Making it Lovely

Tag: sofa

  • Look for Less: English Roll Arm Sofa

    Look for Less: English Roll Arm Sofa

    Let’s consider this a public service announcement, shall we? Questions about my sofa come up constantly, and now there’s a good way to get the look for less.

    Teal Sofa, Black Walls, Blue Loloi Rug | Making it Lovely

    I love our teal Winifred sofa from Anthropologie. The size and scale is great, the quality excellent (super sturdy, super comfortable), and it’s pretty darn cute… but it’s also the most expensive piece of furniture we’ve ever owned. It was listed at $3300, and I bought it when it went on sale for $2300. I feel like it was worth the price, but it was definitely a big chunk of change to put down.

    Fast forward to a few years later, and it’s no longer available. If you love the look though (and not the price), IKEA now sells a reasonable facsimile: the Stocksund 3-1/2 seater sofa in ljungen blue.

    Get the Look for Less: Blue English Roll Arm Sofa

    Why the difference in price? The stores play a part, of course, but there are a few differences in quality too. The Anthro sofa is 98″ long with cotton/linen upholstery, a kiln-dried hardwood frame, down and polyfill cushions with eight-way hand-tied seat construction (and that cute button tufting), handcrafted in USA. IKEA’s sofa is 90″ long with a polyester cover, a frame made of particleboard, plywood, and fiberboard, with polyurethane foam cushions that have inner springs. The overall styling is slightly different as well, along with simpler turned legs and no castors on IKEA’s version.

    I would expect my sofa to have a longer lifespan, perhaps needing reupholstering eventually rather than replacing, but the less expensive option is still a great choice! (We own an IKEA couch too — the Kivik — no complaints.) Throw a few pillows on there, style it up, and bam.

    Teal Sofa, Black Walls, Blue Loloi Rug | Making it Lovely

  • IKEA KIVIK vs. KARLSTAD

    IKEA KIVIK vs. KARLSTAD

    Brandon and I moved our TV from the first floor up to the second a couple of months ago, but the seating had not followed suit. We had our brown corduroy glider with its rolled arms (not the prettiest, but so comfortable) side by side with our boxy mid-century-inspired white Petrie armchair. It worked, but… not really.

    We initially tried to bring our Jasper sofa upstairs (the beige sofa from the living room in our last house), but it would not fit up either set of stairs. Rather than finding a company to hack it apart and reassemble it (guaranteeing that the same would need to be done if we ever wanted to move it again), we sold the sofa on Craigslist. Three months later, we finally used that money to go buy a couch from IKEA. Because our only option for getting one upstairs is to get one that comes in pieces.

    But which one? That’s what took us so dang long. I couldn’t make up my mind.

    IKEA KIVIK vs KARLSTAD sofas

    I like the lines of the Karlstad, but I would want to switch out the legs. This simple set is $36, and Pretty Pegs has fun options from $68-144, depending on the style. Or the legs could be covered completely by a Bemz slipcover with a full skirt, which I like the look of.

    Then there was the Kivik. Similar in shape to the Karlstad, but with wide, padded arms. I actually like the width of the arms with the sofa is made longer with a chaise attachment, but I wasn’t crazy about them on the regular length version. The cushions are a little nicer than the Karlstad’s though (they have a top layer of memory foam), and I was sold on the arms as an additional spot to sit. Not all the time of course, but if we had a lot of people, a kid (or adult) could easily perch on the armrest as another seat. Plus when I asked about the Kivik on Twitter, someone said that it was an excellent napping couch. SOLD.

    We went out to IKEA last night to test the two side by side, and come home with our new Kivik. We had to open the box in the loading zone and fit everything in the car piece by piece, but we managed to do it (just barely). Brandon and I assembled it while the kids were asleep, and when Eleanor saw it in place this morning, she was impressed. “We BUILT it,” she exclaimed, accompanied by big eyes and a little circle mouth. (Um, we bolted a few pieces together and put a slipcover on. But OK, kid! We built it!) She and August then dove from each of the arms onto the cushions, taking turns so as not to bash their heads together. Everyone loves the new couch! And we got it up to the second floor! Success.

    I kinda want to go take a nap on it. You know, to fully test it out and all.

  • So Long, Green Chairs

    So Long, Green Chairs

    The green warehouse sale chairs are gone. I didn’t lose any money — just face — and I’ll continue looking for the right fit. They were beautiful, but I had a chance to break even with them and I took it.

