A majlis sofa for a Stockholm flat is made to order from your wall measurements. The regular, rectangular living rooms of the city's 1960s and 70s apartment blocks suit an L-shape or U-shape well. Sofhu builds the set in Türkiye with 32 kg/m³ foam and zippered washable covers and ships it to your door free of charge.
- Best layouts for a rectangular living room
- L-shape or U-shape
- Made by
- Sofhu, in Türkiye
- Foam
- 32 kg/m³, no springs
- Covers
- Removable, machine wash at 30°C
- Local shop
- None: built to order, delivered to your door
On this page
Start with the room. A living room in one of Stockholm’s 1960s and 70s apartment blocks is usually a plain rectangle: four straight walls, one window, one or two doors. For a majlis sofa that is good news. Straight walls and square corners are exactly what a made-to-measure set needs, and they make the measuring simple enough to do in ten minutes with a tape.
One thing to settle before measuring is which product you want. The Arabic majlis, shown in most photos here, is raised to sofa height: upholstered units with a solid base, fixed backs and arm bolsters. The Arabic floor sofa is a low set of seat mattress, loose back cushions and armrests. Sofhu makes both.
Measuring a Million Programme living room
Flats built in the Million Programme years tend to have regular rectangular living rooms. That regularity means an L or a U can run wall to wall without awkward gaps.
Take these four measurements and you have most of what Sofhu needs:
- The full length of each wall the seating will follow.
- The distance from each corner to the nearest door frame or window edge.
- The position of any radiator, socket or pipe on those walls.
- The height of the window sill, if seating will pass under it.
A phone photo of each wall helps more than a long description. The step-by-step method is in how to measure your room for an L-shaped or U-shaped majlis.
L-shape or U-shape
An L-shape is the safe choice when the living room is also the everyday family room. It fills one corner, seats the household and leaves the rest of the floor free, as in the room above.
A U-shape is for a room given over to guests. It uses three walls and puts everyone face to face. In a rectangular room the U works best when the open side faces the door, so a guest walks in to see the whole circle. The comparison of the two is covered in L-shape and U-shape majlis layouts.
Whichever you choose, the backrests must have a wall behind them. Sofhu’s floor sofas are not freestanding.
Järva, Botkyrka and Södertälje: one city, several guest rooms
Stockholm’s Iraqi, Syrian, Somali, Kurdish and Iranian communities are well represented in the Järva districts of Rinkeby, Tensta, Husby and Kista and in southern suburbs such as Botkyrka. Nearby Södertälje is a major Assyrian/Syriac centre.
The seating traditions behind those names differ more than outsiders expect. The Kurdish diwan is remembered as a room for tea, talk and song. Iranian homes have the poshti, a firm backrest stood against the wall on a large carpet. Arab families from Iraq and Syria ask for a jalsa arabiya. On this site the low version, a seat mattress with loose back cushions and armrests, is called the Arabic floor sofa, and the raised upholstered version is the Arabic majlis.
A made-to-order set can lean towards any of these. Fewer armrests and a carpet in the middle gives a room closer to the Persian arrangement. A bolster between each seat and a patterned fabric gives a more Gulf or Levantine room.
The light grey and navy majlis below has a bolster armrest at each end of the run.
Fabric and colour
Pattern is where the room takes its character. Several Sofhu sets pair a medallion chenille on the seat and back with a banded fabric on the bolsters.
The olive green above is one colourway; gold and grey versions of the same design are in the gallery on this page. Chenille sheds very little, and all covers unzip for washing at 30°C according to Sofhu’s common questions page.
Inside every cushion is 32 kg/m³ foam. Denser foam generally keeps its height and support longer under daily use. If you like a firm seat or a softer one, say so in your quote request.
Getting an Arabic sofa to a Stockholm address
Sofhu has no shop or stock in Stockholm. The set is built in Türkiye when you order it and delivered to your door, with free shipping. Cushions arrive vacuum packed, so the parcels are smaller than the finished seating, which helps on the stairs. Unpack them by hand and give the foam time to rise.
Country-wide points, including what to ask about import tax, are on the page for the Arabic majlis in Sweden. Readers who prefer Swedish can use the arabisk soffa page. Neighbours to the south and west can see the pages for Malmö and Gothenburg.
When your measurements are ready, send them through get a quote by measurement or on WhatsApp.
