Moving into a new flat is equal parts exciting and overwhelming. You've got the keys, you've got the vision — and then you stand in the middle of an empty living room and realise you have absolutely no idea where to start.

That was me, six months ago. Until I found First Chair.

The Problem with Traditional Flat-Hunting

Most of us approach furnishing a flat the same way: wander around IKEA for three hours, panic-buy a sofa that doesn't quite fit, and spend the next two years rearranging things that were never right to begin with.

The core issues are always the same:

• No spatial awareness. You can't visualise how a 2.4m corner sofa will look in your 3m living room until it's already wedged in the doorframe.
• Style inconsistency. You fall in love with pieces across a dozen different stores and end up with a flat that looks like a mood board exploded.
• Budget creep. Small purchases add up fast, and there's rarely a clear picture of the total spend until it's too late.

Enter the App

First Chair solves all three problems with a surprisingly simple approach. You start by mapping your rooms — either by manually entering dimensions or using your phone's camera to scan the space. Within minutes, you have an accurate digital floor plan to work with.

From there, you browse a catalogue of real furniture from actual retailers, dragging and dropping pieces directly into your virtual room. You can rotate items, test different configurations, and swap finishes in seconds. The app flags conflicts automatically — if your chosen dining table leaves less than 60cm of clearance to the wall, it tells you before you've spent a penny.

What Makes It Different

A few features stood out to me immediately:

Style profiling. On first launch, First Chair asks you a series of questions about your taste — think of it as a personality quiz for your home. It then filters the catalogue to show pieces that match your aesthetic, whether that's Scandi minimalist, maximalist eclectic, or somewhere in between.

Budget tracking. Every item you add to your room automatically updates a running total in the sidebar. You can set a ceiling, and the app will highlight when you're approaching it — no more nasty surprises at checkout.

Retailer integration. When you're happy with a piece, you can purchase it directly through the app. No copying URLs, no separate tabs. Everything ships to the same address, and your order history lives in one place.

Real Results

I furnished my entire one-bedroom flat — living room, bedroom, and kitchen area — in just under three weeks. More importantly, everything arrived and actually fit. The layout I'd planned digitally translated almost perfectly to real life, down to the angle of the armchair by the window.

My total spend came in £200 under the budget I'd set, largely because the app stopped me from making two impulse purchases I would have regretted.

Is It Worth It?

First Chair has a free tier that covers the basics, and a premium subscription at £8.99/month that unlocks the full retailer catalogue and advanced room-scanning. For anyone furnishing a new place, the premium tier pays for itself the moment it saves you from a single return delivery.

If you're about to move — or just finally ready to tackle that spare room you've been ignoring — it's the most sensible place to start.