kendrah, you must have a fancier local ebay and facebook marketplace than the one around here!

My post wasn't about what you can afford, or what you'd like to pay. Nor what you should or should not have, pay for etc!

When you can't afford a brand new car, you fix the old, or you buy a used auto. Right?

My only point is one: What do you BELIEVE you would get, when there are 8 billion couches online, in any style, that can be delivered to you /free shipping......for half the price of a really decent couch 25 YEARS ago? does that seem realistic? It's a miracle? There are no miracles with sofas and chairs.

I'm loathe to say this as well:

Look in your basement. Look at the faux holiday, and vases, cute signs , decorative doo dads. Look in your garage. Look in your closet......

I'm not lecturing anyone. I am just stating a reasonable fact....don't start adding that stuff up. I do it to young clients and get eye pops for results.

A couch isn't the tv in front of that couch. It isn't a piece of technology. It is STILL a lot of hands on human labor to make a good one.

It need not cost 10k. But..............4,000, 5000.00, even 6,000 is not an unreasonable price in 2025.

Do not yell, shoot the messenger as you don't have to buy one! Some of that is finer everything! Upholstery perfection. Hand tied springs, better cushioning and a much better hardwood frame.

I am simply stating what is......a self insurance concept:. How LONG do you want it to last?: )

How much care are you willing to give it? Vacuuming, flipping cushions..

What is your need for support? Age 30 is not age 65!

So many factors, but one thing doesn't change.

Most of the time, you get what you paid for.

You think I don't visit the consignment near me?

You'd be dead w.r.o.n.g : )

I have no personal experience, but I've read good things about this brand and will probably buy from them when I'm ready for new couches.

Link: Clad Home

Started by a designer in Los Angeles when she couldn't find what she wanted for a decent price. All made in LA. Ships free in the continental US.

I was planning to go to their one store in Los Angeles back in January when we were in San Diego. However, it's was at the height of the devastating wildfires so did not go. DH is the really picky one and I wanted him to sit on them. He agreed we would purchase without sitting on when we're ready.

I know that they did just increase prices recently due to the tariffs (everything is made in LA but some materials are imported).

Jan, your srgument is not unreasonable. However, I have an excellemt sofa that cost $400 off the floor of The Dump in atlanta. It was purchased in 2014 and has been abused beyond what you could probably imagine. It has been a bed for three dogs, my husband slept on it when he was too tired to come upthe stairs, my grandchildren have used it as a trampoline and it’s been slept on by them and their parents. It looks brand new. I am as surprised as anyone that it has held upso besutifully; I bought it as a placeholder until I could find the ”perfect” thing for his study. it outlasted that house and home office and now is in a large suite type bedroom we keep for DD and her family. 🤷‍♀️

I bought a new Hancock and Moore leather sofa at a furniture store in Tampa.It is slate blue and was around $5,000. I am in love with it! It is not only beautiful but very comfortable.

In general I believe you get what you pay for, but the crazy exceptions to that both good and bad are what give me pause.

Exactly! ^^^

One of my kids graduated and started his first job last year, in a different state with different furniture stores. We bought him a sofa that cost around $600. A friend of his in the same city had one and my son had stayed with him for a couple of weeks. I would have paid a bit more, but he wanted the same as his friend. I'm keeping an eye on that sofa! We are visiting later this summer, so it will have nearly a year of use .... I'll come back and update on the condition of the sofa!

Kswl, I think you got lucky with that sofa!

The consumer killed the furniture business.

FIRST? It was go to the fine brick and mortar. see, sit, and head to North Carolina!!

Then followed the Pottery Barn Epidemic......then alllll the rest of the catalogue lusting.

You think designers don't experience the frustration? OUR price has risen. The fabric industry is worse!

Fact is, the upholstery/furniture industry, largely headquartered where trees grow, ( N.C ) has workers who come out of the mountains. It takes eons to train them. The Pandemic killed many of them, sent as many into a well deserved retirement. Factories have consolidated brands, and even portions of production are shared.

Rock House Brands...............just one example

fbusiness.com/hfbnow/articleid/23081/rhf-investments-inc-announces-acquisition-of-new-partners

__________________________________________

BELOW......

why things cost what they cost.....or DON'T

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Q2XE_t5dvk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sjB8DiaHJN4

I have 30 year old Baker sofas that I gave to my sister and they are still great. Also second Lee industries.

