Oakland families who want a majlis sofa order it from the manufacturer. Sofhu builds raised majlis sofas and low Yemeni-style floor sofa sets in Türkiye from the wall measurements of your room, fills them with 32 kg/m³ high-density foam and ships free to Oakland. There is no local shop: you send measurements and photos, and receive a quote for your set.
- Made by
- Sofhu, manufacturer, in Türkiye
- Best fit for Oakland
- Yemeni-style floor sofa sets or a raised majlis, for bungalows and flats
- Sizing
- Cut to your wall measurements
- Foam
- 32 kg/m³ (32 DNS) high-density, no springs
- Shipping to Oakland
- Free, to your door
- Next step
- Quote by measurement or WhatsApp
On this page
Behind many of Oakland’s corner stores is a Yemeni family, and behind the family is a front room where people sit together after the shop closes. A majlis sofa in Oakland usually means that room: a diwan running along the walls, armrests between the places, tea on a low table. Sofhu makes those sets to measure in Türkiye and ships them free to the house.
Sofhu builds the room two ways. The Arabic floor sofa is the low set most Yemeni families ask for: a seat mattress near the floor, loose back cushions, armrests and an ottoman, like the navy star sets in the photographs below. The Arabic majlis, like the navy and silver set at the top of this page, is raised to sofa height on an upholstered base with fixed backs and arm bolsters.
A Yemeni room in an East Bay house
Oakland’s Yemeni-American community is one of the long-settled ones in California. Many families came by way of farm work in the Central Valley in the 1960s and 1970s and later moved into the neighbourhood grocery trade, a story researchers at UC Davis have documented through the stores themselves.
The room they brought with them has a name. In the tower houses of Sana’a the mafraj is the social room at the top of the house, with wide windows, where friends and family gather in the afternoon and early evening. The diwan is the larger sitting room of the same house. Rooms of this kind are described with soft seating from wall to wall and low tables in the middle. The page on Yemeni diwan and mafraj seating goes into the tradition, and Yemeni majlis from Sofhu shows the sets themselves.
Sizing a diwan for a bungalow or a flat
Measure the walls before you choose a design. Many Oakland homes are bungalows and flats with modest living rooms, and in a modest room every door, heater and window decides where a seat can go.
Three layouts cover most rooms:
- Single row. One wall of seating with a rug and an ottoman in front. It suits a narrow room or one that also has to hold a dining table.
- L-shape. Two walls meeting at a corner. This is the usual answer for a square living room with a door on the third wall.
- U-shape. Three walls. It needs a room you can give over to sitting, and it seats the most people for the floor it uses.
Floor sofas are not freestanding. Each backrest leans on a wall, so count solid wall only. The guide on how to measure a room for a majlis lists what to write down, and the L-shape and U-shape layouts page compares the two corner plans.
Star sets and other covers
The navy floor sofa with cream eight-point stars in these photographs is a Sofhu design often ordered for Yemeni-style rooms. We do not present it as a historic Yemeni pattern. It comes in other grounds as well, with a matching star rug, ottoman and floor cushions. Sofhu describes the fabrics of its Yemeni range as velvets with gold, silver or bronze accents and geometric or floral patterns.
If you want something plainer, the same construction takes a striped or two-tone velvet, a linen or a chenille. All covers have zips and come off for washing at 30°C.
Foam for a room people sit in for hours
A gathering that lasts the whole afternoon needs a seat that does not go flat. Sofhu fills its cushions with 32 kg/m³ high-density foam and uses no springs. Density is the amount of material in the cushion. Denser foam generally keeps its height and support longer than the light foam found in cheap floor cushions, which can feel firm when new but, in published datasheets, recovers less well from compression.
Density is not the same as firmness, so ask for the feel you want. Sofhu offers softer and firmer options on custom orders.
Shops and coffee houses
The same seating works in a business. A back room in a store or a corner in a Yemeni coffee house can be fitted with a row of low seats and armrests in a hard-wearing fabric. See Yemeni coffee house seating for layout ideas, and ask Sofhu about quantities if you are fitting more than one room.
Ordering from Oakland
Sofhu has no store in Oakland. It is a manufacturer, and every set is built for one room. Here is how to order:
- Measure each wall at floor level and note doors, windows, heaters and the fireplace.
- Photograph the room from two corners.
- Choose a layout and a fabric, or ask Sofhu to suggest one.
- Send your measurements for a quote or message Sofhu on WhatsApp.
Shipping is free. The cushions arrive vacuum packed in sealed bags. Open them by hand, not with a blade, and let the foam recover. Import duty or tax may apply under United States rules, so ask before you order; the guide to importing a majlis to the USA explains the general process.
For the rest of the state see Arabic sofas in California, and for Yemeni sets across the country see Yemeni majlises for the USA. Renters in smaller flats will find more in majlis for small apartments.
