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Why are most sofas so bad?

dwell.com

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Re: Why are most sofas so bad?

#591

Post by pictureofabear »

navane wrote: post #581
itsoktocry wrote: post #575

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Everything is bad these days, not just the sofas. When these conversations happens, I always wonder why people want some of these items to last forever. Are you going to stick with that 10 year old plasma TV? Great. I want new tech, and this stuff moves fast. Furniture is a bit different, but my parents had all kinds of good, long-lasting stuff that no one wants because it's out of style.

Would you prefer a Sofa As A Service? Our cheap ikea couch keeps lasting, preventing us from buying a nice, new one. We can't throw it out of it's not broken. It is long known that companies who sell good quality products go out of business after a couple decades at most, they saturate their market and because no one needs to renew, the company dies. Ironically ikea HAS to sell quality (for price) because they are su…

Life's about "experiences" not owning property!

Re: Why are most sofas so bad?

#592

Post by onlypassingthru »

Symbiote wrote: post #415
teleforce wrote: post #354

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Avoid particleboard like a plague if you can afford it, appparently most of IKEA products now made of these since they are widely being used in dirt cheap furniture construction. They melt like ice once in contact with water. Recently, just had to chopped off all four legs of a bookshelf then replaced them with metal legs. The bookshelf legs somehow got damaged in contact with accumulated air-cond water droplets.

Ikea has two or three price points for each product. The cheapest will be made from chipboard or even cardboard. The most expensive varies, it might be pine or even something better.

Ikea used to have price points for each product. It was my goto for butcher block countertops but they have since transitioned to offering only crappy all veneer spongeboard.[0]

[0]https://www.ikea.com/us/en/cat/butcher-block-countertops-464...

Re: Why are most sofas so bad?

#593

Post by mcguire »

Pro tip: Estate sales.

Many very good, long-lasting pieces of furniture come on the estate market for very cheap because a) no one wants to move the giant solid-wood china cabinet, or b) you can get a $15 sofa or table mailed to you, why would you want an ugly flower pattern on something that has already outlasted one owner?

Look for Thomasville, Drexel, or similar from the 1950s to the 1980s. Lots of midcentury modern, if you like that sort of thing, but plenty of other designs.

I'm writing this on a desk (currently missing the leather insert in the top) made of solid pecan. We got a 10' china cabinet, dining table that seats 12, and chairs for $300 a while back.

Unfortunately, I haven't seen stackable bookshelves from the 30s-60s lately and they were getting somewhat expensive, which puts a crimp on my obsession to decorate entirely with books.

Re: Why are most sofas so bad?

#594

Post by wouldbecouldbe »

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…

The issue with OSB, unless you get the ECO one, is the formaldehyde. It's basically pieces wood glued together. And generally bad for air quality. A few might be okay, but I've seen entire startup buildings covered in it.

Re: Why are most sofas so bad?

#595

Post by matheusmoreira »

zac23or wrote: post #530

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…

The worst part of it for me is how I can't really trust anything. Cheap, expensive, brand, generic, it doesn't matter, I can't trust it. I feel like I can only trust stuff I've made myself. If only I had infinite time to learn how to make everything.

Re: Why are most sofas so bad?

#596

Post by sgc »

monknomo wrote: post #537
sgc wrote: post #495

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I bought their highest end leather couch with a fold out bed a couple years ago, due to time constraints. I was very unhappy to see it was made from chipboard. Of course their shelves and such you can see what you are buying, but I would not trust anything upholstered myself.

I feel like the thing to do is to give whatever you are looking at in the showroom a pretty good shake, and to sit down on it hard. If it's creaky or loose at all there, it'll fall apart in no time at home

For now it is holding up and "feels" sturdy after a couple years, but I have no doubt it will fail at least 5 years before I would otherwise expect it to (I would want 10 years, but now expect 5). My fault for trusting Ikea + higher end = good without further verification.

Re: Why are most sofas so bad?

#597

Post by OJFord »

OJFord wrote: post #316
ascagnel_ wrote: post #307

Earlier quoted context omitted.

IKEA is highly variable. I’m writing this while sitting on a leather loveseat that’s more than a decade old and holding up great. I also have a chest of drawers that, despite my best efforts during construction, immediately began to sag. Their expensive furniture is good mid-range stuff, the cheap stuff is cheap.

Yeah the cheap stuff is on par with up to 10x cheaper stuff on Amazon (you just have to deal with drop shipped branding and dodgy/no instructions), the more expensive stuff has better quality competitors IMO. Such as Dwell.co.uk, coincidentally, completely unrelated afaict to OP. They make veneer-grade non-flat-pack furniture (and upholstered stuff) at a mid-high Ikea price. Made similar I think, or any number (inclu…

I realise it's unclear because of the position in the sentence & my lazy phrasing, and doesn't read well, but that was capital-M Made, made.com. As in 'Similar to Made I think, [...]'. (Can't edit it now.)

Re: Why are most sofas so bad?

#598

Post by squeaky-clean »

dazc wrote: post #513
maximus-decimus wrote: post #479

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just put the sofa in the dryer. But seriously, I wonder if there's some heat treatment possible. surely it should be possible and put the sofa in a giant plastic bag and heat the air inside or something.

The critical temperature for killing bugs is 60 degrees centigrade, not many sofas are going to withstand that.

Bedbugs die much more easily than that, 45C for 90 minutes will do it. The most expensive extermination method for bed and bugs is to seal up the home similar to the way it's done when using pesticides, except they just blast heat into your home for like 8 hours. Kills the bed bug infestation inside completely, but because there's no residual poisons bedbugs from outside can start a new infestation easily. It works great for homes, not worth doing for apartments.

Re: Why are most sofas so bad?

#599

Post by Decabytes »

I got a Lovesac Sactional after using a couch for years that was a handme down of a handmedown. I like it but it was not cheap (~4.5k). The modular nature fits our lifestyle so I'm willing to pay the premium. Having had to move a couch multiple times, I'm looking forward to just being able to break this one up into sections and take it out the door.

They've got an ingenious model from a profit perspective as well. Since you can't charge subscriptions for stuff like that, they can sell you pieces of a Sactional and then you can get more pieces as the space you live in gets bigger or your life style changes. They also sell additional covers so if you get bored of the previous ones, you can change the color without getting a new couch (though it is not easy to get them on and off).

My advice, wait until it's on sale. They regularly go for sale from 15-20%. If you aren't fussy about the type, Costco usually has them too.

Re: Why are most sofas so bad?

#600

Post by [deleted] »

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.

[deleted]
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