We Tested Viral Boneless Sofas. Are They Worth It?
For shorter periods of time (up to an hour), many of our testers found both sofas to be fairly comfortable, though they lack support and may be difficult for some people to sit on. But the Ovios chaise in particular seemed to encourage group hangs. As writer Ayanna Redwood-Crawford said, “The boneless sofas are a conversation pit.”
Most testers preferred the Ovios chaise over the Rove Lab love seat, finding the more pliable foam, higher seat height, and reclining design more comfortable. The wide armrests are handy for placing a computer or plate atop but do not hold substantial weight without squishing down.
But over longer periods, neither boneless sofa is particularly supportive. When seated on the Rove Lab love seat, I found myself leaning forward due to the extremely low back — around 10 inches from the seat, compared with 17 inches from the seat cushion on some conventional sofas, like the Room & Board Metro Sofa, one of our top picks in our sofa guide. And the Ovios chaise, which forces you to recline, has a back height only 8 inches from the seat. Editor Hannah Rimm noted, “I want one of these for my reading nook fantasy. But it makes my back hurt.”
The short height of the seat may also make these sofas difficult to get in and out of for some people. The Ovios chaise seat height is about 16 inches, but the seat height on the petite Rove Lab love seat is particularly low — 14 inches, compared with the more standard 16-to-18-inch seat heights of our Sabai or Sixpenny sofa picks. (Rove Lab says the love seat’s seat height is 15 inches, but the compression when seated can make it almost an inch lower.)
One of the frequent reasons for returning the Rove Lab sofa, as discussed on Reddit, is that customers find that the sofa looks surprisingly small, like kids furniture (not having legs is a factor). In fact, the absence of any hard edges combined with stain-resistant fabrics make these boneless styles an obvious choice for playrooms and kids spaces (similar to the all-foam and fabric play sofas) or perhaps as a beanbag chair upgrade.
