The Saga of Super Couch
I bought my first new couch (as in not free from someone or from a garage sale) when I was in grad school twelve years ago back in 2000. It was a Karlanda loveseat from Ikea that I found in the As-Is section for only $200 since it had previously been a floor model.
I was pretty excited about my awesome deal and managed to haul it home by tying it to the top of my Dodge Stratus with a bunch of the Ikea twine. Doing this is not advised (I think only a 23 year old is capable of thinking that it was a good plan) and I am really not sure how I got home in one piece and didn't hurt anyone. 
My little blue couch happily lived in two different apartments in Northern California with me. I tried to find a picture of it, but the best I could find was the one to the left as all the others had people sitting on it.
Fast forwarding five years to 2005, I bought my second couch soon after moving to Ann Arbor. My living room was a little lonely with just the loveseat and my futon was in another room so a second couch was in order. A friend from work mentioned that a local store, Newton's Furniture, was going out of business and had a huge sale going on. They did indeed have some awesome deals and I ended getting a lovely tailored cream colored sofa for $999 which was half off the original price.
I loved the new sofa, but the royal blue loveseat looked a little strange next to it. Ikea sold beige slipcovers for the loveseat but even on eBay they were running about $200 which seemed ludicrous to spend since that is how much I bought the whole thing for. I did see that the light blue slipcovers on eBay were not hot sellers and was able to get one for $30. I bought a few packages of Rit fabric dye remover and washed the light blue slipcover with it. It definitely removed the color, but it had a bit of a blue tinge still so I washed it again with a single package of light tan Rit fabric dye which made it the perfect shade of beige to match my new sofa. Below is a picture of the sofas in my old house soon after I bought the second one and DIYed the color of the slipcover on the loveseat.
Now my couches are 12 and 7 years old and while I have loved them, they are definitely showing their age. They also have some practical problems. Neither one is very deep, especially the big sofa, so while they are awesome for me (I'm 5'-2") for most other people they are not very comfortable. I decided to save up some cash and buy myself a comfy sectional for my living room.
I wanted something like the Pottery Barn Comfort Square Sectional which is deep and comfy, but still has a clean look to it. Unfortunately, with the configuration I wanted it would have cost over $4000. That wasn't going to happen, so I hit up some other furniture stores in town.
At Art Van I found an amazingly deep sectional (5" deeper than the Pottery Barn Comfort Square!) that was super comfortable (in the picture below). It was Fontaine Sectional in the Cindy Crawford Home collection and while I loved the shape and style, I was not crazy about the brown color that had an olive greenish tinge to it. I asked the salesman what other colors it came in and he told me that it only came in the one color. I was disappointed and looked around the rest of the showroom, but couldn't find anything else that I liked as much.
I couldn't stop thinking about the Fontaine sectional, which I had dubbed "Super Couch" due to the fact that it was so ridiculously deep. I did a little online searching and I discovered that the exact same sectional came in beige under the name Brighton Park. Even better, the website I found it on had the sectional on sale for under $2000. I thought about it for a while (outside of vehicles and homes it is the largest purchase I've made) and then decided to order it. Super Couch was going to be mine!
After waiting a few weeks, Super Couch was scheduled to arrive this Wednesday and I was excited. Saturday afternoon after the Michigan game (Go Blue!) I got a call from the delivery service letting me know that they were running ahead of schedule and would deliver the sectional on Sunday morning. I was thrilled to get it early, but had to kick it into overdrive to clear out the space for it. Frank came over early on Sunday morning to help me move my old couches. I snapped the picture below right as we were about to move them (after I had already moved the little side table that went between them). I was a little sorry to see them go...
We got everything moved just in the nick of time and at 11 o'clock the delivery truck pulled up in front of my house and started unloading the sectional. As an aside, doesn't my little street look pretty with all of the fall leaves? Also note that as a wiser 35 year old I had the sectional delivered instead of trying some crazy things with a small car and twine (see above couch #1).
In half an hour the delivery men had my sectional all set up and were on their way to another delivery. I was a little surprised by the color. It's more of an oatmeal color than beige, but I like it and think the slightly darker color will probably hide stains a little better than my old beige couches did.
Super Couch is so comfortable that I don't know how I am going to get work done anymore. It is really hard to tell from the pictures how huge it is, but it is massive. For some perspective, if I sit with my back against the cushions my feet just barely stick off the edge of the seat cushions. I know I am short, but that is crazy deep!
I think Super Couch looks great in my living room although now I have all sorts of things I want to do to spruce up the area. The oatmeal color clashed with my grey rug so I need to find a different rug to go in the room. Also my old coffee table is long and narrow which looks strange in the space so I need to find a replacement for that, too. I'd also like to change the wall color, paint the trim white and a few other little things.
One thing about Super Couch that is not super is that it came with a bunch (eleven!) of ugly throw pillows. The striped ones don't look too bad from afar but when you get close they are actually purple, magenta and lime green. I simply have no words for the red, purple and grey brush stroke pillows. Frank said that they looked like they belonged to a pimp from the nineties which is not exactly the look I am going for. Luckily, the covers are removable so I plan to save the pillow forms and make some new covers. It will give me a good excuse to break out my sewing machine.
So there's my long winded saga of Super Couch and its illustrious predecessors. Have you bought any furniture recently? Have you ever used fabric dyes on a slip cover? What is your favorite furniture purchase? Have you ever been the beneficiary of unwanted ugly throw pillows?
Monday, October 15, 2012 at 7:21AM | Posted by Lisa | 35 Comments | Share Article | Email Article | Print Article 
Reader Comments (35)
Good choice! I love Karl! My parents just got an L-shaped Karl for their house not too long ago and its awesome. It even survived the eggnog spilling fiasco when my sister accidentally spilled eggnog all over herself, and me on Christmas day. We just pulled off the covers, washed them, and the eggnog was no more. I wish I could say the same for my awesome Christmas pajamas…
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Thank you! I love the fabric on your sofa. I see that they are a performance linen. Do those wrinkle? I love your blog
What kind of fabric is that? What do you use to clean them?
I just stayed in an airbnb that has this couch in grey and I'm obsessed.... trying to find the beige color online but doesn't seem to be around any more!
Great read to share.
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I got the sectional around the same time you did and it’s still holding up! I have toddlers and the covers on the cushions all zip off and can be washed! I was on delicate cycle with eco warm water and do a low heat dry. I can’t believe it’s washing just fine but I have to say… surprised by how much it’s holding up.