Buying a Couch

A couch is the epicenter of your new life of independence—it’s where you socialize and where your friends sleep; it holds remnants of most of the meals you’ve ever eaten at home; and it serves as a repository for a small portion of your monthly income. In short, it tells a story (though sometimes it’s seen “too much” and the time must come to start a new chapter). Even if we dispense wit sentimentality for a moment, the fact remains that having a place for people to sit down is a pretty basic necessity—egg crates may say “urban chic,” but they may also say “poor and depressing.”

Thankfully, the best couches are not always accompanied by the highest price tags—like tee shirts, the cheapest, most well-worn ones are sometimes the most comfy. Still, it’s important to think about your specific sofa needs (e.g., a bed for your friend to crash for the night, a place where you can hook up, a seat where you can watch bad reality TV alone), as well as how long you plan on keeping it. Whether you’re buying the couch of your dreams for the long-term or you’re just getting something you’ll be using for one or two years and sharing with roommates, it’s still an investment. Here are some things to keep in mind.

Does It Fit?

Before you trek out to Ikea, make sure you take accurate measurements of your apartment. The last thing you want is to find the perfect bargain on an enormous couch you can’t fit in your living room (much less up the three flights of stairs to your apartment). In addition, you’ll want to plan the layout of your living room beforehand to avoid purchasing a couch that extends halfway across the entrance to your bathroom. If after you’ve taken measurements and planned out your pad you find that any couch would be too big, then maybe getting a loveseat would make more sense. To make planning easier, check out this nifty Arrange-a-Room tool that allows you to forecast how things will fit into place in your living room.

Which Should You Buy?

Couches come in many different shapes, sizes, and fabrics. If you plan to have guests over often, the “social” sofas—futons and pullout couches—are always a favorite, but there are plenty of options to choose from. Here are the major players.

• Futons and Pull-Outs. This upholstered number from Target is a great example of a typical futon you can find at the average price. Most futons from large department stores like Target and Sears will cost between $300-$600, but check for sales and you can easily find something on the lower end of those figures. If that range is out of your reach, you can get a number of decent futons from Ikea or Bed Bath and Beyond for under $200 (check out this one).
• Sofa Beds/Pullout Couches. If a futon reminds you too much of a college dorm, then a sofa bed is an excellent alternative. Combining a regular couch with a pullout mattress, sofa-beds are really the best of both worlds. They run a little more expensive than futons—between $400-$700 at large department stores (although sofa beds on sale go for half as much)—but they’re much more comfortable to sleep on.
• Loveseats. If you live in an apartment that can pass for a closet, loveseats will always run cheaper (less that $100 at Target, Sears, and Ikea), so they’re worth looking at. For something slightly pricier, you can also check out these options from Overstock.com.

Regardless of which couch you choose to buy, you’re going to want to get one that doesn’t stain easily and that can be cleaned without much hassle. A linen sofa looks beautiful…until your drunken roommate spills his MGD on it. Forget for now why you even allowed such awful beer into your apartment and avoid the cleaning bill by opting for leather, Ultrasuede, or other “high performance” fabrics. Also, look for a hardwood frame, such as maple or oak, and steer clear of particle board—it’s cheaper than plywood but that’s because it’ll snap in half when overburdened by…well, whatever it is you get up to on the couch.