<p>Looking to buy sofa and recliner for a TV room.
We love quality furniture like Ethan Allen but our budget won’t handle that
right now and we don’t really need to spend top dollar in this room.</p>
<p>Any experience with Bobs?
Any other suggestions for basic, budget furniture?</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>Just measure your rooms carefully and know the sizes you really need and want. My experience with Bobs is that everything in the place is “supersized”…very large couches…oversized chairs…etc. That being said…we know a number of people who have happily gotten furniture there…mostly for family rooms (sofa/loveseat combos, etc). No one we know has been unhappy although a couple of folks noted that the furniture “didn’t look as big” in the Bob’s showroom.</p>
<p>Google - NORTH CAROLINA FURNITURE DIRECTORY</p>
<p>NC is great for furniture prices. You can look locally to see what you like and then see if you can find the same piece of furniture online. Here in NC, the local furniture places will often match an online price if their in store price is higher.</p>
<p>The problem with Bob’s and other discount furniture places is it is disposable furniture…over the long run, you are better with quality furniture in rooms that have loads of use…i have Henredon furniture that is over 20 years old,that looks better then most of the stuff one sees in the discount places…why not look on Craigslist for used furniture,you are likley to find quality stuff cheaper then the inferior stuff at Bob’s</p>
<p>good point, thumper.
Our room is not big…one of the things I like about some of Bobs listings online is that we can get a sofa in 72 inch instead of much larger. Our doorway is tight also, so we’ll measure carefully. thanks.</p>
<p>We have ordered ‘real’ furniture from NC. It worked beautifully. I still love my secretary/desk (Lane I think) that I got many years ago. It has stood up well.
For this situation, we’re looking for cheap and easy.</p>
<p>Just to make sure don’t buy anything particle board, especially the frame and the outer shell. That eliminates Ikea already. I have had cheap furnitures in the past and they turned out mostly made of particle board stuff, they are heavy and easy to break and cannot be relocated.</p>
<p>We have bought from Bob’s occasionally. I agree with qdogpa … discount furniture (which is what Bob’s sells) doesn’t hold up well over time. That said, Bob’s customer support has been very good in our experience. When the back leg of a couch broke, Bob’s sent a repairperson to the house to fix it. My D likes to buy slightly damaged furniture from Bob’s Pit … half price, generally requiring minor repair.</p>
<p>I also concur with qdogpa’s suggestion of Craigslist. A lot of “disposable” furniture is sold there by people who knew they’d be moving in a year or two when they purchased it.</p>
<p>We spent the past 25+ years in CT, the heart of Bob’s Furniture country. Apparently lots of people bought/buy his stuff since the number of stores has grown tremendously. The TV ads are enough to put you over the edge, though - IMO. 
</p>
<p>Anyway, the only thing we ever bought from there was a mattress for our 2nd home, on the recommendation of a business colleague of H’s. In short – what a piece of junk! We didn’t buy the cheapest one, but it was sagging by the 2nd summer. (And this was with only seasonal use.) Perhaps regular furniture is better?</p>
<p>we love the La-Z-Boy furniture in our family room. If you are tight for space, consider a love seat recliner (each side recline independently). It’s quality furniture and they guarantee the mechanisms. (since this is for a family room, you want stuff that will last or you will spend more $ replacing it in 4-5 years).</p>
<p>I’d shop the better stores, and then look for a warehouse or wait for a sale. I think couches that aren’t made well tend to sag rather quickly.</p>
<p>So, is it tacky for me to answer my own question?</p>
<p>Convinced DH to drive me to Bobs for a field trip. About 30 minutes away, he waited in the car. Call me if you find anything. Do others do this game too?</p>
<p>BUSY place. Nice sales people, not too pushy. I had already scoped out two possible sofas online so knew what I wanted to see. The sofas all LOOKED nice but were not comfortable to me. I sunk in and couldn’t get out. I know I’m old but it was quite annoying. Some seat and back cushions were all unfinished on the reverse, to save on costs? So, you can’t reverse the cushions to lengthen wear. The arms were wibbly.</p>
<p>So, the style was really nice but I’m not sure about the quality for our family’s hard use.<br>
I think I will lurk on craigslist/ebay for used higher end stuff. Or search for a super sale at our local shop that carries Broyhill type lines.</p>
<p>Thanks for all your responses.</p>
<p>Ixnay on the used stuff. Think bedbugs. None of the places that accept donations of used furniture will take upholstered pieces for that reason. Don’t know where you are, but here in NJ, a couple of high end furniture stores are going out of business. If you are not looking to choose custom fabrics, you may have luck in finding a lovely sofa or chair at a bargain-basement price. Good luck.</p>
<p>I detest Bob’s ads. That said, I have purchased a few things from there.</p>
<p>The way they keep prices down is that they have limited selection and options. They have maybe 12 - 20 living room sets, most come in two or 3 sizes and only 2 or 3 colors. Also the furniture is not super high quality, but for the price the quality is fine.</p>
<p>We have a sofa & love seat in our family room that we bought from Bob’s. If we get 7 years out of it I’ll be happy. We also have nightstands that we bought from there that should last forever. Yes, the backs are particle board and had to be screwed on, but the rest of the piece is solid wood and who sees the back of a nightstand in my bedroom?</p>
<p>I really really hate Bob’s ads though…</p>
<p>Bob’s furniture is made of pood…plastic wood…the good thing is in a fire, your furniture would be safe, pood doesn’t burn</p>
<p>And to worry about bedbugs is a tad alarmist…i sea poster was speaking of high end stores in NJ going out of business,perhaps they refer to Bograds, an excellent source for great furniture</p>
<p>Yes, we are near Bograds but I think we missed the going out of business sale.
Darn.</p>
<p>So, if I find a specific style number of sofa locally, does anyone have an online dealer that they have
used and are happy with? I will buy locally if price is competitive.</p>
<p>When I google a Broyhill style number best price, numerous dealers appear and I have no confidence in my ability to tell which one (besides price) would be the way to go.</p>
<p>Amazing to see prices from $655 to $800 on same item. AND most of the online dealers give free shipping and have no tax.</p>
<p>I’ve been very happy with the new furniture I purchased this year from Raymour and Flanigan. They do have a website so you can cruise around and check things out before showing up in the store. And they are always running some sort of sale, so watch for that so you can save $50-100 bucks per piece. IIRC delivery was $75 for unlimited pieces – and the delivery guys were GREAT!</p>
<p>There is a business in our area that has several pieces from Bob’s. I thought that they were just beautiful, so I asked where they came from. The owner told me that it was purchased at Bob’s. They are all mirrored pieces of furniture. Well, within a year a lot of it was falling apart and I thought it looked just awful. This is not a business that in my opinion gets tons of traffic. The furniture is hardly touched. It is there mainly to decorate.</p>
<p>You get what you pay for…</p>
<p>I have Ikea furniture that has lasted more than 20 years. (Not sofas though!) It really depends.</p>
<p>Raymour and Flanigan has very nice furniture that is more afordable than most. I have bought a couch from Bobs. Looks nice but doesnt stand up well to time.</p>