Why Does This One Couch from West Elm Suck So Much? | Hacker News Reader

Why Does This One Couch from West Elm Suck So Much?

theawl.com

30 pointssmacktoward9 comments

I too have a couch from West Elm (not the Peggy). Don't know the name, because we fortunately got it gratis from my mother in law -- she has a matching twin but their recently downsized abode couldn't accommodate both.

The couch itself looks nice but is a terrible failure for comfort. The rear pillows are above half as tall as a normal persons back requires, making lounging in it a chore unless you have enough pillows to prop you up. My mother in law suffers from the same button plight as the article suggests: they seem to pop off like overripe fruit.

The worst part though is the flimsy legs. Every time I rise from my seat it makes a cracking sound like a wet twig. I know it will give out eventually, because the same couch at my in-laws' place is already propped up by a paint can in one legless corner.

I can appreciate this article like not many I've read before. West Elm truly does suck.

This blew me away: "In both cases, I asked what the expected lifespan is for a West Elm couch like the Peggy. Both store employees told me that between one and three years was normal for a couch with light use."

1-3 years for a $1200 couch? Ikea warranties their couches for 10 years, which means you can reasonably expect them to go well beyond that. 1-3 years is ridiculously low.

And a Stickley couch running about 4x as much will be handed down to your great-grandchildren, for that matter. Quality costs more, but the price/performance ratio is much better.

Yea, that's nuts. Our first 'adult' piece of furniture was a couch from Crate & Barrel which was pricier than the West Elm piece in the article, but sold to us as something that if we took care of we'd have it a very long time. (It's been about 5 years and has held up well.)

Furniture and clothing are all over the map though. Some of the most expensive shirts I've bought, for instance, pop buttons super easily – a problem I've never had with shirts from, say, J-Crew. And my experience with the ironically named Design Within Reach* gave me reservations about buying from them again.

* DWR's name apparently comes not from being affordable, but from making mid-century classics available to you.

> Some of the most expensive shirts I've bought, for instance, pop buttons super easily – a problem I've never had with shirts from, say, J-Crew

And most people would consider J-Crew pretty upscale...

That is insane. $400/year for sitting on that mess is $400 more than what I will pay for that privilege. My $120 futon bought from Kmart in the 90s has accompanied me on many moves and still works just fine.

West Elm makes a living by being "not Ikea". You have to be willing to drop 4x the price on any piece of furniture to get something that's marginally better than Ikea. West Elm sells the same quality (or worse) with a 50% markup. The only problem is Ikea is too affordable so it seems "lazy".

West Elm is mass-produced garbage. Quality couches are expensive and you need to do your research. I highly recommend the Danish "Innovation" brand of furniture, which sits in a similar price category, but made of much much better stuff. Check out http://innovation-usa.com/. Quality springs are key.

The furniture market in general is extremely uneven: price is all over the place and does not really correspond to quality. It is an interesting problem. I truly enjoyed reading the write up!

It's maybe pride talking, but Chartreuse is most certainly not an obscure liqueur.

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