If you just don’t have the space. Rather than resigning yourself to a life of bumping your shins, consider eliminating the typical coffee table and using a variety of smaller, more movable tables in the space instead. Nesting tables and small stools can free up some space while allowing you to pull up a surface when needed to rest a drink, or to push one farther away to rest your feet.
This means that in many living rooms, to allow people to move through the space, sit comfortably and hold a pleasant conversation, you will need to have one coffee table serving a few seats and a second table serving a second seat nearby, with a space between the two that is just wide enough to allow people to move through the space but not so wide as to force people to shout to hear each other.
Between the Sofa and the Coffee Table In a living room, there are multiple distances to consider relative to your sofa, so it easily can become a tricky web of math. Here are a few sofa distance essentials to keep in mind. • Distance from sofa to coffee table: 16 to 18 inches • Distance from sofa to opposite sofa or chairs: 7 to 9 feet max (to allow for ease of conversation) • Width of pathway through room: 36 inches • Distance from TV to sofa: width of TV times 2.75
You should also consider using very leggy furniture, rather than solid, blocky tables, to free up a bit more room for your feet to land and for stretching your legs. Sometimes the last resort is to eliminate the coffee table altogether. End tables on either side of each seating piece will serve effectively the same purpose without filling up the center of the room.
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