Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Why are most sofas so bad?

dwell.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

141–150 of 762 posts

Re: Why are most sofas so bad?

#141

Post by KerrAvon »

JohnFen wrote: post #121
swatcoder wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

IKEA is beloved by many in the US and generally one of the most specifically in-demand brands in the market for used contemporary furniture. You might just be in an unusual region or had some other reasons why your listings didn't perform the way you expected. That said, I am one of those people who doesn't get a lot from them so I can speak to some of criticism. Part of it is just the aesthetic, and theirs doesn't m…

I legitimately had no idea IKEA sold anything of real quality. TIL.

Have you never been in an IKEA store? They sell a lot of solid wood.

I have IKEA furniture that's lasted for decades. It's value-optimized, but it's usually well designed; if you put it together properly, it will last.

Re: Why are most sofas so bad?

#142

Post by JohnFen »

rsynnott wrote: post #124
JohnFen wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I legitimately had no idea IKEA sold anything of real quality. TIL.

I mean, it depends what you mean by ‘real quality’; you’re not going to get hand-crafted expertly made stuff that will last for centuries or anything. But for the price, their mid to high end stuff is excellent.

I don't mean anything like artisan or hand-crafted. I mean well-built, out of quality materials. A good quality table, for instance, should last decades.

Re: Why are most sofas so bad?

#143

Post by Scoundreller »

Ekaros wrote: post #99
vizzier wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're quite correct about the Lack. They're cheap as hell (15 bucks at time of writing?), but as a result quite manipulatable, such as creating 3d printer enclosures [0]. You can see some of their insides as they go through the process. [0] https://blog.prusa3d.com/mmu2s-printer-enclosure_30215/

Now that I look Finnish prices it is surprising. The coffee table is 40/50€, tv stand is 15€. Side table 8€ or 10€ for next size. Okay those cheap ones make sense, but for coffee table it is robbery...

The "enterprise edition" is more than three times as expensive, while providing less stability than two of the regular products combined.

https://wiki.eth0.nl/index.php/LackRack

Re: Why are most sofas so bad?

#144

Post by KerrAvon »

baby wrote: post #46
rsynnott wrote: post #34

I hear this a lot, but my fairly inexpensive IKEA sofa is about eight years old with no problems at all so far. EDIT: Actually, in general I've found that my IKEA furniture has done pretty well (basically everything in the house is IKEA) with the sole exception of a "Lack" coffee table, whose surface is kinda disintegrating after 8 years (I think it's basically made of cardboard with a veneer...). The name should per…

For some reason people hate IKEA in the US. Was trying to sell a standing desk I bought there for 750$ and nobody wanted it. Ended up selling it for 150$. I also had a Jarvis and it was gone in an instant, even though the IKEA one was much much better. I Often hear people saying that IKEA furnitures don’t travel well or don’t last long. It’s like we’re not going to the same IKEA.

The problem with used IKEA furniture is that it's all DIY-assembled. You don't really know if it was built properly.

Re: Why are most sofas so bad?

#145

Post by deeel »

This is a major issue we have found while building https://www.unwraplife.co/.

We only list brands that are A) plastic-free and B) use non-toxic materials.

The list of large-ish brands that fit those specifications can be counted on one hand.

The industry is rife with corner cutting, greenwashing, and lack of disclosure.

Re: Why are most sofas so bad?

#146

Post by maxglute »

AtlasBarfed wrote: post #129
atombender wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

KALLAX used to be EXPEDIT. Both were made from honeycombed cardboard (mostly air, as you say) covered with very thin sheets of painted MDF. Maybe there was a time EXPEDIT was more solid, but I had one in the 1990s, and it was just like this. You can drill the thin wood in IKEA furniture like this, but you have to reinforce it. IKEA has always had a mix of wobbly instacrap and solid stuff. I remember they made a short…

Kallax is cardboard? Those brilliant bastards. Honestly those cubes at least the 4x4 are perfectly fine. And cardboard is a hell of a lot more sustainable than solid wood and probably particle board

Kallax redesign thinned out outer walls of previous Expedite by 1cm so it looks closer to the thickness of the shelves and dividers. Also saves on a lot of material I imagine with the volumes involved. Also soften edges to be kid friendly and more scratch resistent finish. Cheaper, looks more aesthetically balanced IMO, and basically as statically strong holding stuff and doing furniture work. But thinner walls makes difficult/wobbly moving in larger 4x4, 5x5 variations.

