September 12, 2022

Corner sofas – left or right-hand facing?

Always get your lefts and rights in a muddle?

Believe us, you’re not on your own.

‘Which way round is that corner sofa?’ may seem like a silly question. But honestly, it’s one we get asked all the time here at Sofa Club. And we completely understand your confusion.

With all the lingo you find online – left-hand facing, right-hand facing, RHF, LHF – it’s easy to get turned around. And depending on whether you’re sitting or standing, or facing towards the couch or away from it, ‘left’ and ‘right’ can mean very different things.

So let us break it down for you.

For guidance on corner sofa configurations, this is the only club you need.

Left hand corner sofas

Also known as an LHF (left hand facer).

Imagine you’re standing in your lounge, looking at your new left hand corner sofa and admiring its beauty front on.

Perhaps it’s cute and compact? Or large and luxurious? Either way, it doesn’t matter. The orientation is always the same. The corner will be to your left, with the shorter section jutting out on the left hand side – whether that be another comfy seat or a chaise longue.

Right hand corner sofas

The RHF – right hand facer.

Again, to wrap your head around it, picture yourself stood facing one of our right hand corner sofas.

From this angle, the corner would be to your right, with the shorter edge sticking out towards you on the right-hand side – whether that be an additional seat, two seats or a fancy chaise for putting your feet up. Simple as that.

Double corner sofas

The ones that go left and right in equal measure.

‘Double corner’ is a bit of a misnomer. Because of the name, people assume that a double corner has two corners – but that would make them U-shaped.

What are they really? Simply two double sofas (i.e. 2 seaters) attached in the centre using an additional corner seat. In other words, a  completely symmetrical L-shaped couch, with two seats heading in each direction.

Which is the best option?

On a practical level, it depends on where you’re putting it.

Due to their perfect 90˚ angle, double corner sofas work particularly well in a square room – slotting neatly into the corner and creating balance. For a rectangular room, it’s worth thinking about which corner you’d like it to go in. In our opinion, corner couches look their best when their longest side is against the longest wall – which makes the decision between LHF and RHF much easier.

You also need to think about the boring stuff, such as radiators, doorways and windows.

But…of course, our corner sofas don’t come with a rule book. You can follow our guidance or completely ignore it. Conform to the trends or defy them. It’s your home and nobody can tell you how to style it.

If you want to put the longest part of the sofa against the shortest wall, do it. If you don’t want to push your corner sofa into the corner at all, then don’t. Let it take centre stage in the middle of the room. Use it to divide areas in an open plan space. Position it at whatever weird and wonderful angle you wish. It’s entirely your decision. 

Pick a direction (or don’t)

Some of our L shape sofas are left hand or right hand as standard. So if you’ve settled on a specific orientation, double-check and make sure you’ve selected the right one at checkout.

Still undecided? Not to worry – indecision is not always a bad thing.

Thanks to our clever range of modular corner sofas, there’s no need to commit to an LHF or RHF design. Instead, you can simply choose the individual ‘modules’ of your couch and position them in whatever configuration you like – whether that be left, right or both. Simply switch the corner unit from one side to the other to change up the direction, and switch back whenever you feel like it.

Size matters

Whether you choose an LHF, RHF or double corner sofa, we have one golden piece of advice – remember to measure very carefully and make sure it fits!

As well as thinking about orientation, it’s just as crucial to consider the size.

On average, the long side of our left and right hand corner sofas measures 200-250cm. Whilst the section jutting out to the front is usually around the 170-180cm mark. However, we do have some much smaller and larger styles available.

Yes, all corner sofas may be designed with a 90˚ angle (allowing them to slot neatly into the corner). But they all have slightly different dimensions and will vary in length, width and height depending on their style and the number of seats they hold.

What’s more, every room is different. Yes, it will have four corners (unless you live in a lighthouse…). But its exact dimensions are unique. And just like that top that looks perfect on you, but a teeny weeny bit tight on your BFF. A corner sofa in our collection could look perfectly proportionate in someone else’s room, whilst getting totally lost in yours or getting stuck in the doorway of another.

Trust us, plumping for the first style that catches your eye (with no regard for its size) will only end in tears on delivery day. So you need to keep things real – using carefully taken measurements to filter your search and whittle down the options.

Accurate dimensions for all of our corner couches can be found under each product listing. If you prefer to keep things old school, use pieces of paper to make a template of your chosen sofa and map it out on the floor. Or for those who are a little more high-tech, why not use our AR function? Just point your camera at the QR code and view our right and left hand corner sofas in your lounge.

Extra advice on how to measure a corner sofa can also be found in our blog.

Still confused about corner sofa configurations?

We want you to be 100% confident about what’s left and right before making your purchase. And as the home of stress-free sofa shopping, we’re always happy to help. For some one-to-one assistance, you’re more than welcome to DM us on WhatsApp or send an email to customersupport@sofaclub.co.uk. One of our corner couch connoisseurs will get back to you ASAP.

We also have several sofa lounges up and down the country – all of which are open daily.

Seeing our corners IRL is probably the easiest way to clear things up, and make sure you know your LHF L shapes from your RHF L shapes before placing an order. So why not pop down and pay us a visit? We’d love to meet you.

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