to not have furniture (according to my mother - I dispute this claim!)

[QOFE]

We have a kitchen with a large table and dining chairs which we eat/draw/do homework/play playdoh round, and obviously we all have beds. Teenager has a desk with chair for work as do I, plus we all have bookshelves and Kallax type storage units aplenty.

What we don't have, is expensive soft furnishings. Our living room (which is also my workroom, for which I need clear floor space during the week) has a comfy corner with loads of big floor cushions and a beanbag. One smallish TV that sits on a wooden stand (cheapy IKEA one). One nice plain coffee table that we sometimes eat at, sat on cushions on the floor. No sofa/settee/couch (see, I don't even know what to call one) and no armchairs. We lounge around on the floor and make cushion nests instead.

According to my mother this means we "don't have any furniture" and therefore frightfully bohemian and peculiar. I disagree and think we have plenty of furniture

@ivalueloyaltyaboveallelse You are quite right, I misread somehow and thought you had said Asia overall rather than just Japan. I do know that is is slowly phasing out in parts of China too though as I have friends who live there. As I say, I haven't been to Japan yet as I have been a little worried about the floor aspect of living and dining due to my disability

@BarbedBloom japan is generally super accommodating. even in traditional places there is usually western seating and beds available (if you are not completely off the beaten track). don’t be afraid to go to japan!

@Yura Thanks, hoping to go in a few years once my medication stabilises things so I can fully appreciate it

You don’t have to have a sofa, though it’s ace for lying on when you want to read a book or doze a bit. But maybe you could at least get a couple of slim IKEA armchairs so that guests can be comfortable?

Each to his own! Wouldn’t suit me but we’re all different. I love making my house homely and have lots of soft furnishings etc but I have friends who haven’t redecorated or replaced furniture in years as they’d rather spend money on other things. Your DM can hold her own opinions but ultimately your house your rules.

@QOFE

It's up to you what you have and what you do in your own home, but like many other posters I find it very odd.

I would not be visiting anyone very often who had no couch or armchairs. I don't think I have ever known this or seen this - not in someone's home. In university 'chill-out' rooms or 'common rooms' and in childrens creches/play places etc.. But never a home.

So yes, it is very odd. As I said, I would very rarely visit someone with no armchairs and couch, and would probably only stay half an hour. I certainly would not be lounging around on big cushions and beanbags on the floor. I don't think that is a very reasonable thing to ask of ANYone over 30 tbh, let alone senior age people (or OAPs.) I think it's very unwelcoming, and rather odd, and it will be very uncomfortable for most people.

I also don't think it makes anyone 'bohemian' or 'cool' to have no couch or armchairs in their lounge. Many people like this still have armchairs and a couch! It's also not the 'done thing' in France and Spain, or in 'ethnic families' to sit on the floor all the time, as a few posters have declared!

And you ask where would the sofa go? Maybe where all the big bloody bean bags are! You don't have to have a couch that fills half the room, you could have a smaller one. I have never seen a living room yet, in any home (no matter how small,) that can't fit a couch and 2 armchairs in it

Oh and Yes, YABU!

We don't have a sofa and I don't miss it. Instead, we have armchairs about the place - they are small, neat and comfy. We also use the kitchen table for socialising.

I remember Laurence Lewellyn Bowen pointing out that no one really wants to sit in the middle seat of a sofa. It's often the least comfy seat in a three-piece suite. He reckoned that a two-seater sofa was usually a better choice.

So, I think that you do have furniture but I can also see that your DM finds sitting in your house uncomfortable. The solution to this doesn't have to be a sofa.

Not having a sofa is weird, that’s probably what she means rather than not having ‘soft furnishings’. I can’t sit on the floor for very long before my knees and back start killing and I’m not even 30 yet.

Unless you've never been to anyone else's house (or you have a very particular social group) and never seen anyone else's house on the tv, then you know perfectly well it's unusual! There's nothing wrong with it though, if that's what suits you.

I am happy sitting on an upright kitchen chair for visiting, that's fine. If I were staying though, I would need a much lower seat on which to relax/watch tv/etc. Otherwise I would simply have to be in or on a bed, which rather colours the visit!

I have ms and mobility issues and lots of pain, plus things seize as well as spasming etc. I know I'm not typical.

I Iike the look of that grey chair you've posted. One of my mostmfy chairs has a seat about 10 inches higher thn the floor but has a sturdy back and arms which I can use topuah myself up when the time comes! I got it in a charity shop for £25, it's probably a child's armchair and probably Edwardian. The back and arms aren't padded.

Armchairs don't have to be huge to be comfortable.

How old are your parents, OP? My folks sound uncomfy furniture very stressful from age 65 or so. Shocked me when I realised they simply couldn't face sitting on the ground at the beach. MIL is older than 70 now & can cope with a variety of seats & even sitting on the ground, but she's always been much fitter than my parents.

Sitting on the floor on cushions is fine for fit young folk but old fogeys like me would find it physically difficult to get down there and would probably never get up again!

Is your DM perhaps finding it physically difficult to sit on the floor at yours?

And you ask where would the sofa go? Maybe where all the big bloody bean bags are!

😂 no this makes no sense at all

It’s certainly unusual but I don’t see that it’s a problem as long as everyone who lives in the house is happy.

What didn’t you understand, emmeline? (You poor thing)

Armchairs instead of sofas is a perfectly valid choice, I don’t know why people are validating the op’s choice by saying “Well, I don’t have a sofa either, and it’s fine, I only have armchairs instead” like it’s remotely the same thing?

@BarbedBloom I really hope you get to go to Japan soon and you’re medication stabilises.

@TheGrey1houndSpeaks it's called sarcasm, but thanks for asking.

We have sofas, and I consider that the norm, but I genuinely didn't realise it was so difficult for many non-disabled adults to sit on the floor at such young ages!

My dad is 72 and sits on the floor by choice (he has a sofa but often chooses the floor). My PILs (also aged around 70) regularly sit/kneel on the floor to play with grandkids, or when all the seats in their living room are occupied by others. In the absence of disability, its a good idea to try to stay fit enough that you can get up off the floor if you need to.

Anyway OP, YANBU at all, but you might want to buy an armchair for visitors.

I can get up off the floor perfectly well, Hill, I just prefer to sit in a comfortable chair... It’s not all about having to be winched up by crane

This one's fun - try the sit-to-stand test which predicts health and lifespan! I'm very impressed with how many people in the video did really well with it! It takes a lot of muscles and balance: www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p03q0jrw

but I genuinely didn't realise it was so difficult for many non-disabled adults to sit on the floor at such young ages!

Not all disabling conditions put you in a wheelchair or on crutches. I have hypermobility syndrome.

Like TheGrey I can get up and down off the floor, but - I should imagine very much like the OP's Mum - I prefer to be comfortable when relaxing.
Surely that's not difficult to understand ?

Sleeping on the a mattress on the floor is grim. Actual beds should be a priority, especially for children.

I remember being the same. When my 60 year old mother visited and said she couldn't sit down as she'd never get up again I thought it was unnecessary grandstanding but got a chair for her. I've now spent a good ten years assessing the height of things I'm willing to sit on. If its too low, I'm standing. If you've seen Frasier, you will have noticed his dad's