Living room layout with a TV: where it goes, in cm

The TV decides more of a living room's layout than any other piece, because the sofa has to face it. Get three things right and the rest follows: the wall it hangs on, how far away you sit, and how high the screen is. This page gives the numbers in centimetres, with inches in brackets, and three plans drawn to scale for the room shapes that cause the most trouble: a window in the way, a corner, and a chimney breast.

The numbers, at a glance

Every number, with the places where sources disagree, is in our living room clearances guide. For your own screen size and seat, the TV height and distance calculator works out the height and the distance in one go.

Which wall: start with the window

A TV screen is a dark mirror. Light from a window travels to the screen and bounces off at the same angle it arrived. If the window is behind the sofa, that bounce comes straight back to your eyes, and in the daytime you watch the window instead of the picture.

So there are three choices, in order:

1. A wall at right angles to the window. The reflection lands on the opposite wall, away from the sofa. This is the wall to choose if you have it.
2. The window wall itself, with the TV beside the window. There is nothing to reflect, but the bright window next to the screen makes the picture look dimmer. A blind helps on sunny afternoons.
3. The wall opposite the window. Only if nothing else works, with a blind or curtains you can close when you watch in daylight.

A two-minute test: hold a hand mirror flat against the wall where the screen will go, at screen height. Sit on the sofa and look at it on a bright day. If you can see the window in the mirror, you will see it in the screen.

How far: work back from your room

The distance rule is about how much of your view the screen fills. THX's best seat is about 1.2 times the diagonal away (40° of view). The figure widely quoted as SMPTE's is about 1.6 times (30°). Wikipedia notes that SMPTE itself may not make the recommendation, so treat 30° as a convention.

In most UK living rooms the room sets the distance, not the other way round. With a sofa against one wall and the TV on the opposite wall, your eyes sit about 65 cm in front of the wall behind you: a sofa about 90 cm deep, less the 25 cm or so behind your head. A wall-mounted screen sits about 10 cm off its wall, and one on a unit about 35 cm. That gives this table, which is our own arithmetic:

The table also shows the cost of a TV unit: about 25 cm of distance, or the depth of a coffee table. In a 3 m room, hanging the TV on the wall is often what makes a 55-inch screen work.

How high: the centre at your eyes

The common rule puts the centre of the screen at your eye height when you sit, which on most sofas is about 100–110 cm (40–43 in). We found only weak sources for that exact figure, so sit as you watch and have someone measure from the floor to the corner of your eye. A low, deep sofa can bring it under 100 cm.

CEDIA, the home-cinema trade body, says no seat should have more than 15° to the top or the bottom of the screen. For a 55-inch TV, which is about 68 cm tall, a centre at 105 cm puts the bottom edge at about 71 cm and the top at about 139 cm.

Plan 1: the corner TV

A corner TV suits a room where the door, the window and a radiator each break up a wall, so no single wall is long and clear. It also suits two seats on two walls, because the corner faces both of them.

Here the room is 3.4 × 3.8 m. The TV sits on a corner unit in the top right corner, angled at 45°. A 200 cm sofa on the bottom wall sees it from about 3 m, 20° off straight-on. An armchair on the left wall sees it from about 2.85 m, 14° off. With the TV on the middle of the top wall instead, the sofa would face it square on, but the armchair would be about 30° off.

At 3 m, a 55-inch screen sits inside the distance range, and so does a 65-inch by the 30° figure. The window shares the TV's wall, so there is nothing for the screen to reflect. The coffee table sits 40 cm from the sofa, and a 160 × 230 cm rug catches the front legs of both seats.

Watch out for: the depth a corner unit takes. A unit with a 140 cm front edge reaches about 70 cm out of the corner, which is more floor than a flat unit on a wall. Measure the corner along both walls before you buy one.

Plan 2: beside a chimney breast

Many UK living rooms have a chimney breast in the middle of one wall, with an alcove on each side. It is the room's natural focal point, so the sofa faces it. The question is where the TV goes: above the fireplace, or in an alcove.

In this 3.8 × 3.8 m room, a 43-inch TV sits on a low unit in the right alcove, at eye height. With the sofa centred on the chimney breast, the screen would be about 25° off straight-on. Slide the sofa 40 cm towards the TV and that drops to 18°, from about 3 m. The window is on the side wall, so the screen does not reflect it. Shelves fill the other alcove.

Measure the alcove first. A TV is wider than many people expect: a 43-inch screen is about 95 cm wide, a 50-inch about 111 cm, a 55-inch about 122 cm and a 65-inch about 144 cm. Many alcoves are narrower than a 55-inch screen, though a screen on a stand can overhang its unit.

And above the chimney breast?

The wall above the mantel looks like the obvious place, but the screen has to clear the mantel, and its centre ends up far above your eyes. A 55-inch TV 10 cm above a 120 cm mantel has its centre at about 164 cm. From 3 m, its top edge is about 17° above your eye line, more than CEDIA's 15°. You would have to sit about 3.5 m back to bring it within 15°. The ways round it:

• Use an alcove, as in the plan above.
• Choose a smaller screen, so its centre sits lower.
• Use a mount that pulls the screen down in front of the mantel when you watch.
• If the fireplace is not used, put the screen on the chimney breast at eye height, with no mantel in the way.

