There is a fairly wide range of sizes, typically from from 78 or so to 108. I think most fall between 84 -96 or 98 inches. My living room sofa is 87".

As far as the durability of the fabric, upholstery fabrics should have wear ratings. The tight weave will help, but the fibers and weight will also make a difference.

cawaps

My sofa has sock arms and kind of an overstuffed look. I am looking a a transitional style sofa also with sock arms, but no skirt. I think that the lack of a skirt will also make it look less bulky than what I have now. Thanks for your comment.

It depends on how many people you want to sit and how large they are. It's not only wall space but also the scale of the entire room. Remember too that you'll likely have end tables on either end of the sofa for lamps and drinks and such so they too will take up space, depending on how wide they are.

For fabrics, look for wear ratings....they usually talk about the number of rubs it will stand up to for durability.

Thanks for your comments Annie. I will have tables on either side of the sofa. What concerns me is that my living room is open two stories and I don't want the sofa to look too small , and while I am a small person my friends are not. I had forgotten about looking for the number of rubs on the fabric so thanks for the reminder. I'll do that.

I'd suggest going to houzz.com and looking at living rooms with 2 stories so you get an idea of techniques of how to treat the walls to bring the height of the ceiling down and to keep the conversational cluster ... the seating area ... in human proportions.

Thanks, Annie. I have looked at some of those pictures. The houses look much bigger than my condo, but I'll take another look.