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Why are most sofas so bad?

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Re: Why are most sofas so bad?

#521

Post by Auracle »

ajsnigrutin wrote: post #269
dylan604 wrote: post #182

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Quality ain't cheap, and cheap ain't quality. In furniture, you definitely get what you pay for...or not. I've found anything Anything decent doesn't really start until ~$1k, and anything in the $3k range you mentioned starts to become heirloom quality. As with anything, these are YMMV, but serves as a fast basis for my experience

> Quality ain't cheap, and cheap ain't quality. The problem here is, that expensive doesn't mean quality. Buying a cheap ikea piece and replacing it in a few years might still be a better choice than overpaying for an expensive piece, that's the same quality as ikea, but with a different tag on it (both 'brand tag' and 'price tag').

Yeah, that's the real problem. My wife bought a bunch of furniture a couple of years ago that was billed online as "solid wood." It definitely isn't. We ended up getting one piece for free because the one they originally sent and then the replacement were damaged. I pushed her to get a refund on it all but I think she had spent so much time looking for good stuff that she was just tired of it.

It wasn't cheap. I believe the coffee table was close to $1,000.

Re: Why are most sofas so bad?

#522

Post by hoosieree »

I'd like a sofa that:

- is comfortable

- isn't full of fire retardant chemicals which turn out to be cancerous right after the warranty expires

- for less than $10k.

Pretty sure that means I'm going to have to learn how to sew.

Re: Why are most sofas so bad?

#523

Post by Spivak »

mauvehaus wrote: post #510
Spivak wrote: post #490

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Good lord man what first time homebuyer is putting down $100k down payments? I just bought a nice house in a well established in demand neighborhood and my total cost down was less than $30k. No assistance program, no special deal, definitely not a cheap house oof this market. Are you trying to buy 2M+ houses?

Was your Our cost to close was under $100k with a 20% down payment, but still substantial. And yes, we were first time homebuyers. Obviously we did not buy anything approaching 2M. With closing costs of $10k-15k, 100k doesn't even break a half million at 20% down. That's (sadly) not even table stakes in e.g. most parts of Boston.

We were ready to drop 20% on the house because like you I was also scared of PMI but when we ran the numbers with the bank the cost was small enough that it didn't make one iota of difference in the long run so we paid 5% down and have a very flush emergency fund.

Someone with good credit and currently renting would be nuts to "wait and save" for even 1 year because the total cost of PMI was like 6mo of our rent and accounting for paying it off over time with inflation it's probably even less than that in real dollars.

Maybe we got lucky with PMI but googling a bit it doesn't seem that out of line with the calculators.

Re: Why are most sofas so bad?

#524

Post by eszed »

jbm wrote: post #364
brianwawok wrote: post #250

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Nothing gives me more joy than watching car geeks furiously posting when they see things like this. Thank you, I had a long day at work. Daily reminder that your "super cars" are worthless. Merging onto the highway is far more important than "winning in the corners".

Depends on where you drive, dude. I spend more time on mountain roads than highways.

And, also, if you like driving, and sometimes drive for fun, curves are way more fun than freeways. None of this has anything to do with supercars, either. My boring mom-car has more than enough power to merge safely. It's (surprisingly, to most people) faster (acceleration and top-speed) and (impressively - ICE tech advanced so much) more fuel-efficient than my almost thirty year old Miata. But, obviously, I enjoy the latter 1000x more than the former.

I guess this makes me a car geek. That's fine. I do enjoy driving my super-basic, entry-level sportscar. I have less than zero interest in supercars.

Re: Why are most sofas so bad?

#525

Post by duped »

neilv wrote: post #304
scoofy wrote: post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've been wanting to buy nice furniture for a very long time... unfortunately the housing crisis has prevented my from ever having a sense of permanence. If I had known I'd live in my last place for nearly a decade I would have purchased nice things, but as it stands, until I have a mortgage of my own, I refuse to spend good money on something I may need to replace next year.

