> "Most important piece of furniture" is a heavily loaded ideological claim. It points to the rampant American culture surrounding media consumption. My family

> "Most important piece of furniture" is a heavily loaded ideological claim. It points to the rampant American culture surrounding media consumption. My family doesn't watch TV. I purchased my sofa when I didn't even have a TV. The most important aspect of my living room arrangement is how well it facilitates long, deep, conversations with friends who come over for visits. I have 3 pieces of seating in my living room, a chair for reading placed next to a book case (large enough that a couple small kids can sit in the lap of an adult who is reading with them if so desired), a smaller 2 person sofa, and a larger 6ft long sofa. I know plenty of other families who have similar arrangements with sofas so placed as to emphasize socialization with friends. Now if we are talking about the 90s and early 2000s, yeah, it was all about amazing TV watching experiences. > The only time I'm on my couch is when I have a few people over. And even then we're usually doing other things than just lazing about. The couch is where you retire to after dinner has been finished and everything cleaned away. Board games may occur in other rooms (depending on one's coffee table situation) the of course a room that is laid out for conversation is going to see the most use when there are people over to have a conversation with. FWIW now that I have a kid, I am hosting social events more often than ever before (watching children has a negative co-efficient for small values of n > 1, 3 kids are easier to watch than 1!), but even in my DINK life (at which point I didn't even own a TV), my couch got plenty of use.