A Reluctant Online Furniture Shopper Orders Article's Most Popular Sofa
Moving is the worst. Everyone knows there’s no joy to be found sorting through all your things, packing up whatever you keep, and then paying someone to lug it out, or worse, having to do it yourself. But decorating the new place, that’s the fun part, right? For me, it was debatable.
When I was getting ready to move into a one-bedroom apartment in Brooklyn with my boyfriend, John, I loved the idea of decorating with a fresh slate. (All of my “saved” posts on Instagram from aspirational home decor bloggers could finally be put to good use!) But as I said, I loved the idea of it all. Actually executing my plans proved way more difficult than I had anticipated. There are just so. many. options.
John doesn’t get as jazzed as I do about entryway ideas or which chairs look right with our farmhouse table, so I couldn’t count on him to help pick the small stuff. But the couch he was invested in. It’s where we’ll spend most of our time and undoubtably what we’d spend the most money on, so it had to be right.
We knew we wanted a camel-colored leather style, so that helped narrow things down a little. But we were still swimming in a sea of options. West Elm had some gorgeous sofas but the long delivery times meant we’d be without a couch for 5+ weeks. (Yes, I should have planned better. Shush.) That was out.
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We struggled with the idea of buying a couch online at all since we couldn’t actually sit on it first. And because sites like Wayfair and AllModern sell so many different brands, it’s hard to properly research or hear firsthand from someone who’s purchased that exact couch.
The journalist in me wanted multiple sources to confirm I was going to love this couch. There is just so much trust you can put in an anonymous reviewer.
Then I found myself on Article‘s site. The online-only, direct-to-consumer brand had the style I was looking for — the Sven tan sectional — and it could be delivered within 10 days, potentially even quicker. I’d heard from friends who had good experiences with the brand. The only complaints I could find online were that the back cushions weren’t very firm, and the color is lighter than expected. I know that a beautiful patina takes time, and I sleep on the plushest mattress known to man so I wasn’t too worried about either. They also have a pretty great return policy, which eased my mind. If I wanted to exchange, it’s free, or returns are $49. I would just need to hang on to the packaging until I was sure, otherwise it’s an extra $50.
Honestly, taking out my credit card to pull the trigger on such a large purchase was the hardest part of the whole ordering process. It retails for $2,999 with the chaise, or $1,799 without.
I placed my order and got a call five days later that it was time to schedule my delivery. I had the flexibility to pick whatever day I liked, but was limited to the window of time they assigned to me 24-hours before, so it’s best to pick a day you have completely free.
I did not do this. Learn from me.
I scheduled mine for my actual move-in day, so with my movers coming in the morning to my old place, I crossed my fingers for a later delivery window. Naturally, I was assigned 8:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. (See, not a good planner.) It was going to be a hectic day.
