posted
Jon Boy and I are having the hardest time finding living room furniture. We're both picky, so we usually end up going in and out of stores without even considering anything.
What's more, we don't know what we're doing. And the Internet doesn't seem like a good way to look, since many stores don't put a significant portion of their inventory online. Or maybe I'm just looking in the wrong places. I feel like a wanna-be interior designer without any know-how despite the college course I took five years ago.
So here's the challenge, if you choose to accept it: help us find living room furniture that we like and that will fit our lifestyle.
We don't like:
leather
microfiber (faux suede)
floral print
most plaid
tan fabrics (since our carpet will be tan and our walls off-white in our new apartment)
sofas where the whole back is loose pillows, as opposed to real sofa cushions
anything too modern-looking (read: funky)
We do like:
Clean, classic lines
dark woods
camel backs
green--we keep coming back to it, but I'm also open to non-green sofas
comfort
I'm looking for something that will be pretty but not necessarily trendy now and that will be pretty but not necessarily trendy in 15-20 years.
Also, any advice about buying furniture? How can you tell what's good and what's not? Any stores/brands to steer clear of altogether?
Posts: 1903 | Registered: Sep 2003
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I like IKEA for general ease and cost factors - but there is some real dross in there also. Plus, the whole self-assemble thing can get boring.
Posts: 4393 | Registered: Aug 2003
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What will you use the living room for? Everyday, everything or is it more formal?
At the moment Tony and I are living *very* open plan and our living room is a music room, tv room, guest entertaining place and reading room rolled into one.
We have a piano, a couch, a coffee table, a lamp, the tv and a comfy chair that the dog has appropriated.
<--- Minimalist. Or broke, either way. Posts: 4393 | Registered: Aug 2003
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posted
First off: we're looking for a couch and probably a chair to go with it. Our living room will be the hang-out room, the TV room, and our having-people-over-room, so it won't be too formal.
IKEA's out. They don't have any stores around here, and I don't want to buy something without seeing it in person first (and I don't like any of the half-dozen or so couches on their site, anyway).
Posts: 9945 | Registered: Sep 2002
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posted
One things for sure, a sectional with reclining sections is sure to make you look like white trash.
Posts: 4753 | Registered: May 2002
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posted
I'm trying to figure out how a Victorian couch has clean lines, exactly. I mean, it is the very antithesis of clean lines. Any more carvings and it might as well be Baroque.
posted
The Stickley stuff is awesome. But of course I am a fan of the wood. I would definitely say they have some clean lines. I would have to agree on the Victorian couch. Not clean lines. I am sure its not cheap, but it would probably last forever.
Posts: 555 | Registered: Jun 2005
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posted
Okay - so I don't know my terminology well, PC!
By "clean lines" -- I meant that it had a very definate shape - wooden edges -- not that soft, puffy stuff that changes all shapes when you sit on it.
See-- art was my WORST subject in school because I didn't understand any of it (not that it was really taught very well, either).
FG (by the way - thanks for explaining it to me using classic cars -- now that is something I can relate to and understand!)
Posts: 9538 | Registered: Aug 2003
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quote:I do like Stickley, but it doesn't look like they do sofas. Am I just not seeing them?
Brinestone -- Stickley does have a sofa. (sort of -- it's called a settee) It is shown on their video tour, and also if you download their pdf file of mission furniture, it is on page 14
posted
oh man! I LOVE the one on page 9 of the Upholstered catalog! (of course, not in that color). Man - I like that even better than the Victorian stuff I've always liked to this point!
But I'll bet Stickley is really high price -- after watching their video on how much care goes into building each piece...
posted
If you go to a furniture store that carries several brand names, just ask one of the salespeople. All the furniture they can get is not on the floor. If they know what they're doing, they'll be able to pull out their catalogs and show you pieces that match your criteria.
Either that or plan a trip to Hickory, North Carolina.
Posts: 4625 | Registered: Jul 2002
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posted
I'm finding myself strangely drawn to the one on page 41 of the Stickley catalog. Not green, not camel-backed, but oh so pretty.
Posts: 1903 | Registered: Sep 2003
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posted
What is it about North Carolina and furniture? My dad bought the entertainment set there, and it's GORGEOUS.
Posts: 26077 | Registered: Mar 2000
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posted
I like sectionals with reclining sections, and even with hide-a-beds. I don't care about the compartments for stashing remotes.
I hereby declare such things cool and stylish. You will all hereafter desire to own them, and curse your poor judgment if you have already bought something else.
Posts: 1652 | Registered: Aug 2003
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posted
Sectionals are good for movie rooms or places where you don't really care so much about how something looks as you do how much seating you can possibly squeeze into one space. I mean, really, I've only seen maybe one or two designs that were in any way approaching attractive, and even they were ultimately tacky.
The standard sofa, (maybe) loveseat, and chair allow for more things to be put into a room. More lamps and tables and curio cabinets or artwork or whatever fit in the room. The sectional just friggin' takes over.
Posts: 4753 | Registered: May 2002
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posted
Lamps, tables, curio cabinets and artwork make a room nicer to look at, but much less comfortable to actually live in. Especially if you want young children to be able to enjoy the room as well.
Posts: 1652 | Registered: Aug 2003
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posted
I don't have aesthetic issues. I have aversion-to-breaking-things issues.
When I am in a room full of art, curios, and other stuff that is strictly "for show", I feel constrained. I cannot do things in that room that I like to do, such as playing boisterous games with my children. In fact, I feel like I can't let my children spend much time in such a room at all. Heck, even without children, I feel like I'm about to knock something over and shatter it every time I turn around.
I don't want to spend all my time yelling "Watch out! Don't throw that in here! Stay in the other room! Put that down!" I also don't want to buy a bunch of nice stuff that will look like it has been through a bombing attack one year from now. I'll decorate the living room in more aesthetically pleasing way when my kids move out.
Oh wait! What about grandkids?
Guess it'll be sectionals and/or beanbags for me forever.
Posts: 1652 | Registered: Aug 2003
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posted
Many of the major furniture manufacturers are based in North Carolina and a lot of them are in and around Hickory. Here's the big furniture mall. It's a mall full of full-size furniture stores. It is ENORMOUS!
We've ordered furniture a few times direct from Hickory dealers because it was cheaper to get it from them and have it shipped than to buy it from the store.
Posts: 4625 | Registered: Jul 2002
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posted
I like those big wide armchairs with the ottomans. You can sit in a pair and spoon, or you can take up the whole chair and feel powerful.
Posts: 4089 | Registered: Apr 2003
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posted
And if you wear a shirt with floppy sleeves, you can gesture grandly while you order people about.
"Bring me the short one. He amuses me."
Edit: Obviously, that makes more sense if you're doing the "take up the whole chair and feel powerful" thing.
Posts: 26071 | Registered: Oct 2003
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posted
Ikea = you could always come visit us Chicago types... we have one in Schaumburg that's been open several years and a new one about to open in Bolingbrook (which is really nice and close to me now!)
I've been working on replacing my early garage sale decor with pieces from Ikea over the past year. My living room is finally starting to come together fairly nicely.
Posts: 4515 | Registered: Jul 2004
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posted
We finally bought something. It's not camel-backed, and it doesn't have dark wood, but it is green, and it does have clean lines. We pick it up on our way to our new apartment on Saturday. Woo hoo!
Posts: 1903 | Registered: Sep 2003
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