Two years ago, when Scott and I married and bought our apartment, neither of us had a sofa that was worth the back ache of moving, so we immediately started shopping for a comfortable, quality, down-stuffed sofa for our living room that would last for years to come. After test driving snazzy sofas at ABC, Crate & Barrel, Jonathan Adler and Mitchell Gold, I began to feel like Goldilocks herself. Nothing seemed to fit the bill for comfort, long-lasting quality and affordability. They, literally, just don’t make sofa’s like they used to. Down stuffed cushions, kiln dried hard wood frames, and eight way hand tied construction seem to be a thing of the past- at least, in our price range they are.
Fortunately, my father was willing to part with the eight foot long, mid-century, “tuxedo cut” sofa that he inherited from his mom. Like its original owner, Granny’s sofa is a classic beauty and it fits perfectly in our long, narrow brownstone living room. The base was sagging and the slipcover was threadbare, but there was no mistaking the quality in this family donation. The more I shop for furniture to fill our freshly plastered rooms, the stronger my commitment grows to salvaging distressed, but quality pieces, whether they be family hand-me-downs or thrift shop finds.
I’ve recovered several old chairs, an ottoman and even a simple loveseat, but re-upholstering an eight cushion sofa is well outside of my DIY skill set, so I found a local professional to tackle this monster project. I give huge Kudos to the folks at Brooklyn Mercantile, who transformed our sofa from Granny to GRAND while our apartment was being gutted. We couldn’t be more thrilled with the quality of their workmanship. And the sofa was finished just in time to move in with us to the renovated digs. See the BEFORE picture below to compare.