Most recently I did buy two sofas and two swivel chairs from Pottery Barn for the pied a terre. About 15k all told, not bad. I am perfectly happy with them but they do only get light use.

See this room?

Traditions refined · More Info

There are two of those green chairs! Both were scarfed up, 400 apiece, consigned.....in a hideous fabric, and BRAND NEW Hickory Chair.....New? No less than 2 k apiece. ( I almost passed out for joy )

The sofa? Same thing, Consignment and a recover.

Why? Just post pandemic and a nearly year long wait for anything. We were not waiting!

there it is...still available, Hickory Chair to die for comfy

Laurel Bern recommends the PB Carlisle sofa. It comes in both loose cushion back and tight back. She adores the George Smith sofa that is similar. It starts at $12k.

I would at least go to PB and look around. Maybe you'll find the quality suitable for you. Love Laurel bern and that is a pretty sofa.

Love Laurel Bern. Why not go to PB and test some of their pieces. The quality may be suitable for you.

At this stage of my life, my next sofa doesn't need to last more than 30 years, LOL. Reminds me of when we contemplated a 100-yr slate roof. Those things would only benefit future generations. Buy the sofa you like and plant a tree instead. 😆

Haha, Laurel Bern used to rag on PB, RH, and other online retailers, until she started getting kickbacks from them. I guess a girl's gotta make a living.

But when push came to shove, she bought the George Smith sofa. I'm sure she didn't pay $12,000, but even at a 50% discount, she still paid a lot.

Jan Moyer those green chairs are spectacular! I have two occasional chairs from Hickory Chair that have been reupholstered three times; bought them during a large mom and pop store’s going out of business sale… they were floor models. I also have four club chairs I bought when the Four Seasons in Philadelphia was redecorated in the mid 2000’s and a big liquidation firm in central Georgia handled the removals. They were $199 each and in pristine condition. Still are and have been used daily.

meow

Just a note that the floor models at PB and RH often don’t feel the same as what gets shipped out (lots of threads on here about that) and a customer is SOL if that happens to them unless they have a helpful person at a local store to intervene and help (i’d sit in target bean bags before I bought a sofa from those brands but that’s just me)

^^^

ditto x 3

As some who follow me here on Houzz know, I have been looking for a new sofa for about 3 years! Just wanted something smaller that would still work in smaller situation since we aren’t getting younger! Went to retailers here in greater Houston and came close with one from Ballards Designs. (Btw-great team staff there, very helpful and pleasant to work with). Without more boring details, I have long liked rooms with 4 chairs! Went to our nearby LazyBoy store. Great salesperson and mgr there and wow! Ordered 3 recliners to add to the chairs I have. They came 6 weeks later and we are loving them. Hubby’s in heaven. He picked a new style piece they have and I helped him select the leather for it. Donated the LONG chaise/sectional to local Women’s charity and boy are we happy. Here’s sneak peek.

Hey, Flo, I'm with you on having 4 chairs as a seating arrangement. I've done them for clients and they all love them.

Thanks Diane. Btw that small picture in upper right corner is my inspiration especially for the color palette! It’s so cozy and comfortable!

Yes, very pretty!

kendrah, you must have a fancier local ebay and facebook marketplace than the one around here!

I doubt it. There are tons of fantastic sofas on craigslist everywhere. People don't know what they have or how valuable they are.

To get the E Bay sofa, my husband and I had to walk through the backyard of a group rehab house with sketchy as hell, though quite friendly addicts, and then dig through a shipping container to get to the Baker sofa. It was an 80s green on green striped.

The other Baker I got on craigslist for free. It was covered in purple iridescent fabric. These folks had no idea that it was a Baker sofa. They probably got it from a friend who got it from Goodwill. I didn't even know it was Baker until the upholsterer called me and told me I had a solid mohogany framed Baker sofa.

I just know what to look for on pics on craigslist and then see it in person and do the tugging tests.

I got a $700 sofa that needs no upholstering, from FB MP a few months ago. No identifying markings at all. Irritates me that I cannot figure it out.

Great finds, Kendrah. I have a Baker sofa from the 90s that I want to reupholster. I don't understand those here on Houzz who say that's a bad idea.

General consensus is that it is not worth it to reupholster, probably because at the price point where most people buy furniture, it often does not make economic sense. For a very well made sofa, it does make sense.

