<p>Orchid,
you have my sympathy…I have made comparable bad decisions… what I have found is that I usually “live” with the choices until I cannot take it any longer, and then, in a panic I buy a replacement something… and while it is newer and different, it isn’t really what I want either. </p>
<p>About 2 yrs ago, I was in a furniture showroom, they had a great slipcovered down sofa on sale…white slipcover…I bought it…and about 6 mos later, I had the manufacturer make me a new slipcover with my custom supplied fabric that I ordered via an 800#… now I can change it when the mood or seasons call…and this time around I really love it. </p>
<p>So, for what it is worth…if you decide to go with slipcovers…perhaps check references…and pick an inexpensive duck cloth with contrasting binding for the first slipcover set…and then, in a year, get another set made? Assuming that the seat and back are comfortable…the size of the set is right…</p>
<p>This way you can change when your mood and the trends change…</p>
<p>Only other comment is that painting a room is actually the cheapest way to change the feel…so if there is a piece of the fabric that really contrasts with current room color, give more serious thought to painting the room…</p>
<p>When I was a kid about 11, (7 of 8, six girls), I went with my dad to a furniture store which was closing. Well, when I saw that “psychadelic” chair, I begged him for it, since my eldest sis had just gotten married and vacated the girls’ room. I still remember it was $13.99! The background was gold, and there were swirls and blobs of all sorts of colors all over it. I LOVED THAT CHAIR, and it was ALL MINE. Seeing photos of it now is enough to gag me, but I will always look back on that as a wonderful experience. Having my own chair! When I married, at age 26, my dad asked if I was taking my chair, since I was taking my bed and dresser with me. I didn’t and now I regret it!</p>
<p>I have to say, thank you all for the wonderful stories – you made my day! I am not the kind of person to nurture a regret for any great length of time. My purpose in this post was to get it out of my system, and you all are a great help! Mini, you cracked me up with your recliner stories. (our old furniture was in similar shape, actually). </p>
<p>And thank goodness there were no hidden elephants in the print – that is the funniest thing I heard today! You have my sympathies, Harriet, and I am so glad the elephants found a good home.</p>
<p>My new furniture is extremely comfortable and appears to be very, very well made (which could be a drawback – after all, if it fell apart in 3 years, I could justify buying new ones again!) Plus, they are the perfect size for our room, and the couch is so comfortable to lay on we could easily use it for an extra bed when we have guests. I will try to enjoy the comfort without looking too hard at the fabric – perhaps we will keep the lights very dim!!! :)</p>
<p>I am a very frugal person (our cars are 10 and 14 years old) who doesn’t like to waste money. So I am going to practice the power of positive thinking, because I suspect I will be living with these pieces for a very long time! And I do think there may be slipcovers in my future. . .</p>
<p>I had a serious case of buyer’s remorse over our very first furniture purchase as newlyweds. We had moved to a new state so I could go to graduate school and needed a sofabed in our married student housing for all the guests we knew we’d have. We spent alot of time at a local furniture store, debating, looking at swatches and thinking about spending some of our meager savings on this wonderful new purchase.</p>
<p>We ordered the sofa. Hated it. The fabric looked cheap (imagine that) and has been part of our lives ever since–27 years ago. I am looking at it now, in its tacky, now torn, glory, as it sits in our computer room. It’s been moved 7 different times. I think it will be with me until the day I die. After all, it’s so damn functional with that stupid queen size bed inside.</p>
<p>I SO understand your pain. And I also agree, now having lived with it for all these years, that slipcovers truly are the answer. Too bad I never thought of it before Or maybe it’s not too late…</p>
<p>dmd, that slipcover site looks great!! Bookmarked it, thanks.</p>
<p>When I was looking at this one, I misread the description and though it said “elephant design” - I almost choked (it actually says “elegant”) :eek::</p>
<p>I like the idea of recovering the cushions to draw out the color you do like…and mismatched cushions and sofas is a fairly popular look. Or you could buy or make some big pillows to cover up parts of the sofa. Or you could list it on Craigslist or somewhere…‘brand new set, paid $500, you take away for $400’…or whatever you feel you can live with yourself selling it for.</p>
