Our New Couch -- Finally!

IT FINALLY CAME! I ordered our new Jasper sofa and slipcover from Room & Board on August 26th (shortly after my 30th birthday), but it just arrived yesterday. We're both thrilled with the new sofa -- it's as lovely as I remember the showroom model to have been.

Now we just need to figure out what throw pillows work on the new couch. I'm also eager to get a new slipcover made for the barrel chair, which you can see below. The old Laura Ashley cover from my childhood looks a little shabby next to our gleaming new Jasper.

What happened to the old Ikea sofa, you ask? My friends, have you ever used Craigslist's free section? It is amazing. Every time I have posted something there, someone comes to pick up the item I no longer want or need -- I even managed to get rid of a bunch of half-used cans of house paint once. A guy named Tony is now in possession of the broken Lillberg and I wish him luck with keeping it in one piece.

Sofa: Ikea's Karlstad

Another sofa I like is the Karlstad sofa from IKEA, and at $399 for the white or $499 for medium gray, it's a very affordable option. I'm weary of buying another IKEA sofa after my Lillberg sofa broke. I could also go pick it up in my station wagon and bring it home the same day without having to pay for any shipping or wait for it to arrive.

Perhaps I could even replace the ugly legs on the Karlstad with a wooden, tapered leg like the Jasper sofa from Room & Board?

Sofa: Room & Board's Jasper

Yesterday, I stopped into the SoHo Room & Board store to take a look at the Jasper sofa. Jasper is an awfully nice couch--both attractive and comfortable, and the 'Straw' color it comes in for fast shipping is very appealing. You can also order a slipcover for the Jasper sofa for an extra $399, which is nice, and I like the 'Linen' slipcover fabric even better than the base upholstery's hue, especially for summer. However, that adds up to nearly $1,800, plus another $80+ for shipping--a lot of money. As much as I would love to invest in a great couch that will last me for years to come, it just might not be in the budget right now. Sigh, sigh, sigh.

Criteria for New Sofa

Thanks for all the input for my future sofa! I think that I will bite the bullet and invest on a "real" sofa. Here are the requirements for any sofa that's going to come live in my house:

- Long enough and wide enough for a tall adult to sleep on comfortably (74" long or longer)
- Slip covered, and preferably in a machine-washable fabric
- Natural fiber material like cotton, linen or canvas--no micro suede for me, thanks
- Under $2,000 and preferably less than $1,500
- New, some of you may argue with this, but with New York City's current bedbug epidemic, a used sofa is not on my list
- A classic, but crisp style. I want something that is neither too fussy or too contemporary.
- Ideally, it would be a sofa that isn't going to be discontinued anytime soon and that you can order a replacement slipcover for at a later date.

I remain undecided about color. I've had white sofas for years, and while everyone thinks I am nuts to have white, it's actually really easy to keep clean because you can bleach it. However, for a long-term investment, I am thinking about a natural, beige color or a gray.

Does anyone have any specific recommendations for brands or styles?

My Ikea Sofa Broke!

Last night, my boyfriend was sitting on the couch and I plopped down next to him, only to hear a loud cracking noise. We looked down and discovered I had actually broken the frame of my Lillberg sofa from IKEA (see above). While it is only a $299 sofa, I am appalled that it broke under such everyday use (combined, my boyfriend and I weigh about 300 lbs.).

I'm disappointed in IKEA and motivated to buy a "real" couch this time around. However, the prospect of spending $1200+ on a new sofa makes me a little sick to my stomach. What do you think? Should I bite the bullet and buy my very first piece of non-used, non-hand-me-down and non-IKEA furniture? Or should I cheap out again with IKEA?