I'm glad I'm not the only one. The buying up of precious housing as investments by non-residents should mostly be banned, starting with institutional and overseas investors. AirBnb should also be banned. And the people who profited off that startup, who must've known they were creating illegal hotels and destroying rental markets, should be hit with devastating fines, maybe also imprisoned.

> starting with institutional and overseas investors.

This would do next to nothing. The landlords buying up real estate are mom-and-pops with fewer than 10 properties. Which makes sense, because residential property is a pretty decent passive income that's only accessible to people with wealth but are not a good asset for large institutions.

Otherwise banks wouldn't sell foreclosed homes at a discount, they'd hold onto them if it was more profitable.

(1) https://www.housingwire.com/articles/no-wall-street-investor...

Re: Why are most sofas so bad?

#526

Post by ToucanLoucan »

m463 wrote: post #332
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…

My cynical ass assumes it's because they know goddamn well no one under 60 years old has $4,000 to spend on a properly made sofa, irrespective of desire or taste. I make six figures and I certainly don't.

My furniture is all cheap particle board shit because I can't afford anything nicer because I'm spending all my money on a mortgage, food, gas, and student loans. I don't think it's a matter so much of nobody wanting to make good quality products so much as all the companies that did do that and priced their products accordingly are running out of customers, because we're all getting strip-mined by the rest of life's expenses going up all the goddamn time. I would love nothing more than a gorgeous, well made sofa that will last me a solid chunk of my remaining life, but where the fuck am I getting the money for it?

It's the boots theory of economics applied to everything. I'll spend $7,000 on sofas before I die and still have a sore ass.

Re: Why are most sofas so bad?

#527

Post by oa8wj435o8a23u »

al_borland wrote: post #158

When I moved to an area for work I wasn’t planning to live long-term I ended up buying the cheapest sofa in the store. I think it was around $270. After a prolonged illness I grew more and more displeased with it, to the point that I went and bought a better one after I was better. I bought from a place that advertised the inside of the sofa more than the outside. It was all about the build quality and how long it wo…

I've purchased two sofas, one for $1200 from a trendy company and I returned it the day after it was delivered. And then one for $3500 from Design Within Reach that is absolutely terrific and built to outlast me. I'm not advertising for that store, I'm just agreeing that quality is still available but it was never inexpensive. Mentally I compare furniture to the quality of stuff my parents and grandparents had, and I remember that the couch my parents bought in the 90s cost $2000 then.

Re: Why are most sofas so bad?

#528

Post by tonyarkles »

BonoboIO wrote: post #285
tonyarkles wrote: post #232

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Underrated trick for ikea furniture. Do not use the ikea nails, they are junk … use staples. Much stronger, easier to remove and you can remove them without damaging the part like the back of PAX

Oh, yeah, I discovered this not because I thought staples would be stronger but because I built one shelf first and was tired of trying to nail those stupid brad nails in by hand... so for the next shelf I pulled out the staple gun. Was so impressed with how much more rigid it felt that I went behind the other shelf and drove a bunch of staples through the backing cardboard :)

Re: Why are most sofas so bad?

#530

Post by zac23or »

Everything is bad these days, not just the sofas. 1. The new switches I bought broke before the old ones, which are over 20 years old. 2. LED bulbs last less than incandescent bulbs, even with a 20-year warranty. 3. The new cell phone's screen breaks very easily, it's not like the old Nokia's.

And nowadays something expensive is no longer guaranteed to last.

This is why I value old things so much:

I have an old chair to work with, it's not a good chair, but it's better than anything new. I did a restoration instead of buying a new one because the new one might not last long.

I have a 10 year old car, I'm scared to buy a new one with the bizarre stories about new 3 cylinder engines breaking (throwaway engines?)

I try to use old things as much as possible. I stopped using an old Android when SSL stopped working. It's not a matter of lack of money, it's a lack of confidence in new things.

The last brand that I gave some value to was Sansumg. My last cell phone... THEY FORGOT to add a piece to fix the flat cable for the on/off button. And twice the on/off button stopped working, and twice I sent it to technical assistance. The third time I opened the phone and repaired the button myself. My two Sansumg TVs break a few days after the warranty ends.

My sofa broke in less than two years.

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