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Why are most sofas so bad?

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Re: Why are most sofas so bad?

#331

Post by evilduck »

vizzier wrote: post #77
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…

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/

I made a Lego table out of one Lack end table, four Lego baseplates and some rubber cement. The baseplates cost about 2x what the table did.

Re: Why are most sofas so bad?

#332

Post by m463 »

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'…

I think the problem I've noticed is - the furniture that is built to last very frequently fails the partner test - "that looks like old fart stuff".

Same sort of issue with cool remote controls. For example, la-z-boy has pretty good controls - remotes have better designs, have lots of adjustments, and motors seem to move faster. And they too fail the partner test - "that looks like old fart stuff"

I kind of like some stressless recliners.

oh, there is one class of furniture that has a lot of control - the massage chairs. Except they seem to be furniture you want to hide from everyone, they fail the "normal human being" test.

maybe I need to know pointers to other furniture/designs?

Re: Why are most sofas so bad?

#333

Post by ryukoposting »

I just bought a sofa 6 months ago. It was my first time buying a big piece of furniture from a proper furniture store. It's (allegedly) American made. It is one of those pull-out queen bed convertible things, and that part is fantastic. The couch is nearly identical to the pull-out-bed couches I see in hotels. The only difference is the fabric. The bed mechanism is rock solid, but the couch itself is creaky and the cushions are already noticeably deformed. It's like they wrapped a great, tried-and-true bed mechanism inside a much shittier couch. It's clearly a step above Wayfair detritus, and I certainly didn't break the bank to get it, but I'm still a little disappointed.

Re: Why are most sofas so bad?

#334

Post by mindslight »

tonyarkles wrote: post #232
maxglute wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If one wants durable from IKEA, shop by material. They have sheet steel and solid wood that will outlast any particle board. The steel is a little thin on the budget line and the wood is not very aesthetic for some tastes, but they usually have options that last or outperforms more expensive particle board furniture that are more complex due to aesthetics. Hell even plastic there is fine, so many cafes with shitty be…

The other thing you can do is glue-and-screw instead of just using the screws. I’ve had a bookshelf or two break due to the screws blowing out of the chipboard during a move. Using regular wood glue/PVA meant that that never happened again although it also means you can’t disassemble it. Disassembling is kind of overrated though, the screws don’t ever go in as tight the second time, especially after it’s been sitting…

When replacing screws in soft material, I slowly turn them to the left to feel when they drop into the existing thread rather than making new grooves. And in my experience, IKEA furniture reassembles fine multiple times. You also have to make sure such screws are and remain tight, because if they start getting loose that working back and forth will destroy the threads of the softer material. If a piece of furniture isn't solid, figure out why and shore it up before it gets progressively worse.

Re: Why are most sofas so bad?

#335

Post by kube-system »

sanderjd wrote: post #248

Ok, but I have no clue - either before or after reading this article - how to go about finding furniture that isn't junk. Truly, I can't figure it out. I've been to every furniture store in town and tried to figure it out via the internet, to no avail. For somebody who prefers to spend more money less often on actually good things that last a long time, but has neither the time nor inclination to be a hobbyist vintag…

Furniture in the normal "furniture store" price ranges are built for price-sensitive markets with economies of scale. If you really want measurably higher quality furniture, you're probably going to want to look at brands with pricing an order of magnitude higher. This quality of furniture typically does not sell at high volume, so it is often only at specialty retailers, or is made-to-order.

A good place to start in my opinion is with the well regarded office-furniture brands, Herman Miller, Steelcase, Hon, etc. They are well experienced in making furniture that can handle abuse, because commercial furniture takes a lot of abuse. And as far as durability goes, they make durable furniture in the highest volumes and have the most reasonable prices you're going to get.

Re: Why are most sofas so bad?

#336

Post by [deleted] »

nozzlegear wrote: post #104
inglor_cz wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"supporting child labor" From their point of view, the modern society may be needlessly infantilizing people who are halfway to adulthood. We even treat university students like kids, hence all the obsession with micromanaging their campus experience.

Child labor seems a bit more serious a concern.

[deleted]

Re: Why are most sofas so bad?

#337

Post by TylerE »

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…

The mattress one is a bit of an interesting one.

It's actually illegal to sell a used mattress in the US - and there are very legitimate public health reasons for the being the case. You can't really clean one - that's especially true of foam, and they can be riddled with lice, bedbugs, and all kinds of creepy crawlies.

Re: Why are most sofas so bad?

#338

Post by ericd »

Aeolun wrote: post #225
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 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 mean, if you are comparing with heirloom class furniture then that’s certainly true. After taking the cabinet or bed apart and sticking it together 4 or 5 times, you certainly start to notice some degradation. But then we’re talking about a factor 100 price difference.

The thing is, antique stores are stuffed to the gills with heirloom class furniture, and it doesn’t cost 100x the amount. Gorgeous solid cherry, mahogany, etc, where even the backs and drawer bottoms are solid can be had for a song. We recently tried to find a mostly solid wood IKEA dresser, but because they’re switching all their designs to new anti-tip designs over the next few months, almost everything was out of stock. So we decided to look a bit further afield, and we went to our local antique shop. We ended up spending $600 for a totally refinished solid cherry dresser, delivered into our room. It’s stunning, totally solid cherry, and I think slightly less expensive than the IKEA dresser we were trying to get. Not spending 2 hours cranking screws was a really nice bonus.

Re: Why are most sofas so bad?

#339

Post by c0pium »

brianwawok wrote: post #250
decafninja wrote: post #208

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some brands like Hermes, Rolex, etc. also require you to establish a “relationship” with them to acquire their most popular items (Birkin or Kelly bags, stainless steel watches). This entails a lengthy purchase history, and some schmoozing of your assigned sales associate doesn’t hurt either. Unless you’re some well known figure, just waltzing into a boutique with a suitcase full of cash won’t get you what you want t…

And what’s funny is a budget model 3 you order online totally smokes the Porsche. It’s really just trying to sell a badge not a product.

…on the straight away of lap one. The top trim model 3 performance best time around the green hell is like 9 minutes. There are factory Porsches that will do it in under 7.

This is a very ironic comment to have made in a thread about how cheap things aren’t as good as they seem once you look a bit deeper.

Re: Why are most sofas so bad?

#340

Post by TylerE »

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…

I think more than a bit of it is typical American trademark laziness and inability to follow directions. I see so many of the bookcases without the backing sheet on them. Even if it's just thin cardboard, it provides a lot more of the structural integrity than you might think. The point is to keep the cubes from deforming and having a progressive failure.
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