It also depends upon your labor market. In some areas of the country you can find talented upholsterers at a reasonable price ... others, not so much.

I read once that the tipping point for reupholstering is whether or not you can easily lift the sofa. If it is heavy, it is worth reupholstering. Not sure that is still a good gauge but it is a place to start.

Today, a decent sofa needing NO work on guts, just a simple same way recover will not be had for less than 1700.00 and that is PRE fabric selection.

Which simply means it had better be a good sofa, a comfortable sofa.

Even then?

Six years ago, I planned a recover of one sofa, It thankfully had AN IDENTICAL, we left in the house. We only needed one.

Panic call from my upholsterer.

"You're in trouble big. The frame of the couch just cracked in half, as we lifted it onto the table for ..........

All the fabric has been cut, to go on, and that includes seat and back cushions."

APPARENTLY, frame dried to the point of crack, and it must have been the one that had the most "sit" over 15 years.......

OMG!!!

Ask how glad I was the match was still in her living room

In other words? Exercise caution. EVEN on a very good sofa.

.

I think most people prefer buying three $3000 sofas over the course of 20 years instead of getting a consient or used sofa with great bones, putting $4k into reupholstery and having it last 20 years.

Well mathematically that makes no sense. So you'd rather spend $9,000 than $4,000? Just shows how illogical people can be. I teach differential analysis in my accounting course, and if a student chose the $9M option over the $4M, the answer would be WRONG!

I can not afford either option!

ETA: I do not have good luck ordering. Even sitting on one reciliner I bought and ordered another that was to be identical, it was not.

I like to sit on the furniture, then bring home or have that exact item deliverd.

Reupholstering is a different process than buying new, and one that a lot of people don't have the bandwidth for. Kendrah and Jan both mentioned thrifting/Craigslist/etc. That's a ton of work compared to cruising a couple of local stores. I got a lot of furniture off Craigslist when I was younger--I had more disposable time, less disposable cash. But aside from one great Thonet armchar ($25!), it wasn't worth rehabbing. And I wouldn't have had the money then to refinish/reupholster anyway. That's why I was thrifting!

At this point in my life, I do not have the time for the thrifting process. I've recovered several items that I acquired by luck. But when I need a specific new item, I'm online a few nights to get ballpark ideas, then a handful of visits to local furniture stores. And I'm someone who is decor-obsessed enough to check Houzz daily. "Normal" people want to find a nice couch in an afternoon or two and move on with their life.

I spend longer shopping for new already made sofa because it is so hard to track down the actual item to sit in and inevitably I don't find it comfortable or well made so I'm on to another store, another weekend of shopping.

With craigslist sofa buys I guess I have honed it down to a science. I know what to look for in the picture, the right questions to ask when I email, every sofa I have gone to see I have ended up purchasing. Then I tell the upholsterer exactly how firm, tight back, what I want the arms to look like, how many cushions. It has been way less time consuming for me than shopping for an already made sofa. It probably helps that I like quite simple and neutral fabric that I don't have to spend tons of time shopping for.

Remember this article from Smart Money Magazine?

Pottery Barn Unstuffed

People also have different preferences as to whether they want the same furniture for 10-20 years. Some people would prefer to be able to change it up and not hang onto the same furniture for many years. I tend to hang onto furniture for a long time, but some people prefer to change up the style and look of their spaces more often. Just a thought.

Well mathematically that makes no sense. So you'd rather spend $9,000 than $4,000? Just shows how illogical people can be. I teach differential analysis in my accounting course, and if a student chose the $9M option over the $4M, the answer would be WRONG!

It's not that simple. It's not just about the numbers. There's an emotional component involved here too. Some people like to get new every few years. If they can afford it, great. Hopefully the old is being donated and not added to a landfill.

Also, some people (me!) are somewhat of a germaphobe and there is just no way I will ever get an upholstered piece of furniture second hand (unless I know the person extremely well). I just cannot do it.

I'm also somewhat fickle and my tastes change. I bought Pottery Barn couches 10 years ago. I hate them now. I want a completely different style.

I'm a germophobe too. When I get second hand upholstered furniture it is completely stripped down to the wood and springs and all new padding, foam, and fabric is added.

