tip help! Or: couch forum

sweet tea

okay, so i bought a grown-up sofa last week, at crate and barrel. the sort of purchase where you give them a great deal of money, and they give you an envelope. it's a very nice envelope, though.

the sofa will be delivered on tuesday, to my second floor, elevator building apartment (with delivery ramp). c&b charges $69 for delivery. i don't think there is any assembly involved, and i will clear a spot for the sofa in advance, so there won't be extra moving of furniture.

how much do i tip the guys who bring it?

erikka

Hmmm....$10-15 each.

carnivore

$20 total. Just give it to whoever has you sign for the thing.

pitu

yup, what he said

and can I just share that buying a real sofa was the most grown-up feeling thing* I ever did? funny that . . . congratumalations!

* in the category of making a home, that is
and probably trumps all career activity. ha.

sweet tea

thanks! for the information and congratulations -- it's got springs in it and everything! (the trade-off is that there will no longer be room for the tv. but i hardly ever watch tv, and i will sit on the sofa ALL THE TIME.)

carnivore

Wait, but how can you have a sofa without a tv? That just doesn't make any sense. I think you just need a flat-panel tv now.

doctorj

Or a projector slung from the ceiling onto a white wall.

sweet tea

hmmmm.... well i could project onto the bathroom door...that's about it for available wall space.

until then, my laptop on a folding table will have to do. luckily america's next top model is almost over....

alafairnadia

grown up sofas rule. until your cats turn it into a scratching post and everyone thinks that you bought a really nice DISTRESSED sofa. oops.

laura

Congratulations on your grown-up sofa! What does it look like?

I don't know if I'll ever graduate to grown-up furniture, even if I didn't have cats. I actually still have four pieces of furniture from the bedroom set my parents bought me when I was 12. Mind you, I'm 49 now. Pathetic, yes? But it's not so bad-looking, and the slightly scaled-down size works well in small apartments ...

sweet tea

alafairnadia wrote: grown up sofas rule. until your cats turn it into a scratching post and everyone thinks that you bought a really nice DISTRESSED sofa. oops.

totally. the gf will be making a slipcover for this one toot sweet for that very reason. your sofa is beautiful, though, and although i'm sure the scratches were heart-rending, it works better as "distressed" than this one would.



dammit. i can't get it to appear. anyway, here's a link: http://www.crateandbarrel.com/family.aspx?c=934&f=12351

(it looks less waiting-room-esque in real life. but in my real life, it will mostly look covered in a slip cover, pattern and color tbd following trip to garment district -- i'm also taking suggestions on good sources for canvas/upholstery fabric)

MOD

Subject: Green Sofa

Wow that sofa is really nice!
Are you getting it in that avocado green too?
I like it, it has a 40's look, imo

I feel bad now, I still have a futon as a couch.
:oops:

brooklynpotter

took me 9 years to find the right sofa (yes, you read that right). and every time i look at it, i love it. and it cost a billion dollars at ABC, but has washable off-white denim slipcovers, which are hard for the cat to destroy.

erikka

I've heard really good things about that sofa--congrats on your purchase of grown up furniture!

My kitty is declawed, yet finds other ways to ruin the couch (e.g., extreme shedding)

sweet tea

Subject: Re: Green Sofa

Mamacita wrote: Wow that sofa is really nice!
Are you getting it in that avocado green too?
I like it, it has a 40's look, imo

I feel bad now, I still have a futon as a couch.
:oops:

thanks! we are getting it in that green.

we used to have a futon couch -- my old tri-fold. everytime you sat on it, it would begin to subside floorwards, accelerating until the unwary were caught by its inexorable motion like LA houses in a mud slide. we called it the tectonic couch. but at least hoisting it back onto the frame 3 times a day kept our arms toned....

then we had a horrible hand-me-down 80s saggy loveseat. the kind of couch with sewn-on floppy bags of upholstery, as if the couch had once been REALLY fat and had lost the weight but not the skin. it had mysterious, stabbing internal structures and surprising sinkholes, and it weighed 8 million pounds. maybe its frame was solid gold? or lead? we abandoned it when we moved out here. no one would even take it for free off of craigslist.

since then, we've been couchless. at first, that was okay -- we have chairs, right? but lately, the need for a little living room womb has been overwhelming. i've been eyeing this sofa at c&b for a couple of years, and suddenly, the expense seems totally worth it. if other things in my life aren't going so well, at least i can have a nice thing to sit on.

alafairnadia

brooklynpotter wrote: took me 9 years to find the right sofa (yes, you read that right). and every time i look at it, i love it. and it cost a billion dollars at ABC, but has washable off-white denim slipcovers, which are hard for the cat to destroy.

