New Sofas

We left our tired, well-used sofas on the street as we packed up our house in New York. Which means we now have very little to sit on and are in couch shopping mode. Here are four I’m considering:

1) The Florence Knoll Sofa in fabric by NJModern pictured at top.


2) The Bucktown Sofa by Chiasso.


3) The Bantam Sofa by DWR.


4) The Abby Sofa by Chiasso.

These are all between $1100 and $1800 — about what I expect to pay for a good quality sofa in not-extravagant fabric. For a total bargain, there’s also this simple silhouette:


The Buse Sofa from JC Penney. More of an over-stuffed feel than I’m looking for, but you can’t beat the price: on sale for $499.

Thoughts?

99 thoughts on “New Sofas”

  1. I like #2 or the Buse sofa because 1. they look alike, 2. one of them is under $500!!, and 3. they look like they have the greatest number of removable covers to put in the wash to make cleaning easier. Good luck deciding, they’re all worthy!

  2. I would go with the Knoll because it has 3 duplicate cushions that can be switched/rotated around which is a great option when your kids/husband always seems to sit on one side or the other.

    The other three couches you could only flip one cushiion and the wear may show sooner.

  3. The J.C. Penney one! Comfy is good! For the others – the very long cushions start to look funny once the couch is being used. Second choice would be the Florence Knoll.

  4. I would also go with Knoll. I have a sofa from Ikea that has only one bottom cushion and now it is all distorted looking and moves everytime someone sits down or stands up. Plus the Knoll is so beautiful! Good luck in your decision! :)

  5. I like the Bucktown the best but have you considered any for Room & Board (perhaps the Andre)? With a location in Denver the shipping is quite affordable.

  6. You’re in Colorado so you need to go to Cherry Creek to Room and Board. Immediately. I promise you will find something you love for a good value.

  7. i love the knoll one. 3 cushions is the way to go for a sofa, imo. with 2 cushions, someone ends up with their back in the crack and it’s not comfortable. also, three is easier to rotate and make it have even wear.

  8. When thinking of new couches, I think of a couch that doesn’t have high legs. I hate having to get down on my stomach with a broom to fish out lost cars and balls. So the next couch I get- no legs whatsoever.

  9. We have the Bantam DWR sofa and love it. Very cool-looking and durable. We get lots of positive comments about it.

    Go to a DWR store (there must be one in Denver!) and try it out. We went to our local store several times and plunked ourselves down on it…that’s what sold us.

  10. I like the Bucktown the best. As someone who recently looked at every sofa on the planet, I wouldn’t get the JCPenney’s one. If you can afford it, get one you’ll love with classic lines that will last through style changes.

    I ended up with the Arlington sofa from Pottery Barn. I actually didn’t originally find it at Pottery Barn, but was looking at the Mitchell Gold and Bob Williams site and thought, “That’s my sofa!” and the only place distributed close to me was Pottery Barn. Anyway, good luck!

  11. We bought our basement couch from “Pennys” and it’s actually been great. It’s fairly modern an a sleeper to boot! But I do think you have to beware of overly cushy sofas if you think they’ll get a lot of wear. They tend to get a little droopy in the centre from all of the sitting. That said – there’s nothing more comfortable than sinking into a marshmallow of a couch – so I’m always a bit torn.

  12. I love the bucktown sofa. Great options, though! I would scrap the idea of the JC Penney sofa. I bought a sofa I didn’t love when I got my first house because it was cheap, but it wasn’t really my style at all, so one of two things was always true: 1)It looked out of place, or 2)I had to change the look of the room to fit the sofa. No good.

  13. Number 2 Bucktown sofa for sure!
    perfect! not that it is easy to choose, but this one has it all. Looks comfortable enough for fun, quality family time but also with a pinch of modern that makes it a great balance.
    I love it! I wish i could be shopping for this sofa :) Good luck with your choice. Not easy. But for sure no matter what, you are choosing so great!

