Have you ever had to sit in the front row of the movie theater and watch the entire movie with your neck craned? It’s definitely not the most comfortable way to relax! And if your living room isn’t arranged properly, you and your family could experience that discomfort day after day in your own home. This guide will help you arrange your sofa or sectional and television so that you can watch TV comfortably without straining your neck or your eyes.

These are the optimal distances from entertainment center to sofa based on the size of your television:

32 inch screen—4.5 feet away

36 inch screen—5 feet away

42 inch screen—6 feet away

50 inch screen—7 feet away

60 inch screen—8.5 feet away

70 inch screen—10 feet away

Please note, these distances are for HD TVs. If your television has a higher resolution, these distances can be a bit shorter because the view will not appear pixelated at shorter distances.

In general, the larger your television, the further away it can be from your sofa, sectional, or loveseat. So if you don’t have an open floor plan or the ability to choose how far away the sofa is from the TV stand, you might want to choose the television size that fits your living room. And if you have a television in the bedroom or guest bedroom, make sure you take the distance from the bed to the TV stand into consideration too!

When you are shopping for entertainment centers or TV stands it is also important to consider the size of your television… nothing is more frustrating than getting your living room set up only to realize that the TV is too big or too small! So when shopping, be sure to know how large your television is or what size you plan on getting so that our team of furniture experts can help you choose a TV stand to match. Even if you plan on mounting the TV, you still want a properly proportioned entertainment center to house any wires, DVD players, and other electronics. When it comes to home design, it’s all about the details!