Sofa - quandry!

S

sun_sparks

Registered User
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Ok, here's the problem. We're moving into a second-hand house, and we're purchasing a lot of contents from the current owners. These owners had impeccable taste on almost everything. The reason I say ALMOST is the sofa quandry.

They're selling a suite, two-seater sofa and two armchairs, which is in immaculate condition. However, it's dark navy, in a style I really don't like and I feel it causes the living room to feel very cramped.

I had always envisaged us buying a leather suite (we have a friend who could get us a discount on a nice suite).

In saying that, it's only €300, which we could probably reduce down.

1. Should we buy and re-cover the chairs? (Does anyone know how much this would cost?)
2. Should we accept it as it (as my Mum tells me I should do ("In my day, blah blah blah" - no disrespect meant of course, as she's right, but my heart just doesn't want to know!)
3. Should we say NO?

Not expecting anyone to make the decision for us, but looking for an idea of what other people would do!
 
If you really dont like the sofas, I wouldnt buy them for long-term use, since you'll be using them and looking at them every day.

However, you could buy them as a stop-gap. If, for example you do buy the leather suite you like, the delivery lead-time could be months, in which case you could use those navy sofas until the others arrive.
Also, since they are in immaculate condition, you could then sell them on (perhaps for even more than E300).
 
Before you decide, consider what you're going to do when you want to get rid of them. Are they going to be easy to sell? Alternatively ring VdeP or another organisation like that and see if they'd be interested in them when you want to get rid of them. If you end up having to get a skip to dispose of them (if you don't like them there's no guarantee anyone else will like them enough to buy them), it might be false economy. I've gotten stuck with inherited furniture that way - it can be hard/expensive to shift!
 
If they are in immaculate condition I would buy them. As ragazza said you could easily sell them on again. The reason why I would buy them is that they fit in the room now and even though you might have your heart set on a leather suite, you really need to live in a house a while before you can make that decision. A suite isn't something you're going to change every couple of years, you would hope to get maybe 10 years out of it. You can always put throws on the couch for the present or dress it up with nice cushions. A change of paint in a room can change the look of your couch also.
 
In answer to one of your questions, getting them re-covered will cost you
approx 600 for a small sofa and 300-400 per chair, for an average fabric.
 
And at the worst, if you can't resell them or donate them, you can always take them to the nearest land fill for a small fee.
 
Just for information - I have over the last three years tried to donate a number of furniture items to various charities (StVdeP, Oxfam, a couple of others I can't remember) and none of them would take it as either the warehouse was too full, they would'nt go past the county limits or they don't take furniture anymore.
 
One option to consider, if getting rid of usable furniture, is to drop it into a recycling centre. I am not sure if all of the offical centres will take large items such as furniture, but I know of at least one person that has adopted a three piece suite that she found in a recycling centre so some of the centres are willing to take furniture. Incidentally, the furniture was as new, but apparently the previous owners got rid of it because they hated the colour (presumably they inherited the furniture, maybe when buying a house) - the new owner is very happy with it though.

It would be worth a few phone calls to check the various recycling centres, as it would be a real shame for something that sounds very usable to end up in landfill. It is unfortunate that we don't have here what some areas of Germany (and other countries) have, an "official" day where you can leave usable things, that you no longer want, outside your home and anyone is free to take them for themselves. Not only would this be an economical way of getting rid of some things, it would also be a much more environmentally friendly way if it kept things out of landfill for longer.
 
Thanks for the advice everyone. Recovering sounds expensive, so we're going to research costs over the weekend and decide what to do. I really think there's not much point in us paying for something that we MIGHT not sell on. And much though I love to donate... I'm not sure I want to risk having something that no-one will take.

Askew70 - just so you know in some areas of Dublin (Fingal definitely), they have a once-yearly (or every two years) "junk day" where people can leave out unwanted appliances/furniture etc. for collection by the council. These are then recycled.

Mind, there's not often much left the following morning for the council to collect... (maybe that's the idea!!)
 

Dublin City Council do this too - their recycling people come around the night before and take anything (that hasn't already been taken by passers-by) which is re-usable and leave the stuff that really is just rubbish.
 
Thanks for the info re the "junk day". I hadn't realised that such a service existed, but I'll certainly bear it in mind for the future.
 
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