  14. the buttons on the butt-cushion are a NO-GO…I think that’s the one we have, the buttons snag on pants pockets, not comfortable to sleep on, etc. LAME! I would get the ones with the buttons onthe back-cushion and the flat butt-cushion.

  15. I like the Chiasso best, but if I were you I would go sit on some. I made the mistake of buying a sofa once based on a catalog picture, & we hated the sofa from day 1. I looked nice, but it was so uncomfortable!!

  16. I have sofas that are very similar to the JC Penney one you are considering and I love them. They are comfy, which is great for reading together or snuggling a child who doesn’t feel well.

  17. I like the color of the Bantam best. The one from JC Pennys looks the comfy-est for sure though. Ouick question: For my b-day my husband gave me a credit card with 300 dollars on it to go shopping for clothes. I totally want to see how many cute things(bargin shopper) I can get and went off to TJ Maxx and was bummed when I left with nothing. In 4 hours I spent $19.98! Pathetic! Where would you suggest I go?? I want nice things but not just 3 things ya know?

  18. Have you looked into Room and Board at all? I really like the Andre, Clarke and Jasper sofas and all look sort of similar to the ones you posted.

    The Candace and Burke on their sale page are nice too.

  19. those are all fantastic. on a side note, have you ever looked through the occasional chairs on Target.com? i’ve never seen any in person, but they have adorable prints and very chic modern shapes. nice prices :)

  20. I’m a fan of the overstuffed look – especially with the kids. It just looks more comfy – and I’m all about comfort!! They all look like fabulous couches though. No matter which route you go, I’m sure you’ll make it look great!

  21. You definitely need to take trip to Cherry Creek and visit DWR, West Elm, Room & Board, One Home (if it's still there) and Crate & Barrel (Petrie Sofa.)

    Then there is also Mod Livin' which has vintage and new on East Colfax Av.

    My husband complains about his back hurting every night after sitting on our vintage sofa akin to the Bantam, so I highly recommend "butts on," in person testing.

  22. I own the bucktown, and we specifically went with that couch because of the length. We have the longest version, which is over 7 feet long, because my husband is 6 foot 5. I loved it, and it was our first real furniture splurge as a married couple.

    However, 2 cats, 1 dog and 1 toddler later, I really really regret the purchase. The fabric, while beautiful, is some bizarre blend that just absolutely does not handle staining of any kind. Even water. If I sit on the couch with wet hair after a shower it will leave a permanent water mark!

    After my cat peed on the couch when I was 7 months pregnant I had to have the entire thing disassembled by a tailor (because of the buttons), washed, and repadded, then reassembled. And the stain didn’t really come out completely. Ugh.

    I really do love the look of the couch, and my god it is SO comfortable. But it’s just so annoying. It looks dirty all the time and I have been known to sit and dry the water stains with a hand held blow dryer, so as not to leave a permanent mark. Is it normal for a person to sit for 30 minutes at a time with a blow dryer held up to a couch because her wet hair touched it? Of course not! (please try to imagine the looks I get from my husband)

    Maybe they’ve changed the fabric options, maybe fabric guard is now an option, but damn for the money I wish I had really known what the heck I was buying.

  23. #2 & #3 – they feel modern / warm / inviting. 1 & 4 are very cool – but the lines are a tad too harsh for *me*. :-)

    As I looked at each sofa, I tried to picture my 3 children sitting on it, reading stories.

  24. Oh I hope you read this…I was going to blog about this soon…

    So I found a company out of California that makes pretty much all the same sofa’s you just posted (or at least some are the same) for a fraction of the cost. Here is the link:

    http://www.sofastablesandmore.com/sofascustom.html

    The downside is that they’re a small operation and you can’t just order off the website, BUT you can call and talk to Vanessa (which I did, she’s delightful and really helpful) and custom order a sofa including fabric, size etc. She’ll even send you a picasa link of their portfolio. It’s really impressive and most of the sofa’s are under a grand.

    Good luck!

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