surface.