There's nothing worse than buying a new sofa and discovering it's not comfortable — but with a new mood surfacing in how we decorate our hang-out spots, nothing is being left to chance. Gone are the uptight 'cocktail sofas' that offer a stiff perch, replaced by deep, slouchy seating that's designed to make you kick up your feet and sprawl out.
The idea is manifesting itself through a changing landscape of interior design in the home, according to Los Angeles-based interior designer Mimi Shin. "These days, when space allows, there is no longer a TV in the main living room, so the sofa in the media room is much less formal and meant to be fun and communal," Mimi says. But it's not the only place in the home where this seating revolution is occurring — think conversation pits (or the emerging sofa trend for pit sectionals), deep window seats and nook day beds, too, creating small pockets around the house where you can truly wind down, whether you're with family, friends or by yourself.
After all, it's an interior design trend we're seeing as not just about creating serene spaces for solitude, but also making your home more sociable.
"We love a deep window seat, nook, and the types of luxurious spaces that invite our clients to relax either by themselves or together," Gretchen Klebs, the founder of California-based architecture and design studio Medium Plenty explains. "You can prop a bunch of pillows up and play a game, curl up with a book or go horizontal and take a nap."
"The mood is definitely meant to evoke playfulness; fun and casual," Mimi Shin agrees. "When I sit on a sofa, I want to pull my legs up underneath me when I'm with friends and lean back with my glass of wine." Mimi does, however, pull her fondness for this design trend from some more risqué sources, too. "I honestly looked pretty closely at Wilt Chamberlain's playroom for inspiration," Mimi laughs. "I've used furniture that was used in the Playboy mansion in the past as well — newly made of course, but a sofa that popped open into a shearling raft. I'm re-appropriating these slightly kinky ideas for a PG rating."
"I'm re-appropriating these slightly kinky ideas for a PG rating."
Mimi Shin, interior designer
The media room project, above, is the perfect example of how designers like Mimi are turning to less-structured and more dynamic seating designs so that spaces can flex to meet different occasions.
"This was originally an outdoor carport, open on the sides, designed by Marmol Radziner," Mimi explains, "but the clients wanted a media room to screen movies on a large pulldown screen to experience films the way they were meant to be viewed. I envisioned the upper tier of seating as the VIP lounge in a club which was really the spot for their youngest kids to watch movies perched above their parents."
It's a design that calls to mind the viral "play couches" with stackable mattresses that are being used to decorate playrooms and children's rooms.
Perhaps the most interesting takes on this idea are away from screen-facing applications. Take, for example, this window seat idea from a home in San Francisco designed by Medium Plenty as a communal space for the family.
"The clients wanted the nook to be comfy and suitable for many purposes, from playing games and puzzles, to reading and just hanging out," Gretchen says. "We designed a gorgeous custom rotating oval table made out of resin with Tuleste Gallery and Facture Studio, with a central base that squeezes in between the custom seat cushions."
"All of these areas invite the homeowners and their guests to sit and stay a while and to use these various spaces in many different ways," Gretchen adds.
Outside of built-in furniture, the trend is finding a way into the couches we're choosing, too. The likes of pit sofas, as well as dual aspect sofas, that change how you interact with your room's seating are becoming ever more common, with more amorphous takes on sectional designs also coming through. Mimi Shin's own sofa, above, is a custom modular couch that was inspired by Piero Lissoni that's a series of boxes with various levels of heights and widths, so that every seat offers a different experience.
The open-concept living space below, in contrast, uses a modular sofa design for a super irregular seating arrangement. More than dual aspect, this arrangement of a Camaleonda offers a unique perspective on the room from each different seat.
Of course, these designs aren't necessarily realistic for every home — though they can be applied to small spaces such as nooks, they're reliant on more generous proportions than your average sofa.
However, there are small ways to introduce it into any kind of home. If you have a space that can handle a sectional, consider ones with rounded chaises for a softer, more communal feel, while daybeds in living rooms, especially as a way to divide an open concept space, is an easier way to bring the idea to life.
Price: $3,947
A pit sectional is a modular-style sofa that's like an L-shape, but two seats deep across, or sometimes with a gap in the middle.
