A homeowner who slammed British houses for being ‘too narrow’ found herself in a pricey predicament after she took drastic measures to fit a sofa into her living room.
Deby Oscar, originally from Nigeria but lives in the UK, documented her dilemma on TikTok after ordering a brand new corner sofa to her home in November 2023.
In a shocking video – which has since amassed over 500,000 likes – uploaded to her TikTok account, @debyoscar, the content creator captioned the footage with: ‘Why are british homes so narrow?’
Oscar and her husband critiqued Victorian homes in Britain for their narrow dimensions as the sofa arrived in separate parts at their front door.
The pair, alongside a mover provided by the company they placed their order with, struggled to maneuver parts of the sofa through the slender hallway and window into the living room.
Deby Oscar and her husband critiqued Victorian homes in Britain for their narrow dimensions as the sofa arrived in separate parts at their front door
The pair, alongside a mover provided by the company they placed their order with, struggled to maneuver parts of the sofa through the slender hallway and window into the living room
Oscar said in the footage: ‘So my sofa arrived and as you can see, the middle part fits, but the remainder of my sofa did not fit through my narrow hallway.
‘Like, who invented this narrow hallway? I tried so many sofas. This is the seventh sofa.’
Despite their best efforts, the sofa stubbornly refused to cooperate, leaving the couple at their wit’s end.
It was at this point the frustrated homeowner revealed that, in a moment of sheer desperation, she made a bold decision: out with the window, in with the sofa.
She said: ‘At this point, I was like, I don’t care. Take the windows out, because I need a sofa. We tried so many different ways. We removed the window, so I made the executive decision to pull the whole frame out.’
Oscar complained of the added expense of having the window frames removed by professionals, as the footage captures the moment a builder unscrews the panels and the mover returns to slide parts of the sofa through the opening.
She said: ‘They pulled the whole window, the whole thing off, which cost me so much money.
‘When they did that, the sofa, of course, finally fit. Once that was in, they closed the windows – they had to rebuild it anyway.’
It was at this point the frustrated homeowner revealed that, in a moment of sheer desperation, she made a bold decision: out with the window, in with the sofa
Before and after: Oscar complained of the added expense of having the window frames removed by professionals, as a builder unscrews the panels and the mover returns to slide parts of the sofa through the opening
However, the couple’s efforts hit a snag when the light grey colour of the sofa clashed with their living room décor, leaving them disheartened and in disbelief.
Oscar added: ‘My dilemma is that I do not like the colour of my sofa. I’m looking at it and I’m thinking, “I wanted a beige,” and it’s just not what I ordered.’
She asked: ‘What do I do? Do I take the window out and pull it out, do I just live with it, or do I just cover it with a blanket?
‘I’m changing the blinds to like a white and the lampshade to something else so I feel like it won’t go with the final design I had in mind.’
Over 6,700 comments poured in from viewers who shared their thoughts, with many suggesting the homeowner use sofa covers to mask the colour clash, while others criticised the couple for ordering a sofa that is ‘too big’ for the living space.
The couple’s efforts hit a snag when the light grey colour of the sofa clashed with their living room decor, leaving them disheartened and in disbelief
Over 6700 comments poured in from viewers who shared their thoughts, with some criticising the couple for ordering a sofa that is ‘too big’ for the living space
One person, who sympathised with the couple’s issue with their narrow hallway, said: ‘Old homes weren’t built for today’s furniture, not just in the UK.’
Meanwhile, one critic said, ‘The bigger issue you have is that sofa is far too big for the room,’ while another wrote regarding the sofa’s colour, ‘You didn’t see the colour while they were handling it?’
A fourth critic wrote: ‘You should measure the dimensions of the hallway and doors etc before buying,’ to which Oscar responded, ‘Trust me I moved in August and just now got a sofa. I tried the narrowest sofa from most companies. None fit.’
It comes as experts have warned against a trend that sees people on social media attempt to revamp their sofas with paint.
The trend is popular on TikTok and Instagram reels, gaining more than 29.7 million views, as creative fans try to save money through their DIY projects.