In the Bronx, home to the Little Yemen enclave, a majlis sofa often means a Yemeni-style diwan: a low floor sofa with firm seats around the walls, upright back cushions and armrest blocks. Sofhu manufactures these sets, and the raised upholstered Arabic majlis, in Türkiye to your measurements, for homes, restaurants and cafés, using 32 kg/m³ high-density foam and zippered washable covers. Shipping to the Bronx is free.
- Lead style
- Yemeni-style diwan floor sofa with back cushions and armrests
- For
- Homes, restaurants, cafés
- Foam
- 32 kg/m³ (32 DNS), no springs
- Covers
- Zip off, machine wash at 30°C
- Built by
- Sofhu in Türkiye, to measure
- Shipping to the Bronx
- Free
On this page
A wedding week, a condolence visit, the nights of Ramadan: these are the occasions when a sitting room has to hold more people than it was built for. A majlis sofa is the furniture made for exactly that. In the Bronx the best-known form is the Yemeni-style diwan, which in Sofhu’s range is an Arabic floor sofa: low seat mattresses, loose back cushions and armrest blocks, as in the photos on this page. Sofhu also makes the Arabic majlis, a raised, fully upholstered set at sofa height with fixed backs. Both are built to order in Türkiye and shipped free to the borough.
Little Yemen and the Bronx majlis
The Bronx has a recognised Yemeni enclave. Little Yemen lies on the edge of Van Nest and Morris Park, with Yemeni restaurants, delis, a supermarket, hookah cafés and a mosque. An annual Yemeni American Day parade has been held there.
West African Muslim communities are established in the borough as well. For any household that receives guests on the floor, the order works the same way, and the fabric and colour are a matter of taste.
Why the diwan leads here
A Yemeni-style set is built for long sittings and many guests. The seats run along the walls, the back cushions stand upright behind them, and armrests divide the run into places.
The emerald floor sofa above shows one unit of that system: a seat, two back cushions and an armrest at each end. Repeat it along two walls and you have an L. Carry it round three and you have the U-shape pictured at the top of this page in burgundy.
Sofhu sells this style as a full-room set, which can include the rug, curtains, an ottoman and wall decor alongside the seating. The burgundy floor sofa here is shown with its matching rug and ottoman. The background to the style is on the Yemeni diwan and mafraj page, and Sofhu’s existing article on Yemeni majlis sets for the USA has more examples. For colour, see emerald green and burgundy majlis ideas.
Seating for restaurants and cafés
Not every order from the Bronx is for a living room. Sofhu lists restaurants, cafés and hookah cafés among the places its seating is used.
A commercial room asks for different decisions from a home:
- Covers that come off quickly, because spills are daily.
- Darker, patterned fabrics that stay presentable between washes.
- Runs divided into booths or family sections, measured wall by wall.
Three guides go into the planning: Yemeni coffee house seating, floor seating restaurant design and hookah lounge seating layout. Sofhu’s page on Arabic jalsah for restaurants covers its commercial work.
Foam that keeps its shape, covers that come off
The cushions are filled with 32 kg/m³ high-density foam. That is a measure of how much foam is in each cubic metre, and denser foam generally keeps its height and support longer than light foam. There are no springs. If you like a hard seat, or a softer one, say so when you order.
Each cover closes with a zipper, as the close-up shows, and Sofhu states the covers can be machine washed at 30°C.
Ordering a majlis sofa in the Bronx
Sofhu has no shop here, so the order begins with a tape measure.
- Measure each wall you want covered, along the floor.
- Mark doors, radiators and windows on a simple sketch.
- Send both with photos through the quote by measurement page or on WhatsApp.
The seating is vacuum packed as separate cushions, which helps in apartment buildings. Shipping is free; duty or taxes may apply on import, so ask Sofhu about your order before confirming.
More for the city: New York City, Brooklyn, Astoria and the New York state overview.
