By DAVID BRADLEY
Finally, there’s a scale that weight-conscious Americans can do something about: the furniture scale.


It seems our living rooms and dens are overstuffed with furniture that’s too wide, too deep and too heavy, and it has some interior designers ready to put homeowners on a decorating diet.

“The most important thing in a room is scale and proportion, and if you don’t get that right, no matter how beautiful the furnishings are it’s not going to work,” says Carol Swetman of Swetman Design in Atlanta. “It’s not easy these days when some of the rooms are so large and the ceilings so high.”

So when does furniture come close to tasteful size boundaries? Robert Schoeller, an interior designer, estimates sofas cross the line when depth approaches 40 inches. In his view, a more body-friendly depth is 34 to 36 inches. The upper boundary for chairs is 38 inches deep, while an ideal depth is in the 36-inch range.

Compounding the depth issue is thick, dense furniture arms, and chunky backs that exacerbate the sense of enormity.

Yet no hard and fast rule exists that says “this is too big and that is too small.” Deciding factors include room size. However, the unfortunate tendency is to assume spacious rooms must be filled to the brim with large pieces, and small spaces limited to dainty items.

Scale may also work against comfort. Both Swetman and Schoeller cite instances of residents seemingly swallowed up by couches and easy chairs.

“You don’t want a client who can’t reach arms that are too far away” because it’s too wide, Schoeller says. When furniture is more apt for Hercules than Uncle Harry, things have gone too far.

The advice is to test furniture just as you would lie on a showroom mattress. Sit or slouch in it for several minutes. Measure and plot the dimensions of the furniture and your room on quarter-inch graph paper. Furniture that seems fine in a furniture gallery may be too massive in your home. Ask store designers for advice or consult with an interior designer.