Post a picture of the item in your house. There may be other colors that are affecting the undertones, in which case some changes might be able to make it work for you.

What color is your lighting? Try changing the bulb color.

Thanks for asking. Here you go:

The large cushion is from a sofa from another room

This is the ”old” sofa I had in another room and I switched it out… looks much better to me, but then that would mean I have to figure out the other room…. which is like opening a can of worms… It’s just so painful that I would have to ”make it work” versus the idea in my mind and on the design…

Online designer rendition… Waaaay off from reality btw and this is after trying to get it changed to oatmeal to match the chair (before it was even being built)

and in PB:

This is where I asked to be sure there was no pink undertone… and so much reassurance it would look great… I was flustered. I had my baby with me and my mother who is very generous, but was very distracting as well (not her fault). I should have asked to wait on the fabric choice. I wasn’t clear headed.

Anyway, sorry about the mess & please note the dark grey sofa was there temporarily.

Oh ugh. The wall paint and the area rug go well together and the sofa is the mismatch. Probably more expensive to fix those two than to just sell the sofa and move on with your life. Before doing that though, I would show this picture to the person who reassured you, and the store manager, and ask them if they can advocate for the company to remake this on their dime.

Yea, I asked customer service via their text for the design team at the place I ordered from. They said a certain person would reach out to me. No one did that. I’m not sure if going in person is going to do much. Idk if PB customer service at the store will be more accommodating or not. I don’t want to blame it on the designer and make her look bad, but I also don’t want to deal with this very very expensive mistake here too.

The rug seems to be throwing it off on my screen. Can you remove the rug and see how everything looks.

Pottery barn does make extra slip covers. I know that is not a perfect solution, but it might be cheaper in the long run if you like the sofa otherwise.

Even though PB is notorious for terrible customer service, and I'm sure was pushing you to purchase at a moment when you were preoccupied and your guard was down, the purchase is still on you. It is always up to the customer to color test fabric in your own space, in your own lighting, and among your own rugs and flooring. Color is such a personal perception.

I know this isn't what you had in mind, nor does it look like your design picture. However, I actually really like this color sofa with your rug. I'd remove the blue sofa from the room and start to play with making this space work. Find examples online of rooms with your sofa and rug tone. I think they are everywhere because in my recent fabric shopping, everything I see has a warm beige undertone.

Here is what the darn dingbat in the store did not know and did not tell you.

Fabrics are given color names for a reason.

" I saw the desert color............" " it looked....?

Nope.

Desert..... the PINK is in the word. What??

It doesn't say "pink" !!

Yes, it does. It is suggesting the pink of the southwest desert - that which you will find in the sand, in the desert sky..in the mountain backdrop of Arizona.

What to do? You can email customer service. Ask to speak to a supervisor. Ask for a 75% credit and re select.

You can order a different slipcover.

You can sell it...start over in a less hurried manner.

Find an Arhaus near you. Better quality, and far better customer service.

All that said?

I do not let a client into Pottery Barn for upholstery of any variety. It is not remotely quality.

I reserve P.B for quilts, duvet covers, candles.....the occasional accent pillow.

And even the pillows have gone cheap city, with fabric only on the face - the other side? Muslin: (

That's a big ouch when you custom order something without checking to see what you are ordering. I'm not huge on PB, but I can't really fault them on having a no returns/exchanges on custom orders policy, and sticking to it. The sales person did their job. That's what the PB designers are, sales people- no design qualifications required. They are top tier to be sure. A few more responsibilities than the floor clerks, more pressure to make the sales. PB made the correct item according to your choices- they didn't err in making it.

For better or worse, it was your choice, your custom order. It's yours now. Get rid of it, dye it if it can be, or work with it. Bring in other colors of wall and rug, change out your lighting and play with the spectrum.

Hey dippity- if you’re headed for a redo, let’s talk about color. Your Wish List folder has some beautiful rooms with vibrant color. But you ended up with an extremely low contrast unsaturated palette. What happened?

Find a paint color the same as your sofa and then look to see what complementing colors are suggested with it. Clear everything out of your room but the rug and sofa. Purchase lots of returnable throw pillows and throw blankets and start to play with adding those other colors in to see what works. I know you don't love the rug and sofa combo but I think it is fantastic.

Try rust velvet, cognac velvet, coffee velvet, spruce green velvet throw pillows and see how it changes things. Also, get a coffee table in there to break things up. All you are focusing on now is the sofa and rug.

Is this a slip-covered sofa? If not, you may have some recourse related to the skirt because the skirt looks pretty rough.

And if it is slipcovered, just order the oatmeal and sell the desert on marketplace or wherever

It is slipcovered. It’s $1000 just for the slipcover. I looked… :-/

Did it arrive with the slipcover on, or did you put in on? Do the care instructions indicate ironing or additional pinning are necessary? I agree the skirt you received seems to be poorly fitted compared to the more tailored view from the website.