The 10 cm gap above the mantel is our assumption. A working fire may need more, so check your fire maker's guidance on heat before you hang anything above it. Our small living room layouts include a second chimney-breast plan, with the TV low in one alcove and the room laid out around the fireplace.

Plan 3: a long room or an open-plan room

In a long room, the TV usually belongs on a short end wall, with the sofa floating across the room to face it and the walkway along one side. Put the TV on the long wall instead, and in a 3 m wide room you get about 2.2 m from your eyes to the screen, which only just suits a 50-inch TV. Our guide to the long, narrow living room layout has plans for a 3 × 6 m room and a 3.5 × 7 m through-lounge.

In an open-plan room, let the TV and the sofa make the sitting zone. Put the back of the sofa to the kitchen or dining area, and the TV on the wall it faces, so the walkway runs behind you rather than across the screen.

Five mistakes we see

1. The TV opposite the window. It looks tidy on a plan, then shows the window all afternoon. Try the mirror test first.
2. A screen too big for the distance, because the shop measured from the back of the sofa. Measure from your eyes, about 25 cm in front of the wall behind you.
3. The TV hung for standing height. Most people watch sitting down. Put the centre at seated eye height, about 100–110 cm, unless you measure otherwise.
4. The walkway through the view. In a small room it often cannot be helped, but where you can, send the route behind the sofa.
5. Furniture first, socket last. Check where the aerial and power sockets are before you fix the plan. Moving a socket costs more than moving a sofa.

Try the TV on every wall first

Paper plans help, but the questions that matter are about your own walls: where the sun comes in, how wide the alcove really is, and whether the walkway survives a bigger sofa. The rug size calculator sizes the rug once the layout is set.

Snuug, the iPhone room app, answers them in your own room. Walk once round it with your iPhone, and Snuug rebuilds it in 3D, to within about 3% of its real size in our tests of ten homes. Try the TV on each wall and in the corner, slide the sofa in 5 cm steps and watch the walkway as you go. Paste a shop link and see the new TV unit in place before you buy it. Our team checks every room by hand, and your first room is free.

Questions

Where should the TV go in a living room?

On a wall at right angles to the main window, with the sofa facing it 1.2–1.6 times the screen's diagonal away. Avoid the wall opposite the window, which reflects daylight back at you, and keep the main walkway (75–90 cm) clear.

Should a TV face a window?

No, if you can help it. A screen facing a window reflects it, so in daytime you see the window instead of the picture. A TV with its back to the window is better but hard to watch against bright light. The best wall is one at right angles to the window (SlashGear, 2025).

Is it OK to put a TV in a corner?

Yes, and it often helps in a room broken up by a door, a window and a radiator. Angle the screen at 45° and put seats on the two walls it faces. In our 3.4 × 3.8 m plan the sofa is about 20° off straight-on and the armchair about 14°.

Should I put the TV above the fireplace or chimney breast?

Usually not. A 55-inch TV 10 cm above a 120 cm mantel has its centre about 164 cm up, and from 3 m its top edge is about 17° above your eyes, more than CEDIA's 15°. An alcove beside the chimney breast keeps the screen at eye height. Check your fire maker's guidance on heat first.

How far should the sofa be from the TV?

1.2 to 1.6 times the screen's diagonal, measured from your eyes: about 1.3–1.8 m for a 43-inch TV, 1.7–2.3 m for a 55-inch and 2.0–2.7 m for a 65-inch. Further back is fine; the screen just fills less of your view.

Does the sofa have to face the TV?

The main seat should face it, within about 20° of straight-on in our plans. Other seats can sit at an angle. One retailer says colour and contrast on some LCD (QLED) sets may start to change at about 50° off-axis, and OLED screens hold up better (Best Buy Canada, 2023).

Editorial notes

Written by the Snuug team and checked on 1 November 2026. A number with no source beside it is a designers' rule of thumb, not a study.

1. Wikipedia, Optimum HDTV viewing distance (THX 40°, the 30° figure quoted as SMPTE's, THX 15° looking up; checked 31 Oct 2026)
2. Acoustic Frontiers, Home theater viewing angles, distances and sightlines (CEDIA: no more than 15° to the top or bottom of the screen; read 31 Oct 2026)
3. SlashGear (Miller, 22 May 2025), Should you put a TV in front of a window? (read 31 Oct 2026)
4. Best Buy Canada (Wutke, 28 Oct 2023), TV viewing angles (QLED may distort at about 50° off-axis; read 31 Oct 2026)
5. Emily Henderson, Living room rules to know (walkways 30–36 in). The page refused our fetch; figures from search summaries, checked 15 Oct 2026
6. Jackie Barnes Design (21 Jan 2026), Key measurements every homeowner should know when designing a living room
7. Castlery UK (5 Aug 2026), Coffee table dimensions (35–45 cm from the sofa)
8. IKEA UK, How to choose the right rug size (checked 31 Oct 2026)
9. Furniture Choice, How to measure a sofa (most sofas 80–100 cm deep; checked 31 Oct 2026)