    Green Penelope Chair from Jayson Home

    It wasn’t the color alone that had me questioning them. I’m aiming for dark walls, with blue and pink, but green could have fit in beautifully, as in this dining room, by Grant K. Gibson.

    Grant K. Gibson Dining Room

    My chairs were not such a vibrant emerald though. And more than just the color, the shape was off. I’m going for a less curvy, more boxy shape. Or if not necessarily boxy, then more masculine (like a pair of vintage leather safari chairs).

    Leather Sling Chair

    I’ll be patient. I have some chairs around that will be fine placeholders. They don’t look right in the space, but that’s OK for a while.

    p.s. We sold our Jasper sofa last night too. (Single tear.) Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes.

    Room and Board Jasper Sofa

  • Teal for the Win

    Teal for the Win

    We went out last week as a family to check out the two sofas I was considering. Brandon liked the shape of the blue one considerably more, so that’s the winner. It still hasn’t shown up on Anthropologie’s site, but it’s the Winifred Sofa in teal. The upholstery color is nearly identical to the fabric on this sofa, but with more slubs and variation. Here it is in crazy-town fabric, and in an even longer length.

    Anthropologie Winifred Sofa

    That photo above is an excellent example of a double parlor, by the way. That furniture layout is actually pretty similar to what I’ve been considering for the new house, but picture windows behind the sofa instead of a doorway.

    I was still thinking about taking the gamble and waiting to score a floor model, especially with there being two stores with the sofa in the area. There was candle wax on the one at Oakbrook though, so that brought the odds of success for scoring one in like-new condition down by half. The store was still having its furniture sale through last Sunday, so I went ahead and bought it. It will be our biggest furniture purchase.

  • Tufted Leather Sofas

    Tufted Leather Sofas

    Taxes pretty much wiped out our savings for a while. (Oh, wasn’t I clueless, wanting a new rug or to fix up the outside of the house?) Yeah, we need to recover a bit financially before any major purchases, but that doesn’t stop me from keeping a running wish list in my head.

    Leather sofas, especially of the tufted variety, have been on my radar for a while. I liked this one a couple of years ago, and you all left some useful comments about the practicality of leather for families with kids and pets. (It’s a go.) Then of course, there was the eighth edition of Making it Yours, featuring a green leather chesterfield. I don’t think a chesterfield is quite my style (although I do appreciate them), but I am finding myself drawn to leather.

    Victoria Smith's Living Room (SF Girl by Bay)

    Victoria has a beautiful leather sofa from DwellStudio (above, featured on The Everygirl).

    Genifer Goodman-Sohr's Living Rooms

    Genifer Goodman-Sohr (image source) had one black leather sofa in her SF apartment. It belonged to her boyfriend/husband, as I recall (I have the old Budget Living magazine around here somewhere). She then picked up a matching one for her Nashville home (featured in Better Homes & Gardens).

    Maxwell Leather Sofa from Jayson Home and Garden

    I know I can’t run right out and buy a new couch, but I’m filing the idea away for when it’s time. I put together a list of my dozen favorites, but it’s the one above from Jayson Home that I’ve really got my eye on right now. So good.

    Someday, or something similar, perhaps.

  • The Murphy Sofa

    The Murphy Sofa

    Murphy Emerald Green Sofa from Room and Board

    I spotted Room and Board’s new Murphy sofa online, and it was love at first site. (Get it? ‘Cause it was online? Never mind.) So I proceeded to have daydream fantasies of lounging on my lovely little velvet sofa, and I imagined how adorable it would look in my living room. I looked at the dimensions and saw that it was 5″ smaller than my current sofa, but what’s five inches?

    I took my tiny design assistant with me to check it out in person.

    Murphy Sofa

    The sales associate said that they modeled the sofa on one of their chairs, Quinn. Cute. It also reminds me a little of these two.

    Orla Kiely Heals Sofa
    elle blomster

    photos: 1, 2

    Unfortunately, that 5″ difference matters. The sofa feels diminutive. It’s also not terribly comfortable. It isn’t uncomfortable, but the cushions are thin and firm (and easily misaligned, too). The other problem with using it in my home would be that it’s too similar to the other furniture in the living room. The arms on my crazy floral chair flare out the same way, and the lines on our Eames rocker echo the shape as well. They bring feminine curves and balance to our boxier pieces, and the Murphy sofa would weight the room too far toward the girly side.

    Yet I still want to love it! Foolish heart.