What sofa colours are best for small living rooms? The 7 fail-safe colour tips from interior experts to avoid making your lounge look smaller

The sofa is arguably the most important piece of furniture to get right in any living room. This is especially true in small living rooms where you’re already working with a tiny space and you need to maximise its potential while also making it appear larger than it is. The right sofa colour is crucial to this, but what colours are best for a small living room?

As you may have guessed, the best sofas for a small living room tend to be light-coloured. But if you like colour or pattern, our interior experts have some other sofa ideas for small living rooms to share along with some top styling tips that will make these small living room ideas work well in your living space.

‘The sofa is often the largest piece of furniture in the room, so its colour significantly impacts the overall look and feel of the space,’ says Victoria Foster, interior stylist at ScS. ‘A well-chosen shade can help create a sense of openness, cohesion, and balance, while a poorly chosen colour might make the room feel cramped or visually unbalanced.’

And before we dive into the specific shades and colour groups to opt for when picking out a sofa for your tiny lounge, Paulina Wojas, interior designer at Lovesofas, shares one more crucial piece of advice, ‘Take your time. Many people become frustrated at the process and make a snap decision, but ultimately it’s more important to make the correct one,' she says.

'When picking a sofa colour, it’s important to consider how the other elements of the room will impact the overall look. To match a potential colour with existing decor, people can often take a swatch of the material home, allowing them to match it up in their living rooms before making a decision.’

1. Play it safe with light colours

As already mentioned, light shades like white and cream work perfectly in small living rooms and make for the ideal safe choice if you are looking for a timeless sofa design.

‘To maximise space and leave rooms feeling more open and airy, I recommend opting for a light colour when choosing a sofa. In particular, creams, whites and beiges are all effective shades of creating the impression of a bigger living space,’ Paulina at Lovesofas says.

Victoria at ScS adds, ‘These shades create an open, airy feel, making the space appear larger and more inviting. Additionally, light-reflecting colours help maximise natural light, enhancing the overall sense of space.’

2. Future-proof your lounge with neutral shades

Similarly to creams and whites, neutral shades also work well on sofas in small living rooms – and it doesn’t hurt that neutrals go well with pretty much anything. Neutral tap into the earthy sofa colour trend, so will instantly give a small living room a fresh and modern look.

‘I often recommend neutrals for sofas, as they create a calming atmosphere in the home,’ says Claire Garner, director at Claire Garner Interiors. ‘Whether you opt for cool tones like stone and clay, or the understated elegance of taupe and beige, neutral sofas offer simplicity and flexibility, allowing you to introduce colour through accessories.

'Don’t be afraid to layer tones, textures, and patterns with cushions and throws to add depth to your design,' she adds. 'Washed terracotta, fresh greens, and laundered linens can be combined to create a tranquil, cosy environment, drawing inspiration from nature to enhance the sense of relaxation in your space.’

3. Embrace the softness of pastel tones

The great thing about pastel shades is that they bring colour into interiors without overwhelming a space. And that’s exactly why they also make for the ideal sofa colour for small living rooms.

‘Lighter tones, such as pastels, are ideal for small living rooms,’ Victoria at ScS says.

She adds, ‘Consider the room’s natural light – warmer shades work well in north-facing rooms, while cooler tones complement sunlit spaces.’

And with some of the most popular living room colour schemes revolving around baby blues, soft pinks and butter yellows, a sofa in one of these shades couldn’t be more on trend.

4. Go for a bold tone but style it right

‘Bold and bright shades, such as neon hues, can dominate the space and make it feel chaotic rather than cohesive,’ Victoria at ScS warns, before adding, ‘However, a deep colour could work if paired with lighter surroundings and strategic lighting.’

And with deep red shades being one of the biggest colour trends this year, this is the perfect opportunity to exercise the concept of the unexpected red theory – but just as long you make the sofa the star of the show, keeping the rest of the decor pared back as not to overwhelm the sitting room.

5. Choose a deep yet muted hue

Another option you can go for if you love colour but have a small living room is opting for a muted shade of the colour you like – for example, instead of going for a dark burgundy, you can go for a shade of dark red that’s slightly more washed out and earthy, reminiscent of clay.

‘If you love dark colours, opt for a sofa in a deep yet muted tone (e.g. charcoal rather than black) and pair it with lighter accessories,’ Victoria at ScS provides another example.

6. Match the sofa to the walls

Colour drenching is one of the best tools to make a small living room appear larger as it allows the eye to travel seamlessly across the room without any harsh stops, making the space seem more expansive. So in the spirit of colour drenching, you can opt for a sofa that matches the colour of your walls and blends in with the environment.

‘Choose monochromatic or tone-on-tone styling – matching your sofa with your wall colour creates a seamless, less visually bulky look,’ Victoria at ScS says.

7. Double tone with stripes

If you’re up for a pattern and/or incorporating more than one colour with your sofa choice, then going for striped upholstery is one of the best options for small living rooms – not to mention, stripes are a current sofa trend that also, however, never really goes out of style.

‘You want to do large, big prints, something that draws your eyes, that makes it feel more expansive,’ says Colleen Bennett, founder of CBB Design Firm. ‘A great way to do this would be stripes, putting it on the horizontal, making it look wider. You want to create that feeling.’

Colleen concludes with some general guidelines to picking a sofa colour for your small lounge, ‘If you go for a darker colour and smaller print, your room is going to feel smaller. Whereas if you go for a bigger print or a more neutral, lighter-toned sofa, that makes a small space feel bigger.’