The first step is to look at the room where you plan to put your sofa and pick the perfect position for your purchase. You want to ensure this spot will not get in the way of any doors or radiators, or encroach on the space of other furniture in your living room. Once you’re happy with the potential position, it’s time to see what will fit into that space. Start with the two length measurements – for both the front and back of the sofa’s dimensions – then measure the maximum depth. If you need to accommodate corner sofa or sofa bed dimensions, then you’ll also need to take extra measurements for the L-shape and bed frame, respectively. Job done!

• Top tip: Fit a sofa in your room by measuring the front and back of the sofa’s dimensions and the maximum depth.

While clearing space in the living room is all well and good, you need to ensure your new sofa can actually fit through the doorways leading to its chosen destination - so get measuring! Sometimes, solving this can be as simple as buying a sofa with dimensions that fit seamlessly through doors. However, larger sofas and corner sofas, in particular, might need a little more shimmying to squeeze through. In these scenarios, our delivery teams will remove as many of the attachments as possible – cushions, furniture legs, arms; anything removable that will bulk out the sofa’s silhouette. Then they’ll rotate the furniture onto its back, as height is typically the smallest sofa dimension, making it easier to slip through.

• Top tip: Fit a sofa through a door by removing sofa attachments and rotate so it’s lying on its back.

Doorways are not the only obstacles on delivery day – you’ll also have to check whether your new sofa can fit through hallways and corridors in your home. Armed with your trusty measuring tape, see what kind of dimensions you have to work with, paying special attention to the width of hallways (this is where your sofa is most likely to get stuck). Then, check these measurements against the sofa dimensions in your shopping basket to see if you can accommodate its shape and size.

• Top tip: Fit a sofa through a hallway by measuring the hallway width at its narrowest point against the widest point of your sofa.

If you’re planning to put a chair or sofa upstairs – or you live on the upper floors of an apartment building – you’ll need to figure out if the new furniture will get stuck halfway up. The most important measurement to take here is the narrowest point on the stairs. On L-shaped or ‘right angle’ stairs, this is typically at the inner corner, halfway up the steps. You should also think about how the potential length of the sofa will fit around this corner on the stairs – is there enough room for the furniture to pivot freely around this point? (Certainly, Ross Geller will be able to warn you of getting your sofa stuck at this point!)

• Top tip: Fit a sofa upstairs by identifying the narrowest point of the stairs and measuring its width and length.

If the thought of lugging a sofa up five flights of stairs is making you sweat, then it might be worth checking whether your building’s lift can do it for you. Of course, that means taking measurements of the lift interior to see if your sofa’s dimensions will fit inside, as well as the entrance around the lift doors. You should also make note of the maximum weight of the lift, checking its capacity against the product description. If the sofa looks like it will be a tight squeeze, even with furniture legs and cushions removed, don’t try and force it, as you could damage the sofa or the lift itself.

• Top tip: Fit a sofa in a lift by measuring the lift’s height and width (interior and exterior) and checking weight limitations.