This is a working configurator for an illustrative modular sofa with loose, reversible seat cushions on short espresso wood legs. Choose a cover, pick a 2, 3 or 4-piece layout, and the summary records the build ready for a quote request.
The cover list here is really a list of three different materials. Boucle is nubbly and forgiving, linen is dry and creases, and velvet has a pile that shifts shade as you walk round it. Most buyers are choosing how the sofa will wear and feel as much as its colour. The layout question is simpler but less forgiving. It is a tape measure decision, and getting it wrong means returning something very large.
Furniture Configurator demo
Modular Sofa
- Product
- Modular Sofa
- Colour
- Ivory Boucle
- Modules
- 2-piece
Illustrative product. The design and images are generated examples, not a real model for sale.
What you can configure
Four of the six covers are live in the demo: Ivory Boucle, Stone Linen, Slate Velvet and Olive Velvet. Each is photographed on the same sofa, so the texture, not the camera, makes the difference. The Modules choice records a 2, 3 or 4-piece layout in the summary but does not redraw the sofa. A production build would show each arrangement, because the module count decides whether the sofa fits the wall.
- Colour: Ivory Boucle, Stone Linen, Slate Velvet, Olive Velvet
- Modules: 2-piece, 3-piece, 4-piece
Why a configurator suits sofas
Eighteen versions of one sofa come from just six covers and three layouts. Add Rust Velvet and Charcoal to a photography plan and most retailers settle for one hero image and a strip of swatches. The customer is left to picture olive velvet as a four-piece run from a thumbnail-sized square.
Modular sofas are usually upholstered to order, so every order is a commitment for the workshop as well as the buyer. A configurator turns that order into structured lines: cover, module count and, in a fuller build, the individual units. That cuts the emails confirming which piece goes where, and gives the sales team one record to quote from.
It also changes how swatch requests work. A buyer who has already seen boucle and linen on the full sofa orders two samples instead of eight, and arrives at the sample stage with a shortlist. For a showroom with limited floor space, the configurator shows the layouts that are not on display, which is often most of them.
How a production version would be built
For a modular sofa I would start image-based and plan for compositing. Each module is photographed or rendered once per cover from a fixed camera. The configurator places the modules side by side to build the run, so a new layout needs no new photography. If customers need corner units and chaises in any order, a 3D configurator becomes worth the extra cost. The retailer supplies module dimensions, fabric names and grades, and which covers apply to which pieces. Orders can go to a Shopify or WooCommerce basket, or to a quote when upholstery is made to order.
Build sheet for this range
- Colours in the full range: 6 (4 shown in this demo)
- Modules choices: 3
- Combinations to support: 6 × 3 = 18
- Images for one photograph per combination at 3 angles: 54
- Images if layouts can be shown as separate layers, at 3 angles: 27
- Data each of the 18 combinations needs: a SKU or variant ID, price, stock or lead time, and any dimensions or specification that change
Questions about sofa configurators
Can a sofa configurator show the overall dimensions as the layout changes?
Yes. Each module carries its own width, depth and height in the product data, and the configurator adds them up as the layout grows. Showing the total length beside the image is one of the most useful additions for a modular sofa, because buyers are measuring a specific wall or alcove. The size of the largest single module can be shown too, for narrow stairs and doorways.
How do you make boucle and velvet look right on screen?
Texture comes from lighting, so every cover is shot or rendered under the same raking light that picks out the loops of boucle and the pile of velvet. Velvet changes shade with viewing angle, so a close-up of the welted cushion edge helps more than a perfect hero shot. It is still a screen, and I always recommend keeping physical swatches in the process.
Can customers order fabric samples from inside the configurator?
Yes, and it is worth doing. A sample request can sit beside the quote button, prefilled with the covers the buyer has viewed. The retailer then sees which fabrics are being sampled with which layouts, which is useful when deciding what to put on the showroom floor. Sample requests can feed the same CRM as quotes.
Will it work with my existing Shopify or WooCommerce store?
Yes. The configurator sits on the product page and writes the chosen cover and layout to the basket as variant data or line item properties. Where an order needs checking first, such as a non-standard arrangement, it can route to a quote instead. There is no fixed price: cost depends on how many sofa families and covers you carry.
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A configurator for your sofas
This demo uses an illustrative product. If you sell sofas, I can build the same experience around your own range, photography and ordering process, connected to Shopify, WooCommerce or a quote workflow. I reply to enquiries within two UK working days.