I had to cinched a band of webbing around the outside of the shelf during move to prevent it from falling apart. Gluing all the dowels/joints/connection also helps with strength a lot, but who has time for that.

Re: Why are most sofas so bad?

#147

Post by KerrAvon »

vundercind wrote: post #138
illiac786 wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think this every time I built something ikea, then I build something from another brand and I discover a new abyss, then I go back to ikea. It's a cycle.

Yeah I don’t get the complaints about IKEA instructions. They have the best furniture-assembly directions I’ve seen. They have a lot in common with old LEGO set instructions. Maybe people who hate them didn’t do a bunch of that as a child?

I'm with you -- I've assembled a lot of random stuff recently and I wish everyone had instructions half as good as IKEA's.

Re: Why are most sofas so bad?

#148

Post by alright2565 »

swatcoder wrote: post #78
baby wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For some reason people hate IKEA in the US. Was trying to sell a standing desk I bought there for 750$ and nobody wanted it. Ended up selling it for 150$. I also had a Jarvis and it was gone in an instant, even though the IKEA one was much much better. I Often hear people saying that IKEA furnitures don’t travel well or don’t last long. It’s like we’re not going to the same IKEA.

IKEA is beloved by many in the US and generally one of the most specifically in-demand brands in the market for used contemporary furniture. You might just be in an unusual region or had some other reasons why your listings didn't perform the way you expected. That said, I am one of those people who doesn't get a lot from them so I can speak to some of criticism. Part of it is just the aesthetic, and theirs doesn't m…

> you discover that much of the cheapest stuff has the same flimsy glueboard, peeling laminate, and unstable joinery of the cheap stuff at Wal-mart.

I'm not going to argue too much with this, but I think this is underselling Ikea quite a bit.

Their cheap stuff is definitely made out of cheap materials. But I've found it to be well-engineered compared to walmart with reinforcements in critical places and general overall good quality control (doesn't come pre-scratched).

Walmart-level furniture on the other hand is often designed to look a certain way, with no consideration for how loads will be placed on it or long-term durability.

Re: Why are most sofas so bad?

#149

Post by tptacek »

This article echoes something I've learned since we moved into a larger house this past summer: don't buy new furniture.†

We bought very nice leather couches a few years back (we have dogs, leather is the only option) and paid dearly for them. And they're great. (We looked carefully at the construction details before buying.)

This summer, we had some rooms we cared a lot about and others we just needed to fill in some blanks in, and we camped Facebook Marketplace looking for stuff. Pretty soon, even the living room was getting stuff we found on Facebook, at comparable levels of quality to our old "new" furniture, and at pennies on the dollar. People are simply always getting rid of good stuff, and there isn't a meaningful secondary market for it; they're just thrilled you're getting it out of their house and getting a couple bucks in the process.

I submit that you would end up with a better-furnished room faster, more easily, and at a fraction of the cost of high-end furniture retailers simply with Facebook Marketplace and TaskRabbit (for near-instant delivery).

† Leastways, not if you live in a major North American metro.

Re: Why are most sofas so bad?

#150

Post by analog31 »

andirk wrote: post #133
jonah wrote: post #128

I just spent about $700 having new cushions made for a 50+ year old Danish Teak sofa that I inherited from my grandparents. The original cushions were long gone, but the wooden frame was still in great condition. I sourced high-quality foam and wool upholstery fabric from Maharam and took those to one of the best upholsterers/furniture restorers in Los Angeles. They did a wonderful job and now I have a super-comforta…

Is it super heavy? I've noticed weight often equals how long something will last in good condition, and old furniture is often way heavier and bulkier.

Not the OP, but my family has a bunch of Danish teak furniture, as does my mom. The sofas are not super heavy. Cushions on a frame. You can see under it. Now, there's no bed inside. My mom's was re-upholstered once. Ours isn't old enough for that yet. We've re-upholstered the dining chairs a couple of times.

As for other pieces of furniture, e.g., cabinets and stuff, we bought them used from a place that combed estate sales in Denmark for furniture and sold it in the US. One attraction is that the old furniture is smaller, so it works in a smaller house.

Post reply on HN