Is it weird to have all chairs in your living room and no sofa?

[Goody2ShoesAndTheFilthyBeast]

I've currently got a 3 seater and a two seater. I want to change it to all chairs. Nobody ever sits next to anyone on the sofas. So the 2 seater is a chair and the 3 seater has a buffer seat in the middle.

I'd much prefer all chairs. Ideally recliner chairs. High ones. Ones that can tip you forward to help your aging knees so you don't have to groan oh my knees every time you haul your fat arse up.

But I have this voice in my head whispering that it's weird to have 5 chairs in your living room and no sofa.

Only I can't explain why its weird. I have no actual reason. And the voice in my head judging me for it has nothing more substantial to contribute than it'll look like a waiting room.

So is it weird? If it's weird do you know why it's weird or do you just have a vague wrongness feeling about it too? And why the fuck am I not just having chairs in my living room if I want them instead of asking stupid questions about it?

Does anyone actually have all chairs in your living room and if you do, can I see how it looks?

We considered a 'love-seat' style sofa for me, enough room for me to dump my needlework bag next to me/curl up, but not enough room for anyone to slob and watch a film next to me. Maybe a mix of 'love seat' and arm chair could work?

Check out this video for ideas OP:

Agree with PP will be giving care home vibes

How many people live in your house?

Yes

Might feel like an old peoples home. Don't you ever want to lie on a side with your feet up?

Of course it's not weird (except in MN-land). I don't have a sofa now and don't regret not having one. My recliner is far more comfortable than any sofa.

Furnish your living room as you wish OP.

Unless OP is going to have them all lined up around the room, filling every bit of wall space, I don't actually see how.

It astounds me how so many on MN think there is a "right" way to do everything and can't see outside the square.

Uh oh oh you gave me too much room
So I filled it up with chairs
You can't sit on
But if you want to stand there, stand there

I must say I'm a little bit uneasy about the number of people making the care home/old people's home analogy.

If it somehow made it look like, say, a prison, I'd understand a lot more; but sneering that it looks like somebody else's home - just because those people happen to be old or in need of carers close at hand and may live communally - seems rather unkind.

Not least because OP has clearly mentioned riser armchairs of the kind that are particularly helpful for older people with less flexibility and mobility issues - whether thinking of her needs for now or in the future, or those of less mobile visitors.

Any residence with older people who live there - be it a communal one or a normal private home - is an 'old person's home'. It seems a bit silly to expect elderly folk to only have bean bags or whatever in their living rooms, so there's nowhere practical that they can actually use to sit down!

Although I am disabled and do have a riser recliner I group my Ikea Poang chairs around me/ my coffee tables away from the wall.
it no way resembles a care home
similarly I have a grab bar next to my toilet which is attached to the wall out of the way.
i also have a walker which folds down like a travel pushchair and stored away.

How old are you OP?

Thank you everyone for your input. It's really helped me figure out what my weird niggling feeling of wrongness is.

It's me being an overthinking pillock.

I'm going to get the chairs and rearrange everything and have a few different areas in the room. I think it will look really nice.

Someone asked how many of us in the house - technically 4, 5 if you include the cat. But my husband is working abroad for the next couple of years and our sons rarely use the living room (their choice)

Does no-one in your home lay on the sofa when feeling a bit poorly and watch crap TV ?

I'm 51. I am disabled. I have a cane, a walker, a hospital bed, an adapted wet room, etc

I have a cushion on the sofa to elevate me and that has served me well. Changing to chairs isn't because I can't use the sofa.

That's why I didn't include it in my op, I have something that makes the sofas usable, that's not really the deciding factor for chairs iyswim. It's not a need, it's a want.

No. We lay in bed, watch crap tv and sleep.
And complain. Loudly. 😁

Exactly the same reason I had to change my set up OP I had an adapted kitchen and wetroom installed( life changing) and had to get rid of the sofa. I said to the OT that I didn’t want it to look like an “ old people’s day room” and what I have is modern but homely and comfortable. I’m 60 and this will be my forever home.
Our needs change and we have to adjust accordingly.
I have 3 adult sons, who are so comfortable they stay for hours!

Like the grandparents in Charlie and the chocolate factory 😂

I have 4 chairs and no sofa and I love how it looks. They are all different, which is maybe the key to not looking like a waiting room. Two on one side with the TV bench in between and 2 on the other with a table in between.

Look at Carrie's apartment in SATC - she has something similar and it looks really cool. Mine is kind of that like but more colourful (2 chairs upholstered in bright - different - colours and 2 leather). Just avoid very grannyish styles and you're fine.

Saw a house on Rightmove with only chairs, definitely a care home vibe!

Definitely have a sofa. For having a lie down. For sitting next to a child/grandchild and reading a story. For sitting with a pet. For cuddling up to a significant other. Somewhere to put your bag of crisps/magazine or whatever. And because not having one would look uber weird - like a care home.

I think we need to unlearn the way interior designing has been done for decades. It's not functional and at times even inconvenient.
Why not design rooms the way they cater to our needs?! I say go ahead and keep chairs. Sofas are overrated and you are right, no one likes to sit too close to anyone on sofa unless they are a couple!
I'm thinking on these lines too! Enough of stereotypical thinking and over standardization. Whatever we see too much becomes familiar and becomes a norm. This does not mean it's useful.
Let's all keep chairs/ recliners and make it a new normal!