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Why are most sofas so bad?

dwell.com

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Re: Why are most sofas so bad?

#211

Post by dylan604 »

bombcar wrote: post #198
resolutebat wrote: post #189

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unfortunately the premise of the article is that you can now easily drop $1k+ on a sofa that looks good on Instagram, but is constructed of particleboard and falls apart when you look at it sideways.

You can drop way more than $1k and be stuck with something that's really kind of crappy. You have to know enough to know who is actually building the good stuff, and who is building good-looking marketing.

I have bought things online and been burned by the not know the who part. I'm now to the point that if it is anything I will be spending a lot of time on, I'm not buying it unless I can see it in person. One vendor's medium firmness might be another's firm. Other furniture is less critical to me, so I haven't put the in-person only rule for that stuff

Re: Why are most sofas so bad?

#212

Post by [deleted] »

btbuildem wrote: post #181

Twenty some years ago I used to work at a business that made and delivered sofas. They've got showrooms in key large cities in North America, fancy schmancy top end stuff. The factory was a real place; the frames were made of solid wood and plywood, there was a sewing floor and even one (incredibly kooky) person whose sole job was to stuff the pillows. This guy was in a little room full of feathers all day, and they'…

[deleted]

Re: Why are most sofas so bad?

#213

Post by bombcar »

mycologos wrote: post #196
readingnews wrote: post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>> it set me back $6,000. The issue is that most modern households in the U.S. can not hack that kind of pricetag for a sofa / couch. Hell, I could never spend that kind of jack on a couch, even if I literally saved up for it (which would take years)... it is just far too much of a percentage of my income for one furniture item. So, how do we solve that issue (e.g. its good, but if it is 10% of your gross annual inco…

I read a book about chairs a few months ago, and one bit from it is > Eighteenth-century furniture was expensive. At a time when a journeyman joiner earned three livres a day, a good-quality armchair might cost as much as a hundred livres.

That's only 30 days work, which is in the $3-10k range.

And for that you CAN get good furniture; the trick is figuring out you're paying for the quality and not just overpaying for junk.

Re: Why are most sofas so bad?

#214

Post by schneems »

inglor_cz wrote: post #109
illiac786 wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's a big range between 8 year old and average first year university student...

" after grade 8 " (the OPs concern) is more like 15 y.o., right?

Even at 15 years old you’re still a long way away from having a fully developed pre-frontal cortex.

We used to think kids were like little adults, then we learned a bit about how the brain develops and how wildly wrong that mental model was.

Re: Why are most sofas so bad?

#216

Post by ak217 »

If you're looking to reupholster, I've had great luck with https://www.slipcovershop.com/. They make custom slipcovers and sell affordable cloth by the yard that you can use to easily reupholster stuff yourself if the shape is not too complex.

Other than that, I wish this article went less into things that don't matter (properly sized brackets are no worse, and sometimes better, than joinery, etc.) and more into the ergonomics, types of foam and other materials that actually matter. Like, how do I tell how long a cushion filling or fabric will last, or tell if there are springs that will sag without taking it apart.

Re: Why are most sofas so bad?

#217

Post by ghaff »

bombcar wrote: post #203
doctorpangloss wrote: post #192

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> degrade just the same as the $200 leather purse you buy from a local artisan. Where are there local artisans selling leather purses they made for $200? Are you sure you don't mean $4,000? Surely if you are buying a $200 hand made purse, it was made by hand in a low labor cost country and relabeled.

https://saddlebackleather.com/everyday-purse/ is a bit over $200, and doesn't hide that it's made in Mexico (though they do use machines and tooling to process the leather so perhaps it's not "hand made").

I don't have a purse. (Well, I have something from Mountainsmith I've had for decades that a friend calls a man purse. I'm sure it's been in dozens of countries.) But I have a front-pocket wallet/business card holder from Saddlebackleather that wasn't particularly expensive and will probably last as long as I need it to unless I lose it.

Re: Why are most sofas so bad?

#218

Post by onli »

swader999 wrote: post #180
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.

I just don't like walking through their ENTIRE store.

You don't have to. Every IKEA store has shortcuts to quickly go to the section you want. And at the start, after the stairs usually, you can go directly to the restaurant and to the small stuff section, if you want to skip the furniture show rooms completely.

IKEA is actually awesome for this scenario.

Re: Why are most sofas so bad?

#219

Post by hatthew »

levocardia wrote: post #179

>There are absolutely sturdy, beautifully made sofas constructed in the United States. There are custom designer pieces made here or in France or Italy or Scandinavia, which tend to be prohibitively expensive for the masses. But low- and mid-priced sofas are a relatively new phenomenon, and, frankly, they often suck. But do they suck less than not having a sofa at all? I am a several-time-over beneficiary of cheap ma…

The losers are the middle class who want something 2x the price and 2x the quality, not 10x the price and 3x the quality.

Re: Why are most sofas so bad?

#220

Post by drchickensalad »

mycologos wrote: post #196
readingnews wrote: post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>> it set me back $6,000. The issue is that most modern households in the U.S. can not hack that kind of pricetag for a sofa / couch. Hell, I could never spend that kind of jack on a couch, even if I literally saved up for it (which would take years)... it is just far too much of a percentage of my income for one furniture item. So, how do we solve that issue (e.g. its good, but if it is 10% of your gross annual inco…

I read a book about chairs a few months ago, and one bit from it is > Eighteenth-century furniture was expensive. At a time when a journeyman joiner earned three livres a day, a good-quality armchair might cost as much as a hundred livres.

Yeah wow that's like $8k+ for an armchair in today's wages (including the historically inaccurate assumption they only work 8 hours too)
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