When moving into a rental property, you can be in a rush to just get settled and not take too much thought into positioning your TV and couch properly. When setting up your living room, you’ll want to make sure you get the TV and the couch set up with all the correct distances. This will include both the height of the TV and the distance to place the couch from the TV.
Height
Generally, you will want to place the TV at around eye level. This means eye level when sitting down on your couch, not standing. This will be easier if you have a second person who can sit down on the couch and tell where to mark along the wall for installation. This can also be dependent on the tilt of the wall mount and personal preference, but the general rule of thumb is to keep the TV at eye level.
Distance
The rule of thumb when it comes to the distance between the couch and the TV is to keep the distance of the couch to 1.5 to 2.5 times the size of the TV. This means if you have a 55” TV, you’ll want the couch to be between around 7 feet to around 12 feet away from the TV.
| Screen Size | Recommended Range |
| 26″ | 3.25′ – 5.5′ (1.0 m – 1.7 m) |
| 32″ | 4.0′ – 6.66′ (1.2 m – 2.0 m) |
| 37″ | 4.63′ – 7.71′ (1.4 m – 2.4 m) |
| 40″ | 5.0′ – 8.33′ (1.5 m – 2.5 m) |
| 42″ | 5.25′ – 8.75′ (1.6 m – 2.7 m) |
| 46″ | 5.75′ – 9.5′ (1.7 m – 2.9 m) |
| 50″ | 6.25′ – 10.5′ (1.9 m – 3.2 m) |
| 52″ | 6.5′ – 10.8′ (2.0 m – 3.3 m) |
| 55″ | 6.9′ – 11.5′ (2.1 m – 3.5 m) |
| 58″ | 7.25′ – 12.0′ (2.2 m – 3.7 m) |
| 65″ | 8.13′ – 13.5′ (2.5 m – 4.1 m) |
| 70″ | 8.75′ – 14.75′ (2.7 m – 4.5 m) |
TV manufacturers will give their own recommendations that may be different. These are just guidelines to start from and what you choose to do can be based on manufacturer recommendations or just your own personal preference.
The size of your room should also impact the size of TV you purchase. If you have limited space, you probably shouldn’t be buying a 75” inch TV. This could give the feel of sitting in the front row of a movie theater.
You’ll want the viewing angle of the TV from the couch to be about 30 degrees. This means the seating area shouldn’t be too wide so the viewing angle is more from the side of the TV instead of directly in front of it.
