To Hell and Back, One Couch’s Story

Douglas named this post. He was the one who picked up the couch. I did all of the searching and negotiating. The process was frustrating for both of us at different points, but I am happy with the new sofa.

I bought the leather couch that is in the living room eleven years ago. My grandmother went with me, and we sat on about fifty couches before we finally found one that we liked. We are both small women, and it is hard to find a sofa that we could sit on with our feet on the floor and our backs against the back of the couch. I bought it at Macy’s for about $1000.

I love the couch, but recently a slat broke, and one side of the couch does not have the support that it needs. Douglas and I were both sure that we would be able to fix the sofa. We put it off for quite a while, but I finally got around to opening up the couch last month. I was so disappointed to find out that the inside of the couch was basically sawdust. It was very poorly made, and we could not think of a way to fix the couch so that it would still be comfortable.

I decided that I would have to part with my beloved couch but was determined that I would find an antique one that was better constructed. I wanted one that was built with real wood. It would also have to be unique. I really like mid-century design, but I was not opposed to an antique Victorian-looking sofa either. This was the first couch that I was attracted to. I found it on eBay, but it was also on Etsy. It was a bit expensive, but I really liked it. Unfortunately, the owner never responded to me when I sent an email with a couple of questions. I almost bought it anyway, but finally I decided that it would cost too much to reupholster it.

Next, I decided that I wanted this love seat on eBay. This one was very different from the first. My grandparents had the couch in this exact style when I was a kid. I bid and won. However, the owner had posted that the shipping was included. Then, they sent me an email that stated that I would have to arrange and pay for shipping myself. That was going to raise the cost of the love seat considerably since it was in Ohio. I decided to cancel the purchase. I was very disappointed and starting to lose hope that I would ever find one that I liked and could afford. The biggest problem was that I had decided that I was most likely going to reupholster anything that I bought. That meant that I had to find something very cheap to begin with.

Then, I saw this circular couch on Craigslist. I was immediately drawn to it. First of all, it looked purple, my favorite color, and velvet, my material of choice. Secondly, the u-shape was unique, and I had just found a circular table in the trash that I was planning to use as a coffee table. The stars appeared to align, and I sent the poster an email. Then, I missed her response for a while because it went to my junk email.

Finally, we settled on a price, $200, and a day of pick-up, Thursday, November 15. My dad and aunt were visiting that day, so it was decided that Douglas would go with our friend Doug Jr. to pick up the couch in Brooklyn when he got off of work. I told the woman that I had been communicating with that Douglas would probably take a while to get down there, because he gets off work at 6:30 and would be traveling from Westchester to Brooklyn in rush-hour traffic. I gave her my phone number so that she could contact me if there were any problems. Douglas called me at about 8:30, very angry. He was at the address, which was a warehouse in Brooklyn. Everything was dark, and no one was answering the phone. I rushed to check my email, because he told me that he was leaving and that I would not be getting this couch. There was an email from the woman, stating that she was going home early and that her boss would be there instead. Luckily, she gave me his phone number. I called him immediately. He was very annoyed because she had told him that we would be there by 7:00 to pick up the couch. He was on his way out, but fortunately had not left yet. The Dougs were able to get the couch in the back of the truck.

The next adventure was getting the couch into the living room. It is a large piece of furniture and very heavy, from what I was told. Our back porch is also small, so it was difficult to make the turn into the kitchen door.

Then, they had to get it through the small kitchen and narrow door into the dining room.

My aunt was asleep on the leather sofa through the whole escapade. I cannot believe that she slept through all of the banging and swearing and never woke up.

Through much maneuvering, the sofa came to rest in the living room. Crème approved immediately.

I was very happy with the construction. As you can see from the underside, it is solid wood.

On of the legs is broken. I knew that before I completed the purchase. Douglas also forgot to attach another, so in the meantime, we have towel-wrapped bricks holding it up. I plan to reupholster the piece and replace the legs with something that goes more with the mid-century look.

Overall, I am very pleased with my purchase and relieved not to be looking anymore. eBay and Craigslist are wonderful sources for second-hand furniture, but it is much more time consuming to find something this way than to buy something new from the store. The benefit in my mind is that vintage furniture holds its value better and the pieces are more unique. Also, older furniture is often constructed better.

Have you found anything awesome online? If you live in Westchester and would like a slightly broken leather sofa, I have one that I will give you cheap!

Happy Homemaking!