ShoparoundLow slung sofas and six-inch coffee tables are where it's at. Once you realise such couches are for slouching and not a setting for afternoon tea, you won't look back.

They were the belle of the ball at the Milan furniture fair way back in April 2004; now the trend for low couches has finally hit Irish shores, according to Barry Rochford of Living on South William Street.

The European trend for low-rise furniture, whether it's knee-high couches or ankle-high coffee tables, is most defiantly for young and hip apartment dwellers.

The furniture market in mainland Europe is much younger than in Ireland.

Apartments in Scandinavia and Germany are rented unfurnished, so it's twentysomethings who are buying and they are going for the low look, he explains.

Low furniture makes your apartment look big, but would look lost in a period house with high ceilings, he adds.

The seat of these couches only comes 18 inches off the floor with accompanying low backs and low arm rests.

The Danish architect who designed Club 8's Diva couch described it as a couch for lying, not sitting, on.

Prices for low slung couches start at around 1,000 and can go up to around 2,500. The three-seater Diva retails for around 1,254.

Matching coffee tables made with the same legs as the couch cost around 200. They are available in lots of finishes including glossy lacquer, oak, dark chocolate wenge and warm walnut.

The good news is that it's a modular system. And if you get tired of your super-low coffee table, you can also replace the legs with higher ones.

If you're going for leather go for brilliant white, a warm cognac or bright red. Fabric, particularly textured fabric, is very much back in favour. Black and white weave in a chenille-type fabric or anything with a woven feel looks great.

Living, 36/37 South William Street, D2, tel 01 675 1898. Castle Street, Bray, Co Wicklow, tel 01 282 8905