For a Gothenburg home, choose a majlis sofa or floor sofa with removable covers, because a wet west-coast climate brings damp coats and shoes indoors for much of the year. Sofhu makes each set to the customer's wall measurements in Türkiye, with zippered covers that wash at 30°C and 32 kg/m³ foam, and delivers it free to the door.
- Why washable covers matter here
- Wet, windy west-coast weather
- Cover care
- Zip off, machine wash at 30°C
- Typical home
- Apartment block, standard living room
- Foam
- 32 kg/m³ (32 DNS)
- Delivery
- Free, to your door, vacuum packed
On this page
Eid morning on the west coast often means rain. Guests arrive in wet coats, children run in from the stairwell, tea is poured and somebody’s glass tips over before noon. A majlis sofa in Gothenburg has to take all of that and look right again by the evening. The practical answer is a set whose covers come off and go in the washing machine.
Sofhu makes two kinds of Arabic seating. The Arabic floor sofa, which most photos here show, is low: a seat mattress near the floor, loose back cushions, armrest blocks, an ottoman and floor pillows. The Arabic majlis is raised to sofa height and fully upholstered, with tall fixed backs and arm bolsters. The grey velvet piece in the gallery is a majlis.
Washable covers for a wet, windy city
Gothenburg has a wet and windy west-coast climate, so for a good part of the year damp comes into the home on clothes and shoes. Seating at floor level is closer to all of it than a sofa on legs.
Sofhu’s covers are zippered and removable on every cushion: seats, backrests and armrests. Sofhu states that they can be washed in a machine at 30°C. Its guidance for velvet is to wash cool, skip the tumble dryer and keep sharp objects away from the pile. More routine advice is in the Arabic sofa care guide.
Which cloth you choose changes how much care it needs:
| Fabric | How it behaves | Good for |
|---|---|---|
| Chenille | Patterned, very low shedding | Busy family rooms |
| Velvet | Soft, rich colour, easy to clean | A room kept for guests |
| Linen | Breathable and absorbent | Bright, plain interiors |
The differences are explained in velvet vs linen vs jacquard, and households with toddlers will find more in a family majlis with young children.
Angered, Bergsjön and Hisingen: the homes and the hosts
Many of Gothenburg’s Somali, Iraqi, Syrian, Iranian and Bosnian families live in the north-eastern districts of Angered, Hammarkullen and Bergsjön, and in Biskopsgården on Hisingen. Homes there are mostly flats in apartment blocks with a standard living room.
For many of these families the sitting room is the guest room. Somali households in the diaspora often furnish it with Arabic-style seating, a habit described on the page about Somali Arabic seating. Iraqi and Syrian families ask for seating around the walls, either a low floor sofa of seat mattresses, back cushions and armrests, or a raised majlis for a formal room. The idea is the same in each case. What differs is how full the room is and how bold the fabric.
Single row, L or U in a standard living room
A standard living room gives you three realistic choices.
- Single row. One wall, as in the olive green floor sofa above. It fits a compact room and leaves space for a dining table.
- L-shape. Two walls meeting in a corner. This is the usual choice when guests come often.
- U-shape. Three walls. It needs a room without a door or radiator in the wrong place, and it turns the whole space into a majlis.
Floor sofas need a wall behind them, so plan along the walls and not across the middle of the room. If space is tight, see the worked layouts in a majlis in a small apartment.
What is inside the cushions
Every Sofhu cushion is filled with 32 kg/m³ polyurethane foam and has no springs. The figure describes density, not hardness. Dense foam generally holds its height and support longer, which matters on a seat the whole family uses daily. You can ask for a softer or firmer feel when you order.
Ordering an Arabic sofa from Gothenburg
Sofhu does not have a shop in Gothenburg. It is the manufacturer, it builds each set to order in Türkiye, and it ships free to your address. To start, send the length of each wall, photos of the room and the colours you have in mind through get a quote by measurement or WhatsApp.
For import questions and country-wide detail, read the page on the Arabic majlis in Sweden. The general range is on Arabic floor sofas, and the sister pages cover Stockholm and Malmö.
