Millions of Brits have splashed out on new furniture – only to find it is too big for their home, research has revealed. A study found as many as one in seven of us have fallen victim to what has been dubbed ‘square peg, round hole’ syndrome.
Common reasons for the error include misjudging the size of our rooms or the new furniture, with square feet and square metres regularly causing befuddlement.
The research, commissioned by IKEA, also found as many as 70% don’t know the size of the rooms in their homes.
That could always be down to our mindset when it comes to measurements – one third of those surveyed are confused between imperial and metric measures – dating back to their school days – which results in getting their inches and centimetres mixed up.
Over two in five don’t know there are 2.54 centimetres to an inch, or six inches actually equates to 15.24 centimetres.
Howard Carter, Sales Business Leader, IKEA UK and Ireland said:
“Homes across the UK have definitely shrunk in recent years, partly due to soaring land prices but also to smaller family sizes.
“As a result we’ve had to be much cleverer in how we furnish and kit out our homes so we make the most of every inch.
“That said, our research has shown we’re not fully grasping just how much space we do have available.
“Not only are we in the dark about the size of our properties, we also get muddled when it comes to measuring up.
“At Ikea we recognize that space is tight and so have launched a new range of products to combat the shortage of square feet – or is that metres.”
When it comes to mis-measuring our rooms, over half blame poor spatial awareness as the root of the problem.
Women suffer greatest when trying to envisage a certain amount of space, with over half (56%) of the women surveyed admitting they have poor spatial skills – by contrast, just over one third (35%) of men said the same thing.
IKEA commissioned its study into “small space living” to understand how Britons use space at home today.
The UK has the smallest houses in Western Europe, with the average British home now having shrunk to as little as 85 square metres.
Luxembourg, one of the smallest countries in Europe, has the largest homes at 125 square metres, followed by Denmark measuring up at 108 square metres.
