Need advice for finding a durable sofa

[daosteen]

Hi,

I live in San Francisco and I am trying to find a durable sofa brand or manufacturer to replace my current one.

I owned a sofa that was purchased from a Cort Furniture Outlet for about eight years, and it held up magnificently. Despite daily use, the cushions never sagged and for the most part, the fabric held up quite well. I had to get rid of this sofa when I moved into a new apartment because we couldn't get it through the entryway.

I spent quite a bit of time trying to find replacements on Craigslist, and I ended up settling on a very lightly used Seabury couch from Pottery Barn. Within a month, I regretted the purchase. The down cushions began to sag, despite constant fluffing. It's just not built for regular usage.

I began looking into replacement alternatives, but other major retailers in the same price range seem to suffer from the same problems. I generally like the aesthetic of Room and Board furniture, but it seems many reviewers of their sofas report the same type of issues with respect to durability.

I am wondering if anyone has any advice for reliable sofa brands, within a reasonable price range (ideally under $1500 new). Alternatively, if I decide to have a custom built sofa, what should I be looking for in cushion and fabric selection that will ensure durability?

I really appreciate any suggestions you might have.

[aaron]

A quality sofa at a reasonable price point that can fit through narrow entries? I'll let forum member simplyjeff share the details, but it sounds like his company would have a product that fits your needs - Simplicity Sofas.

[drcollie]

Down cores are meant to be 'relaxed' and will puddle, that's a given. Perhaps you want to stay with High Resiliency foam if that's not the look you like. Cushions rarely 'sag' per se, its the webbing and suspension underneath that can loses its tautness. Cushion cores can lose their resiliency over time but most are easily replaced if the underlying suspension is still good.

$ 1,500 new is a tough price point. Some of the Taylor King sofas on promotion will be a little more than that but still under $ 2K and they are very well done.

[daosteen]

Thank you for the responses. The brands you suggested look like interesting options. I realize the $1500 price level is difficult, and ideally I would find a used couch, but now that my faith is shaken in some of the big box brands, it's really difficult to find options on craigslist. I'd be willing to spend more if I was confident it would be of high quality and have a decent resale value (say 30-40% of original price, assuming good condition).

I'm still not sure what the problem with my couch is. I was blaming the down, but maybe that's not the issue. So you can get a sense for it, here are before and after pictures of my couch, a few months apart:

http://i.imgur.com/2AgTU.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/XWI2D.jpg

Admittedly, I didn't try to make it look good for the second shot, but I can not get the cushions anywhere near their original state no matter how I fuss with them. And when I press down on heavily used vs. lightly used parts of the cushions, there is a clear difference in the springiness. The cushion is firm and resilient in lightly used spots, but mushy and thin in the heavily used areas.

Was I wrong to buy into the quality of brands like Pottery Barn? I'm a little shy of the custom built furniture places in the area, but maybe they're the way to go.

[drcollie]

Those cushion cores are shot and need to be replaced. Find somewhere where they will make you a set of (preferably Dupont Qualux) Dacron High Resiliency 21 oz density foam cores and replace all four. It will probably cost you $ 400 to $ 500, but that should solve the problem unless your webbing (suspension) is sagging. Look under the bottom of the sofa and make sure nothing is bowed or hanging below the horizontal frame part of the base. As long as the webbing is straight and taut, it will probably work to re-core the sofa.

Pottery Barn is known for slick catalogs, great marketing and nice storefronts - but no quality made furniture.