The rug is the problem, in my opinion. Bring in a rug with more interesring pattern and colors, to bring in the sofa and wall. That rug is too sallow

The slipcover came already attached

To answer someone else, I have done the colorful rug, sofa etc… I just want to go neutral in this room… I suppose it is more challenging with all the undertones…

I did switch out the sofa with another one I have in a different room… it is a silvery griege which complements the hints of grey in the rug. However, now it is clashing with the rug in that room too

The slipcover came with it I believe and was delivered white glove with no expectations of assembly on my part. It did seem like it’s attached with Velcro atleast on the arms. It does look a little more loose than I expected.

In my opinion, the prior post suggesting you may have recourse because of the skirt is on target. If you look at the catalog pic of the sofa as well as the catalog pic of replacement slipcovers, they both are smoothly tailored. Yours is not. A hand held steamer and some static guard might fix that, but if you paid for white glove service you should expect the sofa to look right when the delivery service leaves. If you haven’t yet, send photos to customer service and ask where you can post a review. That might get a response.

Thanks, I can try that. Unfortunately pottery barn doesn’t do reviews on their website.

I just talked to customer service about it… again.. I talked to the people at the store… can’t help me…. referred to customer service… customer service says can’t help me….. to talk to the store… I’m being bounced back and forth

You are not lacking a roof over your head or a place to sit down place to sit down. You have a couch. You have a chair.

Put the new Pottery Barn up for sale on Facebook ( Marketplace) and move on.

It is indeed a painful lesson, but in a lifetime it isn't a tragic mistake. Expect to get half what you paid for the couch.

Why do I suggest this, vs a new PB slip cover?

Because a slip will not disguise the fact that the sofa beneath it, is a piece of J.U.N.K.

The truth of a sofa:

You have to be over the age of sixty, to even KNOW what a good sofa looks like, what it feels like to sit in.

Why? Because somewhere in the past 25 years, the consumer decided the price to pay for a sofa should not be more that 2500.00, and it should remain that price...................forever.

There was a time when the retail price point got you a REALLY NICE couch. The year was 1994, not 2024.

I will ask: What in your life, outside of a television, costs the same or less than 1994, and is actually better?! The T.V.

The bottom line today,, is that a good sofa in a decent basic fabric, with support, good cushioning, a hardwood kiln dried frame ? Is two to three times that 2500.00. More if you want a wonderful fabric. More importantly, what do you think you are getting when someone can MAKE you something, and ship it for the same dollars as 1994, at the same price? What about your car?!

"But I see soooooo many for less? A lot less!!" SAYS YOU.

Read what I just typed, again. You are getting a whole lot of nothing. You may be fooled if you are 30, 40, even 50 years old. : )

I just told you the truth you do not want to hear, and nobody else wants to hear it either.

Jan, that's quite the assumption about everyone under 60. To think not a single one of them has seen or sat upon a good couch. Also quite an assumption of everyone over 60. To think not a single one of them allows a person under the age of 60 to see or sit upon a good couch. That would then lead to reason you have never put a good couch into a clients home if they are under 60. Interesting perspective there.

AC M — Unfortunately, in our rush to buy “lots of stuff”, we have traded off quality in a number of products, for shoddily made goods made by political prisoners and little children with bleeding fingers. As a result, our choices are limited by the reality we have created. I hope buying less ”stuff”, but better quality (hopefully much of it from small businesses) becomes fashionable. But first, we have to find those small businesses who havent been pushed out of business.

Dippity— This article from Consumer Reports, suggests addressing your complaint to Pottery Barn on various social media platforms. https://www.consumerreports.org/customer-service/got-bad-customer-service-how-to-complain-well-and-get-results/

Thanks, that’s a great suggestion. They have at least not responded in the best way bouncing me back and forth, so I will consider it.
I’m going to pursue a resolution with PB while also trying to work with it because I may very well end up stuck with it and unfortunately don’t have $1k to blow like that for a slipcover. I have other furniture I’m saving up for. I am fortunate to have two medium sized living rooms which leads to plan B.

Plan B:
I moved the sofa into another room which 2has navy/indigo, brown, creams, off whites and throw pillows with shades of navy, pink and greige. The current rug doesn’t go, but I’m thinking maybe something like this could work?? And I’m planning on painting walls Shoji white and changing out the rug, curtains and adding other furniture when I get the chance.

Thanks for all the honest feedback.

I would go about this a different way. Don't talk to them about the color at all just address the quality. that slip cover is never going to look right with all of those ripples and looseness. You can see how bad it is in the close up photo of the skirt.

@ bjstem it’s funny you mention this because PB was always this level I couldn’t afford and thought it was high end. I was fortunate to have a parent who generously paid for it. She had helped other siblings of mine and I think she wanted to do something for me too. PB was always drool worthy for me so I jumped at the opportunity. I have a sofa that I LOVE and it was from a local company and I got it from a warehouse sale in perfect condition- made in NC. It is the best sofa I have ever owned in my life. It’s one that would probably be worth paying for a slipcover or reupholstery job in the future because of the quality of the frame. These pieces take lots of time and effort to find the right thing though, unless you are willing to pay several thousand dollars. Looking back it probably would have been better to go back to that local company and see what they had instead.

