This past weekend, as you know (from Monday’s blog post), my sweet friend was in town visiting me. He and his partner are in the process of building a new house after their home in Houston sold in record time. The buyer liked the way the house showed so much, he even purchased some of their furniture in the transaction. Including their sofa. So needing someplace to sit in their interim living arrangements, they hopped on line, found a sofa and ordered it for delivery ASAP.

It arrived and they LOVED it. Until they sat on it.

Now they have a gorgeous sofa that is terribly uncomfortable.

Bummer.

Believe me, this is not an unusual occurrence. I have many clients who are busy and don’t have the time to go plop their booties down on sofa after sofa after sofa. But 9 times out of 10, if it their “main” sofa, I can convince them of the need to identify what they consider comfortable. And more than once, I have been repeatedly thanked for “making them” go try and select what later becomes a key piece of furniture in their living area.

This is a project we staged to sell in the Preston Hollow neighborhood. It was a family room, so it wasn’t too formal and we wanted it to look comfortable. The sofa is mine that I bought to carry in our inventory solely for the purposes of staging. Thankfully, that is all the sofa is used for because while it looks really comfortable and wasn’t exactly cheap, the cushions are hard as a rock. I have some leather chairs that are the same – gorgeous but miserably uncomfortable.

That is never a good combination when you’re using the furniture every day. I’m a firm believer of glamorously FUNCTIONAL interiors. It can look as good as it feels and not break the budget. Why have a lovely living room if you can’t live in it because you are not comfortable? Maybe if it’s a formal living room that you’re not using often, you can get away with something that is just OK, but if it’s your family room or den – the convenience of ordering online isn’t worth it in the long run.

SO the moral of the story? SIT YOUR BOOTIE DOWN. On the furniture you are considering buying. Or find out what the vendor’s return policy is. Because my friend? He is stuck with the couch.

Have you had a similar experience? What did you do to solve the problem?

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