mine is from ABC too. though it wasn't a billion dollars - it was on super markdown sale at the not there anymore dumbo location.

alafairnadia

sweet tea wrote: [quote=alafairnadia]grown up sofas rule. until your cats turn it into a scratching post and everyone thinks that you bought a really nice DISTRESSED sofa. oops.

totally. the gf will be making a slipcover for this one toot sweet for that very reason. your sofa is beautiful, though, and although i'm sure the scratches were heart-rending, it works better as "distressed" than this one would.

slipcover = good move.

the distressed thing isn't so bad, though on one sofa arm the kitties are getting pretty deep into the leather. I might need to do something soon.

then again, I'm the laziest person I know, so maybe I'll just let them shred through it and say "look, I have the most powerful kitties in america! well, aside from that cat that totally scared the shit out of a bear."

MOD

Never underestimate the happiness to be found in snuggling up on a good couch. Ahh and the naps to be had! Damn, I miss couches.

alafairnadia

Mamacita wrote: Never underestimate the happiness to be found in snuggling up on a good couch. Ahh and the naps to be had! Damn, I miss couches.

naps? 3 mornings a week I wake up to the sun streaming in my living room window

laura

brooklynpotter

thick slipcovers, washable. that's the answer

mahina

hey sweet tea, here are the links i mentioned.

this is the one that takes sifting through. a lot of it is absolutely hideous, but i’ve also bought beautiful silk charmeuse, silk velvet and robert allen white slipcover fabric at decent prices. i haven’t ordered recently – there is a 15% off sale until wednesday 5/16 (write “15% Off” in the comments section of the order). they often have sales and shipping discounts.

http://www.fashionfabricsclub.com/

this one has the funkier retro fabrics (like mocca similar to one that love shine used). it’s also hit or miss for selection.

http://www.contemporarycloth.com/


good luck with the slipcover!

alafairnadia

brooklynpotter wrote: thick slipcovers, washable. that's the answer

you say that and I hear "one more thing to pay attention to" perhaps I'll go that direction once the sofa is destroyed.

doctorj

"Where have you been hiding yourself all these years, Max?"
Homer: "Well I spent a lot of time on the couch"
"Haven't we all, haven't we all".

apollonia666

Here's another great fabric site:

http://reprodepotfabrics.com/

If you like retro prints you should check it out. I got the fabric I used to reupholster these chairs there:



(Yes, I realize the print is going in two different directions on the chairs. No, it wasn't intentional. Martha Stewart I'm not.)

laura

apollonia666 wrote: Here's another great fabric site:

http://reprodepotfabrics.com/

If you like retro prints you should check it out.

I've gotten some great fabric from there. Also check out http://www.melinamade.com/.

apollonia666 wrote: Yes, I realize the print is going in two different directions on the chairs. No, it wasn't intentional.

Maybe you should encourage the cats to sleep in different directions

brooklynpotter

alafairnadia wrote: [quote=brooklynpotter]thick slipcovers, washable. that's the answer

you say that and I hear "one more thing to pay attention to" perhaps I'll go that direction once the sofa is destroyed.

sweetie, i do it a: once a year, unless b: the cat has barfed on it. and since she's more likely to barf on a cushion, i need only throw that cushion cover in the wash, and you put them back on wet.

this is not a time consuming process, trust me. i am the biggest slob that ever lived, and very lazy about cleaning.

sweet tea

apollonia666 wrote: Here's another great fabric site:

http://reprodepotfabrics.com/

If you like retro prints you should check it out. I got the fabric I used to reupholster these chairs there:

but where did you get those cat-shaped buttons for the center of the cushion?

that very pattern -- in the larger medallion size, and blue -- was in the running for our slip-cover. i think that we're going either with a plain (cheap) color (thanks for the cheap links, mahina), or else with this weird print we found at purl soho. here it is in purple -- we'd get it in a warm beige with brown leaves. there's more to it than shows here. the spiders descend over more open space, the leaves are more lush below, and there's a band of polka dots above it all....the japanese are amazing.

sweet tea

um, nevermind. we decided on this, instead, which costs half as much, will be easier to deal with, sewing design-wise, and (i hope) will camouflage stains better. i still love the other fabric, though...i'll just have to come up with some other pressing need for it.





this one comes from http://www.jcarolinecreative.com, by the way -- thanks for all the other great sites!

laura

omg, that is GORGEOUS. What's the name of the pattern?

sweet tea

thanks! it's called lipstick linen isle canvas. i can't figure out who the manufacturer is -- this was the only site i found it on: http://www.jcarolinecreative.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=1020-001031-003&Category_Code=1020&Product_Count=31

they also have it with brown, black, or olive background