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Why are most sofas so bad?

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Re: Why are most sofas so bad?

#341

Post by theendisney »

gexla wrote: post #234
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'…

Please give us an update on how stuffed pillow guy is doing these days.

It was some how relevant. I had a similar job making sofas in similar price range. We also had a crazy person stuffing everything. I asked why his job was not in the normal task roulation. They said for that job you have to be insanely strong, have insane endurance and you have to be insane. The guy tried it one time. How hard could it be? After 3 hours he literally couldnt lift his arms.

Re: Why are most sofas so bad?

#342

Post by neuah »

TylerE wrote: post #337
arp242 wrote: post #184

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Regulations vary by state, but it is not in general illegal to sell a used mattress.

Re: Why are most sofas so bad?

#343

Post by Wohlf »

linsomniac wrote: post #325
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…

>or worse, soft pine or particleboard or OSB Having done a lot of DIY projects over the last decade, I've really shifted my view of OSB. Originally I would lump it in with particleboard, but I've since drastically changed my view of it. Particleboard is, truly, junk. OSB and plywood are both pretty good products, and for some uses superior to hardwoods (dimensional stability, for example). High quality plywoods are a…

Particleboard is absolutely useless, MDF is mostly useless except using as a guaranteed flat surface on top of something to support it, hardboard is pretty useful in certain applications though. OSB is great and extremely affordable as sheathing, and there's a massive variety of plywood that's great for their respective purposes - from cheap rough sheathing, mid-grade for shop projects and filling large gaps in furniture, all the way up to beautiful and supremely strong Baltic birch.

Re: Why are most sofas so bad?

#345

Post by btbuildem »

rlonstein wrote: post #300
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'…

When I was in grad school I accidentally wandered into the workshop for Montauk ( https://montauksofa.com/collections/sofa/montauk/ ) with my girlfriend. They were very polite and I took their card. A few years later when I had some money, and my girlfriend was my wife, I still had the card and we bought one. More than twenty years since we still have it and it's just starting to get to where some of the cushions nee…

How did you accidentally wander into their workshop? That place was in a random industrial zone off the 20 somewhere near Point St Claire.. Also super spooky, how did you know I was talking about them?

Re: Why are most sofas so bad?

#346

Post by Wohlf »

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…

I've found Ikea furniture is great and lasts a long time as long as you don't move it to another apartment, that seems to really stress the joints and it will get rickety after 2-3 moves.

Re: Why are most sofas so bad?

#347

Post by lttlrck »

jahewson wrote: post #197
amluto wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’ve had multiple fancy chairs, purchased from a famous high end brand with a very high end showroom in a very high end design center, fail very quickly. The failure was due to their vendor (fancy, in France) using nice solid finger jointed hardwood, well finished, in a place where that construction was completely inappropriate. High quality Scandinavian-style plywood probably would have lasted decades. Nice material…

Finger jointed hardwood is not a nice material. It’s short bits of knotty new-growth wood chopped up and glued back together.

That sounds like hardboard? Hardwood is natural.

Re: Why are most sofas so bad?

#348

Post by Arrath »

angry_moose wrote: post #330
Arrath wrote: post #288

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm considering doing exactly this kind of surgery on my couch, how hard was it to put the fabric cover back together?

The only part I had to rip off was the bottom dust cover. Installing new is pretty cheap and easy - $10 roll and a staple gun. Or just leave it off

Hmm I don't know if coming in from the bottom will get me the access I need, I'm afraid. I've got some bowing across the middle of the backrest. But, maybe I'll give it a go anyway! Thanks.

Re: Why are most sofas so bad?

#349

Post by valicord »

JohnFen wrote: post #142
rsynnott wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I'm writing this comment sitting at a basic IKEA particleboard desk that I've had since 2014. It has survived daily usage for 10 years and 2 moves (one coast-to-coast). The only signs of wear is some scuffed paint where the hands rest in front of the keyboard and veneer is starting to peel slightly in one the corner.

Re: Why are most sofas so bad?

#350

Post by baronswindle »

I have nothing to contribute but this video from comedian Rob Paravonian It's probably 20+ years old, but it frequently pops into my mind when I think about the apartments I lived in during my 20s. The materials were shoddy, but the price was right!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8mV8BvVzYA

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