Tag Archives: Furniture

Change Your Couch’s Clothing

Imagine for a second that you only had one set of clothes. You woke up every single day and you had one pair of pants and one shirt. No matter the weather outside, you just had that one set of clothing. During the 90 degree days of August, you had this one shirt. During the 20 degree days of January, you still had this one shirt.

Time for a change!

Lucky feeling bored about another season with these covers

As you got older and your pants stopped fitting so well, or they lost color or shape, you still only had this one pair to wear. As the times around you changed- and so did popular style and design, you still had only this one outfit. And eventually as the fabric weakened and the pants and shirt wore through and were filled with holes, they were still the only clothing you had.

Pretty hard to imagine, right? Now think about your couch for a second. As the weather outside changes, can you change your couch with it? Imagine how nice it would be to have a cozy, furry couch to warm up in the winter- and then have a cool, breathable fabric to stay cool during the dog days of summer. Or imagine that when your tastes in style changed, you could change your couch along with them. Your couch is the place you can go to when you want to relax and watch tv on your high gloss tv unit. It’s your go to place, so why not change it up a bit every now and then? Why not get yourself a brand spanking new leather couch, maybe even in white? While we all love a white leather couch, cleaning white leather can turn out to be more difficult than first imagined, but it can certainly be managed.

Change clothes!

Changing the covers

A few years back, this would have sounded crazy. People approached the couch-buying scenario with extreme caution, knowing that whatever they bought would live with them for the next 10 or 20 or 30…or 50 years. Now that Sactionals exist, everything has changed. When my wife and I had our fourth child Valentine this past month, we needed some extra couch space so we just simply added some on. But while we were doing it, she decided she also wanted to change up the “feeling” of the room a little for the summer. So just like that, we changed the clothes on our couch! …The same Sactionals pieces we’ve had now for nearly 8 years look new, smell new, and amazingly feel completely new again. (And they’ve seen some abuse!) Every time we change our Sactionals I wonder the same thing: What do people with normal couches do? I guess they just live with it. I guess they just hide that stain under a throw pillow. I guess they just try to get a few more years out of it until they can justify spending the money to get an all new one.

Ready for summer!

Pepper feeling excited about the new covers

You know, this blog isn’t meant to be an advertisement for my company, Lovesac or Sactionals. This blog is however, a reflection of my own real life and the things I find to be changing the way we look at our life on a couch–and real life in general. I have devoted my life to creating products that disrupt the staleness of classic furniture. The feedback I’m seeing from people who truly LOVE their Sactionals is a confirmation that we really have created something special that is shaping the way people live their life on a couch. What do you think?

WATCH THE CHANGING PROCESS IN JUST 20 SECONDS…

— Shawny

Top 10 Furniture Designs from Neocon

‘Tis the season for design shows! The most innovative furniture designs and advances in interior design and architecture practices can be found each year at Neocon at the Chicago Merchandise Mart. With a particular focus on commercial design–from hotels to office space–Neocon is where the big launches in fabric, upholstery, seating, tables, desks and beyond are unveiled to the public. Its like the CES of furniture!

Here are my personal top 10 couch, chair, or seating design picks from Neocon 2014…

No. 10 best design at Neocon 2014

Steelcase Office Couch

The Convo Dome (my name) by Steelcase

No. 9 best design at Neocon 2014

 

Rolling Wing Back

Not sure how to feel about this one–but it is certainly a conversation piece. Call it the “Wheeled Wingback” !?

No. 8 best design at Neocon 2014

Spaceport Couch

Long and slender–couldn’t help but look

No. 7 best design at Neocon 2014

In Bloom (my name) by Haworth

The possibilities for functional accessories along with the proportions of this piece from Haworth  make it a standout

No. 6 best design at Neocon 2014

Tail Fin (my name) by Haworth

Ready for takeoff – Haworth

No. 5 best design at Neocon 2014

Love the height, love the fabric, love the color, love the design

Love the height, love the fabric, love the color, love the design

No. 4 best design at Neocon 2014

Design is a Choice

One of those rooms that just makes you want to sit down there

No. 3 best design at Neocon 2014

Concentration Space by Steelcase

I could get some work done in here

No. 2 best design at Neocon 2014

Lovesac Conference Table by Keilhaur

Just add Lovesacs to this 16″ high conference table by Keilhaur (Their low chairs weren’t very comfortable)

NUMBER 1 best design at Neocon 2014

High Back Pit

Inspiration for our new Sactionals rich Lovesac HQ, coming fall of 2014

I love a good design show. Neocon is as good as it gets. Let me know which one is your favorite in the comments, below.

— Shawny

10 Best Couch Designs from ICFF 2014

The nation’s best design in furniture and home decor is found each year in New York City during the month of May. Last week we got to attend Brooklyn Designs, Wanted Design, (both, amazing shows) and the grand daddy of them all: ICFF, the International Contemporary Furniture Fair. ICFF brings out all of the big names in furniture design. There are celebrity designers, press, parties…it is a big show, held at the Javits center, and it doesn’t disappoint. Tables, chairs, clocks, other home decors such as wall decals and other designs, fabrics, and all of the latest new materials can be found there. It is simply the venue to experience the most timeless designs alongside the most cutting-edge styles in furniture and accessories. With too much great stuff to show, and in the spirit of our unique passion for what we do, here are our favorite couches spotted this week at ICFF, 2014.

