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Why are most sofas so bad?

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Re: Why are most sofas so bad?

#271

Post by munificent »

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…

IKEA is a fascinating outlier in this discussion.

At some point in my twenties, I decided it was time to upgrade from my broke college student IKEA lifestyle which to me meant West Elm. Every thing I got from West Elm was absolute garbage and none of it lasted more than a handful of years.

Now I'm in the prime of my career and could move up to something actually nice if I really wanted to, like Design Within Reach (truly the most ironic business name in existence). But it's just so hard for me to justify a 5x or more price jump, when, honestly, the IKEA furniture I have has been so good.

I have a decade-old IKEA couch that is still in great shape despite surviving cats, dogs, young children, a snoring spouse who slept on it every night for about a year, and being mostly occupied throughout the entire pandemic. It's a tank, and still looks good to me.

I think I've committed myself to having a style that is basically "IKEA + some vintage stuff" which seems to work well quality wise and is about an order of magnitude cheaper than getting new quality non-IKEA furniture.

Re: Why are most sofas so bad?

#272

Post by munificent »

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.

I think IKEA is sort of like the Toyota of furniture. It doesn't look amazing, but it's higher quality than the price would lead you to believe because they work very hard to design things economically.

Re: Why are most sofas so bad?

#273

Post by jasondigitized »

nostromo wrote: post #242
hammock wrote: post #221

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can still get made in the USA sofas with real hardwood, not rubber wood, which is fine, or worse, soft pine or particleboard or OSB) North Carolina was and is the center of solid wood furniture), and they still cost several to many thousands of dollars, and they will still last 100+ years with a couple reupholsterings or so, but most furniture comes from Asia now and is sold for 10x less, and is not worth reuphol…

Room and Board sells great sofas that are made in the US. We've been very happy with ours. It's made from solid wood and stuffed with real feather down. It's several years old now and has shown no signs of aging.

Agreed. We researched a ton of sofas and landed on Room and Board. Super happy so far.

Re: Why are most sofas so bad?

#274

Post by donatj »

My wife and I spent a couple grand on a "leather" couch about 5 years ago.

A little over a year ago the "leather" started developing holes in it from wear all over the place. The so called leather is literally paper thin and bonded to some low quality fabric.

I've never had this sort of problem with a couch before. It's very frustrating.

Re: Why are most sofas so bad?

#275

Post by gilfoy »

donatj wrote: post #274

My wife and I spent a couple grand on a "leather" couch about 5 years ago. A little over a year ago the "leather" started developing holes in it from wear all over the place. The so called leather is literally paper thin and bonded to some low quality fabric. I've never had this sort of problem with a couch before. It's very frustrating.

heh, nice leather shoes or boots cost in the hundreds, no way you're getting that much leather at any kind of decent quality for that price. maybe starting at 10x that.

Re: Why are most sofas so bad?

#276

Post by gilfoy »

arp242 wrote: post #184
tptacek wrote: post #149

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 som…

Few years ago I moved to another country and had to get rid of everything I had minus ~25kg. It's bloody hard to get rid of a lot of stuff. I had a great leather sofa, about 15-20 years old (inherited from my grandparents) still in great condition, but I couldn't get rid of it at any price and none of the charity shops took it because it was missing some fire hazard label (sigh...). Same with almost everything: I sol…

I've looked around for some quality used furniture at a decent price, it's very hard to find. Just gave up and bought some stuff on article.com which has been pretty ok bang for the buck for me in the past.

Re: Why are most sofas so bad?

#277

Post by throwawaaarrgh »

Built my own sofa. Fabric from JOANN, foam from a shitty IKEA thing thrown on the street, some plywood and pine from Home Depot, hardware, staples. Cost me $75. It's comfy and I can lay on it or sit on it. What the fuck about this is supposed to cost >$1,000, I have no idea. Are they stuffing sofas with live minks or something? It's just wood, bolts, foam and fabric.

For cushions I already had some, but you can easily make them with more JOANN fabric and a big box of poly stuffing. Extremely basic sewing skills and a pair of scissors are all you need.

Give a man a fish...

Re: Why are most sofas so bad?

#278

Post by bombcar »

bloomingeek wrote: post #41

Next time you stay at a mid-range or better hotel, notice the furniture. They don't but junk because in the long run it never lasts, and whose going to pay for a nice hotel room with tacky furniture? A couple of months ago, we stayed in a newer Holiday Inn Express. The bed and cabinets were very nice and well built.

They revamp furniture more often than you might realize, because even great quality stuff looks tired and worn after awhile. Investigate and you can usually find the liquidator in your area that handles them.

Re: Why are most sofas so bad?

#279

Post by Aeolun »

schneems wrote: post #214
inglor_cz wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

" 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.

I mean, to some extend, but I don’t necessarily think that working is bad for a 13 year old. If they can work in a supermarket to earn some side income they can work anywhere (under limited guidance).

Re: Why are most sofas so bad?

#280

Post by gilfoy »

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?

yes my furniture is crafted exclusively by highly skilled 13 year olds.
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