3 reasons to save your sofa this Earth Day

What will you be doing this April 22, 2017? How about saving your sofa this Earth day?

Every year, families around the world would one day wonder, “where should my old sofa go?”. And it’s painfully sad that we should have the mindset of throwing away the sofa instead of trying to salvage it.

And we aren’t even talking about sofas that are broken to the core, or with foam that has been chewed or clawed inside out by your pets — these are sofas with good structural integrity, like this poor abandoned sofa below.

These sofas can be saved, and it’s just a matter of why and how.
 

Reason #1: To Reduce Landfill Trash

More than 9 million tonnes of furniture are disposed every year (that’s about the weight of 6 million cars), so what can be done about it?
Not a landfill, but some perspective on how much is wasted a year

Here are some alternatives to throwing your sofa away:

Garage or Rummage Sale
Make it fun for the family, best time to de-clutter all the much unnecessary items in the house and make some money while you’re at it!

Online Auction
List it up on eBay/Gumtree/Craigslist and let the website work its wonders. As long as it’s reasonably priced, someone else should be quite happy to take that sofa away from you.

Trade-in
Just like what you do with cars, some furniture shops would accept a trade for your sofa – you just need to pay the difference.

Hand-it-down
Some sofas are just that sturdy, so passing it down from one generation to the next would allow starting families to save quite a bit on furniture costs.

Donate
Not everyone in the world needs a sofa, but most orphanages and homes would welcome charitable people who don’t want their sofa anymore.

Re-upholster
Most of the time it’s just the skin that makes an old sofa unappealing to look at isn’t it? If you have spare cash to spend, it’s always nice to treat yourself to a “new couch” without having to dispose of it.

Get custom slipcovers
Of course, the alternative to upholstery would be to get custom slipcovers and it doesn’t necessarily have to be the traditional-looking, skirted covers with pleats. Here’s a snug-fitting example of a modern looking sofa:

It’s actually an IKEA sofa, with new covers, legs and DIY tufting

Reason #2: To Save Time and Money

Sure, upholstery can be quite expensive and it would be a $1000 or more for a loveseat.

Once again though, aren’t you spending more money if you’re getting another sofa? Not to mention the hassle and time needed to dispose the other sofa. If you were to getting some simple like a custom slipcover, then it’s just a matter of putting the covers on after having it made.

Do make sure they’re machine washable of course so that when it gets dirty, all you have to do is put it in there to wash.
 

Reason #3: To Save Sentiments

Sometimes, not everything’s about money, success or world domination.

Sometimes, we just want to reminisce the times spent with family. Not everyone would agree with this because sofas are relatively cheap nowadays and can be easily replaced for under a $1000.

But back in the times where sofas were solid as a rock and stayed strong for 10-15 years, there would have been be a lot of cherished moments.

Little bursts of happiness where your child first learnt to say “mama” while you were cradling her, or the times when Daddy was playing video games with junior (and being a sore loser).

Sometimes it’s just thinking back and telling your partner, “Remember the first time we assembled this IKEA sofa, and how we gradually transformed this house into a home?”

That’s the joy of rediscovering that lost lovin’ feeling and the best thing about IKEA sofas, is that you can get replacement IKEA sofa covers for it most of the time.
 

Conclusion

It’s time to do your part in reducing landfill trash and this is just one of the many ways that you can do so (who changes a sofa every year anyways?).

Should you think that you’re changing your sofa this year though, do consider the option of custom slipcovers – by far, it is the best alternative to upholstery as well as a substitute for getting rid of your sofa.

Muji Beads Sofa (Bean Bag) Review

It’s a bean bag! And a bloody comfortable one at it. This is our review of Muji’s Bean Bag Cushion (Beads Sofa). Or, those in the western part of the world may know it as the “Body Fit Cushion”

OVERVIEW

Muji is a Japanese brand which means “no-brand, quality goods”. And they mean it. Big fans of minimalist design these lot.

So this here body fit cushion / bean bag thing. Yeah so it’s a big ole rectangular thing with 2 soft stretchy sides and 4 rather stiff sides of some kinda cotton fabric. There’s amazingly small but firm micro-beads inside, so don’t let yer cat scratch it up or you’ll have a fun time on your hands. I dunno how they get that stretchy side so stretchy and thin without tearing but there you have it. Bloody geniuses, they are.

There’s a grand total of 2 sizes. Beads sofa, and a beads sofa mini. I think the names are pretty self-explanatory.

COMFORT

Now the really fun bit here is that you can change the shape and support of this sofa by flipping it. Check out this dude havin a snooze.

It’s, honest to god, super comfortable. Though a bit short if you’re trying to fit all of 6 feet 3″ of me on it comfortably.

PRICE

The covers and the beans (beads) are sold separately. Covers at around US$40 and Beads going for US$150. Plus your local sales taxes or GST, it’s around the $200 mark.

It’s not exactly affordable compared to your run off the mill beanbags from Target($49) or K-mart, but hey, its mighty comfortable and it will not compress or require yearly refill over time, so that’s definitely plus.

AESTHETICS

It’s a rectangle which sometimes flattens out into an oval, that doesn’t sound coherent I know. But the beauty of the design lies in the use of solid canvas materials around the sides and the use of stretchy fabrics on the top and bottom of the cover.

This ‘soft innovation’ allows the bean bag to be maintain its rectangular shape compared to the usual bean bags that looks forever frumpy.

There’s 9 colours from Muji, but only not all will be available worldwide.

Not seeing a color that suits your fancy? Spoiler alert, we make custom covers for the beads sofa ;)

DURABILITY

The composition of the Muji covers seems to be a polyester / viscose blend which is very stretchy on 2 sides and slightly stiffer on the other 4 sides. The stretchy sides are super thin, which makes me fear that they might tear easily, especially if they were to catch on anything.

The stiffer sides handled normal wear and tear pretty well, but dust and lint did have a tendency to show up pretty fast.

HACKABILITY

Not many “furniture hacks” you can perform on this one. It’s arguably not even considered a piece of furniture. The only thing could do is change up your look and feel of the bean bag with some custom Muji beads sofa covers from us!

That’s pretty much it unfortunately.

OVERALL CONCLUSION

A stylish and comfortable bean bag from Muji. Perfect for lounging around after dinner, or watching the footy. Durability may be an issue, but with replacement covers you wouldn’t have a problem.

Covers are washable and easy to swap out. May not be the best if you’re taller than 200cm. But at roughly $200 for an extra seat, it’s pretty affordable – get one for your kids or the lounge!

Photocredits: Muji

Can’t seem to find a color that is suited to your home? Visit us and discover all the ways that we can give the Muji Bean Bag Cushion a whole different look:  

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