Sofhu makes majlis sofas to order for Melbourne homes and ships them free from Türkiye to your door. You send the wall measurements of your lounge, pick a layout and fabric, and receive an Arabic majlis, or an Afghan toshak or Turkish-style floor sofa set, made to fit, filled with 32 kg/m³ high-density foam and finished with zippered, washable covers.
- Made by
- Sofhu, manufacturer, in Türkiye
- Sizing
- Cut to the wall measurements you send
- Foam
- 32 kg/m³ (32 DNS) high-density foam, no springs
- Shipping
- Free worldwide, including Melbourne
- Covers
- Zippered, removable, machine washable at 30°C
- Styles
- Arabic majlis, Afghan toshak, Turkish corner sets
On this page
A majlis sofa in Melbourne is something you order, not something you pick up from a shop floor. Sofhu builds each set in Türkiye to the wall measurements you send and ships it free to your door. There is no Sofhu shop on Sydney Road or in Dandenong. What you get is seating made for your own lounge, in the tradition your family already sits in. Sofhu makes two products: the Arabic majlis, raised to sofa height and fully upholstered with a solid base and fixed backs, and the Arabic floor sofa, a low set of seat mattresses and loose back cushions that includes the Afghan toshak.
Two sides of the city, several ways of sitting
Melbourne’s floor-seating households are spread across two broad areas. In the northern suburbs, Brunswick and Coburg along Sydney Road, and further out Broadmeadows and Meadow Heights, are home to Lebanese, Turkish and Iraqi communities. Sydney Road is the city’s best-known Middle Eastern shopping street. In the south-east, Dandenong has one of Australia’s largest Afghan communities.
These families do not all mean the same thing by a guest room.
- Afghan homes sit on the toshak: long, fairly thin mattresses laid end to end around the room, with loose cushions against the wall. The same piece serves for sitting, eating and sleeping. Our page on Afghan toshak floor seating describes how Sofhu builds it.
- Turkish homes know the sedir, the raised seat that ran along the windowed wall of the old Turkish house, and its modern relative the şark köşesi, a corner of firm cushions in kilim patterns. See Turkish sedir and şark köşesi.
- Iraqi families may call the guest room a diwaniya, a reception room that is expected to be generous in size. That tradition is covered under Iraqi diwaniya seating.
- Lebanese families can start with Syrian and Levantine Arabic seating.
Majlis sofa layouts for a Melbourne lounge
Most homes in these suburbs are detached houses, and many have a separate lounge as well as a family room. That lounge is the natural majlis: guests have a room of their own, and the rest of the house carries on around them.
Neither a majlis nor a floor sofa is freestanding. Every run of seating has to stand against a wall or something equally solid, so the layout is decided by how many clear walls the lounge has.
| Lounge | Layout | Reason |
|---|---|---|
| Three clear walls, door in the fourth | U-shape | Most seats, open centre for serving tea and food |
| Wide opening to the hallway on one side | L-shape | Keeps the walkway free |
| Unit or townhouse living room | Single row | Sits under the window and leaves room for a table |
The L-shape and U-shape majlis layouts page shows how corners are joined, and how to measure a room for a majlis explains what to do about heating vents, skirting boards and low window sills.
Covers for four seasons in one day
Melbourne weather changes by the hour, and a lounge that is cold at breakfast can be warm by mid-afternoon. A mid-weight cover that washes easily is the sensible choice here, more than a fabric chosen for one season.
Velvet and chenille feel warm in winter and are the fabrics most people picture on an Arabic sofa. Sofhu describes its velvets as durable and easy to clean, and its chenille as shedding very little. Linen is the cooler option for a north-facing room that takes the sun all day. Every cover has a zip and comes off, and Sofhu states they can be machine washed at 30°C. The comparison of velvet, linen and jacquard majlis fabric sets out the trade-offs.
What is inside the cushions
The filling is 32 kg/m³ polyurethane foam, known in the Turkish trade as 32 DNS. The figure is density: a cubic metre of the foam weighs about 32 kg. Density is not the same as hardness. It tells you how much material is in the cushion, and denser foam generally holds its height and support longer than light foam that feels firm only when new. There are no springs. On a custom order you can ask for a softer or firmer seat.
Delivery to Melbourne and how to get a quote
Sets are vacuum packed at the workshop, which reduces their bulk for the journey, and delivered by cargo carrier to your address. Shipping is free worldwide. Duties or taxes may apply depending on the destination, so ask Sofhu how an Australian order is handled before you pay. The guide to importing a majlis to Australia covers the general rules, and the existing page on Arabic sofas in Australia gives the national picture.
For a quote, send the length of each wall that will carry seating, a note of doors and windows, a few photos of the room, and the fabric or colour you like. Then get a quote by measurement or send everything over WhatsApp.
Closer to home, read the pages for Dandenong and Broadmeadows, the state page for Victoria, or the main guide to the Arabic majlis.