<p>Ah, I see you have elderly cats. Well, if <em>they</em> don’t like it, they’ll probably shred it and then you can recover it without guilt!</p>
<p>Novelisto, sound like you and I are having trouble with our reading comprehension this evening. Time to get a drink! orchid, you can borrow mine, but they do not shred anything anymore - too elderly. Get a kitten, and the sofa will be kaput in no time.</p>
<p>Beware of Surefit slipcovers! We replaced our 30-year-old sofa a couple of weeks ago, but before that I tried a few slipcovers. The Surefit one I ordered turned out to have very thin fabric and became very worn-looking in only a year. Then I tried one from LL Bean, which was plain cotton (not stretchy) and required an engineer to put it on with all the flaps and panels of fabric in the right order. </p>
<p>Finally I gave up on slipcovers and just left the sofa with the pieces of stuffing showing, until it was time to give it to the Salvation Army because the new sofa was on its way. They wouldn’t take it unless it was in good condition, which it definitely was not. A neighbor said that if I slipcovered it they’d take it, so I went to Target and got a terrific-looking stretchy slipcover. The sofa looked very stylish in the driveway where it was waiting for the truck, and I actually felt some regret about letting it go. But the new sofa is wonderful and everyone likes it, so it’s fine.</p>
<p>Hmm. My Surefit slipcovers have lasted years, even with the sharp talons of our last cat. Maybe it depends on which ones you choose. I even run them through the washing machine. (I have the cotton duck.)</p>
<p>Well, put me down in the sofa hating column, too. Four years ago, we had a bit of a windfall and I was ecstatic! I would pick out some lovely Waverly fabric and recover our wonderfully comfortable sofa and hide-a-bed (a really, old, seriously comfortable, iron frame one). </p>
<p>What was I thinking??? I took a member of our family who shall remain nameless that I always disagree with on style. I can’t believe as I type this that I was that idiotic. The children were incredibly irritable and my companion just wanted me to make a decision and get out. I made one. I immediately regretted it, but was too stupid to cut my losses (fabric couldn’t be returned). Instead, I spent even more money getting them covered. I hated the fabric even more when I got them home.</p>
<p>Pretty soon after that, our finances took a huge turn south and so there they squat, making me miserable every time I see them.</p>
<p>I’d be thankful that I have a place to sit down, but the idiot who covered them retied the springs wrong and if you sit on them, you are pretty close to being in the floor. He managed to destroy two couches that had been in wonderful condition for about 30 years - you know, the solid oak frame kind. Arrrrrggggghhhh. </p>
<p>Anyway, you are certainly not alone. I long for the day I can put those babies by the street <lol></lol></p>
<p>Oh yay, I’m not the only person whose house doesn’t look like all the pictures in the magazines! Or like my daughter’s friends’ McMansions with their designer-generated interiors! </p>
<p>I am so bad at picking fabric, etc, I’d really love to hire a designer to help me. DH says no way, our house should look like OUR taste and not someone else’s. But a good designer would help us to get the room to look like OUR taste. If we could look at photos and say what we like and dislike, and discuss what we wanted out of the room, maybe a designer could help us to find furniture and fabrics so that when we were done, we’d actually be HAPPY with what we bought - for once - instead of wondering why it didn’t come out the way we pictured it?</p>
<p>Anyway, OP, you are not alone, and go ahead and kvetch because I’d be mad at myself too! Actually, I’ve been mad at myself… especially the sofa & loveseat with the fabric that resembled a burlap sack, both in look and comfort (or lack thereof). The sofa/loveseat finally got demoted to the basement, where DD and her friends can be uncomfortable on them.</p>
<p>Try a dark green throw (or two) that will cover 30% of the sofa. Greens can be tricky, but the shade I am thinking of is something close to black. It will be a neutral, and your colorful cushions will be more of an accent and less dominant.</p>
<p>We were so paranoid about picking the wrong thing to replace our blue plaid sofa (ugh) that we bought when country style was all the rage. After many fruitless shopping trips, we decided to go with plain chocolate brown leather
and have never regretted it. It has no pizazz but is comfortable and doesn’t scream at you (or make you want to scream) when you walk in the room.</p>
Or maybe it’s not too late…</p>
this evening. Time to get a drink! orchid, you can borrow mine, but they do not shred anything anymore - too elderly. Get a kitten, and the sofa will be kaput in no time.</p>