@dippitydoppitydoo I also got custom sofas from a company in NC, and was happy with them. I left them with neighbors when I moved, as this house was furnished. Once we complete the lakehouse, I will go hunting again. I know there are a few other companies who still make good furniture in NC, so the next sofa will come from there too. :)

Often you can fix a mistake by making it look intentional. For instance:

Do a window treatment where the color matches your sofa. Get rid of the pillow covers that came with the sofa (save the stuffing) and replace with ones that have the now three tones in the room.

Then add art over the sofa (framed in a brass to work with the rug).

My primary concern is the skirt. Is that how it looked in the store?

I have a PB slipcover loveseat. The slip cover was folded in heavy plastic packages and the basic sofa was separate. The slipcover is tight. I am sure you showed pictures of this sofa to PB? They said this is ok? The white glove service was maybe a couple of guys and a delivery truck they contracted with? The PB loveseat I purchased was made in NC. (2013).

I'd take a closer pic of the sofa, making sure the wonkiness of the skirt is clear. Then post it on PB's, Facebook, Twitter X and Instagram. Ask why it looks so different from the catalog version, and state that you are being brushed off by the store and customer service which is why you had to resort to social media.

Good luck!

They didn’t have an example of the skirt in store. They said sorry you feel it’s a quality issue and at least the one person who saw the pictures said they didn’t see a problem, but I’m going to send more pictures. I complained on bbb saying I was lied to (which is true) and that the item wasn’t as advertised and the slipcover looks very different from ad images and the quality is poor (with the ripples from the edges sewn etc). I’m hoping they can either let me exchange for a different sofa (upholstered) or exchange the slipcover for one that is not faulty, or given store credit.

If all else fails and no reasonable resolution is accomplished I will have no choice but to move on and will work with what I have because it’s not in my budget. I will however, as a result, not buy anything from them again (at least large purchases) despite my plans to get a specific dining set and other large purchases & will take my business elsewhere and I will not recommend them to anyone.

If you decide to post on social media, grab a picture of the sofa from their catalog to add to your post. Make your post brief and to the point. You might want to ask a tech-savvy friend or relative to help you with the posts.

Elcieg, those are really lovely examples and a great idea. I actually switched out the sofa with my older one and it looks so much better. In the other room it sort of goes with some of the undertones mixed in like what you are saying and will need to do a little more “intentional” mistake-fixing. I like the idea of adding brass to work with the rug, maybe when the kids grow up enough so they aren’t slamming my art, I can do that lol.

Motupeg, do you have a photo of your slipcovered loveseat you could share with us?

Deegeew, hopefully I won’t have to resort to that. I will give them a chance. I’m getting it escalated as I complained that I was being bounced back and forth over and over again.

Agree with @deegw - I could not make any progress with PB until I commented on one of their FB posts about my situation (brief, factual and not inflammatory) and then they reached out to me. Took one phone call with this different team (from the William Sonoma parent company) and problem solved. - FWIW I would never order from them again

Fast forward 1 year and I order 2 sofas from a small NC company - the velvet one showed up and the color looked off - turns out the velvet that had been mis-labeled and so the sofa was made with the wrong fabric. Took one phone call to the designer I worked with - new couch shows up, no issues. Such a different experience!

dippitydoppitydo, let me see what I have. I have the microfiber and bought it as I have animals and it still washes nicely. My mother was in her last few years and spilling was normal for her shaking hands.

I’m so sorry for your loss. Thanks for your response and taking the time to help.

dippitydoppitydoo, I will try to upload a photo here. Please remember that it is 10 years old and is well used. My back cushions need to be wrapped or refilled. Notice the skirt. There are a few areas where the material doesn’t hang perfectly, but it is nothing like your photo. When it was new, people thought it was upholstered.

Thanks! wow the sofa looks like its still in pretty good shaoe for ten years. I did talk ti corporate and she said if its not resolved, she will personally help me out and exchange / send a new slip cover if my choosing. Will update with pics!

Thanks so mich, looks great for a 10 y/o sofa. I do notice the skirt looks great still! and lays flat unlike mine... I wonder if its the different material or just skill of the upholstery job. BTW, It looks like they are going to help me resolve the issue after all. I commented on FB and called corporate amongst other things. If the initial team to come look at it doesnt decide it merits exchange, then corporate will handle it personally. Thanks for all the suggestions, will update once everything is resolved.

I commented on FB and called corporate amongst other things. If the initial team to come look at it doesnt decide it merits exchange, then corporate will handle it personally.

You are a hero!

Dippitydoppitydo- there is a thread on Houzz of buyers of the PB sofa and their experience with different fabrics. It may help you make a decision on the fabric.

I went to the PB FB to see how they responded to your concerns and I think they hid your comments from public view! Hope you get a positive resolution.

That’s so interesting. I couldn’t upload a pic either. SHADY.

Hi-change of subject but I found your post from last year about using the PERFORMANCE MIDLAND TWEED fabric in Oatmeal that you chose for your chair.
I was wondering how it has held up. I'm thinking about it for a large sectional.
Any help would be appreciated. Sorry if I'm in the wrong spot for this. Not sure how this all works. Thank you