As sunset creeps earlier with every autumn evening, movie nights are firmly back on the agenda — and so are the squabbles over the best seat on the sofa. Before you try to deny it, I know it’s true: it’s always the one with the footrest. That’s why I’m rather taken with IKEA’s spacious modular UPPÅKRA sofa, which, when pushed together, creates a design-y 70s-style conversation pit where everyone gets the best spot.
Though it’s one of the newer IKEA sofas, the versatility of UPPÅKRA means it is quickly shaping up to be one of the big-box brand’s most compelling, thanks to its sink-in cushioning and boundless adaptability. The modules can be arranged as a two-seater, three-seater, L-shape, U-shape, or even a complete square, meaning you can adapt the sofa to your room rather than the other way around.
Now, this isn’t a conversation pit in the traditional sunken sense — a hallmark of mid-century modern interiors. But that might be for the best: there’s no need to start digging into your living room’s foundations to achieve a cozy, sociable impact.
Spacious and envelopingly comfortable, there’s plenty to like about the UPPÅKRAs sofa — not least its modular versatility. The seats are generously deep and squishy, coming in a 1.5-seat size as standard, perfect for sprawling. A combination of pocket springs, wooden slats, and oversized, plump cushions creates a sink-in feeling that could envelop you all day long. The cushion covers are removable, washable, and swappable, too, so changing the color doesn’t require changing the entire sofa.
The three-seater measures 250 x 95 cm tall, but it’s the low-slung profile that makes it particularly well suited to the conversation pit aesthetic. It sits just 14 cm from the ground, so push the footstool into the middle, and you’ve got a convincing miniature version of the sunken seating arrangement without having to lower your floor.
Conversation pits rose to prominence in the 70s, mostly in the US, championed by maverick architect Eero Saarinen and designer Alexander Girard. They’re enjoying something of a revival now, albeit in less architecturally demanding ways. Part of the appeal is obvious: they’re deeply comfortable and carry all the retro appeal of mid-century interiors. But the face-to-face layout of these sunken spaces also encourages a more social way of sitting, which feels particularly appealing in an age of digital fatigue and the growing appetite for a more analog way of life.
The three-seat UPPÅKRA offers a subtle nod to that shape, but its modularity lets you take the idea much further. Expand it into an L- or U-shape for a more enveloping arrangement, then use the UPPÅKRA footstool to fill the gaps and create one sprawling surface for all-out reclining. Or leave the middle open, preserving that distinctive face-to-face layout. Either way, the best seat in the house might finally be everyone’s.
UPPÅKRA's covers have a tactile woven finish, particularly appealing in this on-trend bobbled gray-blue colorway, adding some texture to the generous silhouette.
Don’t be put off by the lighter color. All UPPÅKRA covers are machine washable, making this soft gray-beige style a much more practical choice for a sofa designed for sprawling, snacking, and movie-night spillages.
As well as being machine washable, UPPÅKRA’s cushion covers are swappable, meaning you can refresh your sofa with the season.
If you have more space to play with, Castlery’s U-shaped Dawson sofa inches even closer to that conversation pit effect. With a corner sofa at either end, its deep, feather-filled seats are primed for lounging, while high-performance fabrics are designed to resist spills and can be removed, washed, and replaced after movie night spills. The chaise can be added to either end to extend the length of the sofa and seat more guests, topped with a tray for a makeshift coffee table, or plug the gap in the middle for all-round reclining.
Loaf is a brand renowned for sofas designed to be sunk into for hours. This U-shaped Squishblocks configuration takes the conversation-pit concept a step further, doing away with the unspoken rule that only one end of a sofa can have a chaise. Deep cushions and sprung foam seats are paired with sprung backs topped with feather- and fiber-filled cushions, creating softness without losing support. At 78cm tall, it’s slightly shorter than IKEA’s UPPÅKRA and has the same low-slung, laid-back quality, while the gently curved, deep seats, backrests, and arms give it a monolithic presence. There are myriad fabric and color combinations to choose from, too, which can be finished with Loaf’s Squishblocks Footstool for the full conversation-pit effect.
Here’s a modular sofa hack: push two chaise ends together and you’ve got your own conversation pit. At 185cm long, this corner module is particularly generous when it comes to sprawling, while its similarly low-slung proportions keep the retro 70s spirit intact. The seats rise 44cm, and the back reaches 73cm, giving it a grounded profile. Unlike IKEA’s UPPÅKRA, the Sofia doesn’t have changeable covers, but it does come in tactile, hard-wearing bouclé and has a soft, organic silhouette. Choose from 15 colors and add other pieces from the Sofia range to build out your own configuration.
While these modular pit sofas prioritize reclining, the true purpose of a conversation pit was always connection. While these U-shaped options are still oriented towards a television at one end, traditional closed pits (popular pre-smartphones) are more analog, leaving screens on the outside of their sunken boundaries.
If you are not quite ready to dispose of your telly, delve even deeper into the archives and consider a separate conversation room: a space dedicated to gathering, chatting and connecting, emerging out of 18th century Paris as a salon.