With big purchases of any kind, I tend to get neutral colors and neutral styles that can fuse into most any room as my tastes change. I have never tired of my sofa that I have had for 18 years. It is black, faux linen poly, and has a vaguely MCM vibe. But I have always had an eclectic taste so like to mash up different styles and eras.

I think people are fooling themselves if they think a 7 year old sofa donated is going to last someone else much longer. Sorry, but this stuff all ends up in the landfill, maybe with a brief stop elsewhere.

So you'd rather spend $9,000 than $4,000? Just shows how illogical people can be.

Not at all; they are different goods. To be more comparable, the rescue sofa would need to be reupholstered twice more. Even then, the style would be hard to change so the two approaches would still not be equivalent. Yes, one sofa is better quality. But there are not many sofas I'd want to stare at for 20 years. That's long even for a spouse, tee hee.

I highly recommend going to a brick and mortar store to test sit on the sofas. So glad we did! Most sofas I saw online and liked beforehand were too firm or too deep in the seat from me. What I thought was decent my hubby didn't love. We sat on a ton and found a pair of matching sofas that we both liked the look and feel of. We get compliments on them from guests every time. They have rolled arms, curved tops of the backrest, are like a velvety sort of fabric, and have metal studs on the fronts of the arm rests. We just went to Colder's here in WI.

“But there are not many sofas I'd want to stare at for 20 years.“

I’d be thrilled if all of my furniture lasted the rest of my life and I never had to go shopping again!

I actually enjoy shopping for furniture ... but not paying for it!

I understand that it's not all about the dollars and sense. So you want a change. You buy quality that lasts, and then when you want a change, you could re-style it. As Kendrah said, using neutrals allows you the flexibility to change other parts of the room without tying yourself into a specific look. You can change the throw pillows, or add a suzani or other patterned blanket. Buy a new rug or new curtains. Paint the room. You don't have to change the sofa to get a change in the room . Or you can reupholster it. If it's quality and comfortable, it could fit into a different style room.

But don't fool yourself, all these cheap sofas WILL end up in landfills. Personally I think it's unconscionable in this day and age to buy disposable furniture.

I purchased a Lexington Sofa and have been very pleased. I liked that you pick everything arm style amount of cushions and firmness. There is a huge variety in fabric, It takes about 8 weeks after ordering until delivery. Lexington is carried by many furniture stores

Just a note..Sherrill is manufactured in America…we love this Sherrill sofa.

Skipped down to reply - I did recently order a sofa from Wayfair - a very inexpensive one, under $500, and it's been great so far. It was one that arrives in a flatpack and you assemble yourself. It's really big and comfy and granddaughter declared it nice and bouncy 😀

We weren't looking for an investment piece, since our living quarters are temporary rn.

^^

Same here, Carol. I did the same thing recently myself, for a new to me place that is also temporary . First time I‘ve ever personally ordered anything from Wayfair - and also, I had never before ordered a sofa that needed to be assembled (other than a solid wood futon frame, which I had purchased years ago from a store here, in the Village/NYC). Anyway I had professional assembly on the Wayfair sofa/loveseat, and it went very smoothly; and the sofa is working beautifully for my purposes. Waaaay under 500 dollars for the sofa and assembly, and I splurged on a couple of nice throw pillows. The two throw pillows cost more than the sofa.🤣

Hi Deegw,

My Wayfair piece is a very small (about 57” if I remember right) sofa/loveseat. Basically it’s a very simple bench style with tight back and it has cream corduroy fabric. Looks stylish, is comfortable, and it’s really perfect for the spot I needed it for. I love it.

They do have 3 seater sofas at Wayfair at various price points. I just noticed this one on a quick search. I have not had a chance to read the specs and not sure if there are any reviews yet. Also, it’s not English arm or a prominent round arm - but, just at a glance, I like this arm and this style. So just posting it for fun. It comes in a couple of colors, including pink! ( I can’t make this stuff up. :)

https://www.wayfair.com/furniture/pdp/george-oliver-3-seater-sofa-w113746891.html?piid=1411766205

Here’s an Architectural Digest article I found a while back: “Best Online Furniture Stores”. A number of vendors are mentioned (including Wayfair).

https://www.architecturaldigest.com/story/best-online-furniture-stores

I hope I didn't give you TMI, Deegw! I thought i saw a comment where you asked about the Wayfair pieces, but maybe I was seeing things! I’ll leave the info up anyway.