Urban Barn furniture - good quality/bad quality/meh?

August 3, 2010 8:40 PM

Anyone have any experience with Urban Barn furniture, good/bad/otherwise? I'm considering buying a used sofa and chair, but wondering if I should take the money and buy a lesser name new set elsewhere, instead.

This does seem like a mildly ridiculous use of an AskMeFi question, but so it goes. I'm in the market for a new couch/chair and have a friend willing to sell me both items. They're three years old but seem to be good quality, and are from Urban Barn. And I like them. No concerns about bedbugs and such. The catch is that even if he sells me this stuff for less than half what he paid originally (and that's the offer), I could still probably get a new, albeit less trendy and possibly lower-quality, set for the same price.

So, does anyone have any testimonies as to the quality of Urban Barn furnishings, relative to the price? In the past I've generally bought used furniture and would be happy to do so again, but not if this stuff has a 'best before' date. (Though both items do come with an apparently very good warranty....which may or may not apply to me as a secondary owner. Have to call about that.)

FYI, not sure if Urban Barn exists outside Canada, but it is not to be confused with Pottery Barn. Also, I did try to find some furniture quality reviews online, but couldn't seem to find anyone who'd owned Urban Barn stuff for more than a year or so.

posted by nicoleincanada to shopping (4 answers total)

I don't have any upholstered furniture from Urban Barn, but my bed and my little accent tables are the best quality -- solid wood construction, nicely finished, no cracks, no gaps in the stain, no wobbling, no nothing. It's meant to be three-dimensional, unlike some stuff you can buy that has at least one surface you have to push up against a wall where nobody will see that it is plywood.

If you like them, I wouldn't hesitate to buy them over some random cheap new stuff.
posted by Sallyfur at 10:27 PM on August 3, 2010

Who makes the sofa? I know they carry (or carried) Stylus sofas. I've had one for about 4 years (which I didn't buy at Urban Barn) that is holding up well to this day.

I think the problem you'll run into is that Urban Barn hasn't been around for that long. At least in the GTA - not sure if they were elsewhere in Canada beforehand. From what I can tell, most things look pretty solid.
posted by backwards guitar at 5:10 AM on August 4, 2010

My friend used to work at Urban Barn and she put her employee discount to good use! All the furniture she purchased has held up very well for the past 7 or 8 years. Her sofa still looks great, the cushions are still firm and plush, and the frame is solid. I've been sitting on it for as long as she's owned it and I have no complaints.
posted by keep it under cover at 9:49 AM on August 4, 2010

I have a couch from Urban Barn (this one) and it has held up really, really well. I have a dog and I tend not to be cautious with my furniture but it looks and feels just like it did when I bought it.
posted by kate blank at 2:18 PM on August 5, 2010