couchfilter

June 5, 2005 12:37 AM

Where should I look for a nice couch?

I need a couch for a medium-sized apartment or small house. I looked at Dania, and found a cool couch, then Ikea, and found similar couches that were smaller but not much less expensive. If I'm willing to spend around US$1000 for a good couch, where should I look?

Leather is nice, but not a requirement. I like minimal design, but don't want and can't afford anything too exotic. Used is an option, but in the last five years I have made it to less than five garage sales.

posted by b1tr0t to home & garden (17 comments total)

If you have a La-Z-Boy showcase shop near you, check them out. I bought a really nice curved 2-piece sectional recently. That one's more than you want to spend, but they do have things in your price range, and they often have sales. They custom-make each sofa so you'll be waiting 6-8 weeks, unfortunately, but the upside is that they offer literally thousands of fabrics and hundreds of colors. The couches are damn comfortable, too. I really like mine sofar. (Sofa + so far = sofar, yeah, I meant to do that.)
posted by kindall at 12:47 AM on June 5, 2005

tweak might be selling one cheap
posted by grouse at 3:53 AM on June 5, 2005

Where do you live? We got a beautiful sofa-bed at Seamans, and the deal was something like 6 months interest-free, so it cost us $150 a month over 6 months.
posted by dublinemma at 5:00 AM on June 5, 2005

eq3 is the Banana Republic to Ikea's Old Navy. Or at least something to consider. The Canadian site includes prices, but the US one doesn't for some reason.
posted by cardboard at 5:17 AM on June 5, 2005

If you want a cheap alternative, just go to the thrift store. You can get a decent but ugly couch for less than twenty dollars and throw a cover on it.
posted by farishta at 8:27 AM on June 5, 2005

I got a REALLY nice sleeper sofa on CraigsList for $200.

The thriftstore or used furniture store is another great option- And if you're squeamish about germs, you can just have the couch cleaned and sanitized. Combined price would be less than buying new.
posted by elisabeth r at 8:38 AM on June 5, 2005

$1000 seems like a lot of money. depending on the size, you might find that you can get one made for you at that price. BUT that's just based on chile (where hand made stuff might be cheaper) - we got an L shaped couch (two couches that push together, really) made for $1600 (it's the most expensive thing we've bought, ever, i think, apart from a computer and the house itself - but it does look good). so i'm thinking a single (small) couch should be about half that. the advantages of handmade are that you know the construction is solid, you're paying someone locally, you get to choose exactly what you want (i "designed" it, vaguely), and it's repairable.
posted by andrew cooke at 8:44 AM on June 5, 2005

I got my new couch at IKEA for much less than I planned on spending. I went in expecting to spend about $600 but found exactly what I wanted (and of a decent quality) for about $300.

Too bad my cats decided to destroy it as soon as I got it home.
posted by Jon-o at 8:57 AM on June 5, 2005

I don't think $1000 is going to get you a brand new couch. The ones from Ikea might fit into that price range, but they are crap. If I were in your position I would look on Craigslist and look for phrases like "have to move out of state/country" (often have new furniture that they can't take with them), and also "no smokers" and "no pets" (things that will leave smells/hairs on the couch).
posted by matildaben at 9:03 AM on June 5, 2005

If you want high-quality furniture for a low price, I don't think you're going to find it from a high-volume chain store, nor do I think you'll find it online.

We got a brand-new, really nice couch for $650 recently for our 900 square foot apartment, plus a $70 delivery fee. How? It took multiple shopping trips to different physical locations over two weekends. We went to several family-owned furniture stores in the area, talked to the sales people, compared prices and bought.

We didn't settle, however. We knew just how buoyant we wanted the cushions to be, we knew we wanted a solid wood frame, a certain color, a certain fabric. We started on the assumption that what we wanted was available in our price range, and we didn't stop shopping until we found it.

A lot of family-owned stores have overstock rooms, where you can find one-of-a-kind discontinued furniture marked down by as much as 70 percent. Some of these stores will also sell you the non-discount furniture for less than the price tag, if you're willing to haggle.
posted by croutonsupafreak at 9:58 AM on June 5, 2005

Two words: Restoration Hardware.
posted by dirtynumbangelboy at 10:15 AM on June 5, 2005

I recently bought a couch with a foldout bed from Funky Sofa. You can choose the style and fabric, so it takes around a month to get. Even with paying shipping from Los Angeles to Portland, it was cheaper (and cooler-looking) than anything decent I could find here. (You wouldn't believe the percentage of hide-a-bed couches that are patterned with something that looks like waiting-room wallpaper from 1987, or just dull oatmeal beige ... or maybe you would.) The couch came with free pillows, too, and it's cheaper if you don't get the hidey-bed option.
posted by lisa g at 10:48 AM on June 5, 2005

LL Bean has a sturdy, comfy leather couch. Get their credit card and get free shipping and a discount. Their quality guarantee is serious.

This sofa at Crate & Barrel is over your limit but would be easy to recover, which is nice. My experience with customer service and quality at Pottery Barn was appalling.
posted by theora55 at 12:13 PM on June 5, 2005

I've been very happy with stuff from Room and Board. They have a pretty good selection of reasonably priced (and attractive) sofas.
posted by sad_otter at 6:35 PM on June 5, 2005

lisa g- Thank you for the Funky Sofa link. You rock!
posted by kamikazegopher at 8:49 PM on June 5, 2005

Thanks, kamikazegopher. FS had friendly customer service, too. One bit of advice, though -- if you have the time, request a few free fabric swatches before you order. The crushed blue velvet fabric I used for our couch looks a bit darker in my living room than it did on my computer screen (though it's still cool -- I probably still would have picked that color). I suppose that's decent advice for ordering couches online from anywhere.
posted by lisa g at 9:45 PM on June 5, 2005

The only reason I'd advise against shopping for a couch online, is that you don't know how comfortable it is until it's been delivered.
posted by electroboy at 8:26 AM on June 6, 2005