NUMBER 10 best design at ICFF

Ito Kish

This is a couch that makes a statement – amazing in an entry way! by Ito Kish

NUMBER 9 best design at ICFF

Alex, by Jephson Robb

You know a piece of furniture is special when it has its own legitimate name. Meet Alex, by Jephson Robb

NUMBER 8 best design at ICFF

Off the wall

I’m not sure this actually qualifies as a couch…but it should…Only at ICFF

NUMBER 7 best design at ICFF

Miles & May

A tasteful use of mixed mediums. Leather and wood, in a construction we’ve never seen before

NUMBER 6 best design at ICFF

Crazy Couch

Only at ICFF will you see something like this, from A lot of Brazil

NUMBER 5 best design at ICFF

Cabana Couch

Not sure what to say about this–but its pretty amazing that someone built it

NUMBER 4 best design at ICFF

by Extremista

Not exactly a couch, but wow! Made efficiently from one sheet of material, cut, bent, folded, beautiful…and sustainable

NUMBER 3 best couch design at ICFF

Sectional by Danao Living

A killer combination of fabric and real wood. This unique sectional by Danao Living is almost too pretty to sit on

NUMBER 2 best couch design at ICFF

By Vitra

Love these well-executed fabric sofas with zippered corners by Vitra–an institution in modern furniture; Swiss

NUMBER 1 Best couch design seen at ICFF, 2014

Purple, by Naula

Mmmmmmm. Above all, a couch should be comfy. Just looking at this one makes me want to cuddle up

As always, ICFF was inspiring. Go yourself! I am always humbled by the level of talent apparent at shows like this one. Our company, Lovesac, has never shown at ICFF, or any other furniture trade show for that matter, but we certainly gain inspiration from the best there. The only place you can find Lovesac couches are in our very own Lovesac stores, or website. We kind of like it that way.

While a couch is good for kicking back in during your downtime, they’re not the ideal form of furniture for being productive in. If you really want to get some serious work done, you’ll want to look at ergonomic office chairs instead. Combine one with a desk and you’ve got a home office! Check out the options available online to see if you can match the office furniture with the existing style of your home. But it would be nice to have one of these couches to go and chill on when you’re on break.

Walking design shows all over the world is both humbling and reassuring…there is still nothing like Sactionals, by Lovesac. In my humble opinion, Sactionals may be the most revolutionary design in couches within the last century. Mostly because of all of the crazy things you can do with Sactionals (not to mention, they are “Lovesac” comfortable)….But then, I am kind of biased.

M Lounger by Lovesac

Could it be possible that the real number 1 best sofa design is not to be found at ICFF?

Let me know which one of the above you liked best, and why! (Don’t worry, you won’t hurt my feelings.) If you’re looking to invest in a stunning couch like these, make sure you have professional Bissell cleaning equipment to maintain it.

— Shawny

@Shawny_Nelson

The New Kitchen Table

We all have a life on a couch-every last one of us. Much of the joy that underlies our natural attraction to our life on a couch has nothing to do with the couch at all, let alone the book, TV, movie, laptop or whatever other form of entertainment might be consumed there. The real joy comes from the time spent there in the company of those who matter to us most. I suppose this is what makes the couch so special as a fixture in our lives. It is not a chair-it is a shared chair. It is wide, and soft, and low and inviting. It is beautiful. It is not furniture-it is a platform for living-one, that despite having a thousand years of history, was seemingly designed especially for this era, for our way of life.

The couch is the new center of modern civilization. For better of for worse it has replaced the kitchen table as the place where people come together, where people communicate in person, where people enjoy shared experiences-which by the way, is the definition of intimacy. Some people sit there together, facing the center and chat. Some people sit in parallel, focused on the same screen ahead. Some sit close, others apart, some cuddle, some lay sideways, some build forts with kids, some pile-on with friends, and some make-out with lovers. Some hold hands, even as others text, surf, shop, work, or game in solitude-yet often they are still “connected.” But regardless of how they do it-people spend time together on the couch…and that is a beautiful thing.

As a culture, we are more aware of, and more fascinated than ever by how others live. Whether celebrities, or whether just “the Jones’s” next door, thanks to modern media we have access to more personal information than ever-and this helps bring context to our own lives. It is my personal mission to shine a light onto this “life on a couch” that we share-one by one, story by story-in hopes to further our mutual awareness and respect, both as a people and as a generation. That we might recognize: regardless of our income level, social status, marital status, or personal travails, we are all just in this together, trying to make it work, trying to enjoy life, to find meaning, to contribute in some way, and to connect with those who love us. Even I go through marital problems especially regarding our sex life and elevating the experience. We get through this though… together

This is life on a couch-and it is interesting, because you are.

— Shawny

My life

…nearly every night