Room and Board  

i'm a design snob and i'm sorry.......
i just can't help it !
i just worry sometimes that the generic sofas and chairs sold under their own auspices by room and board and dwr are actually muddying the water of what is "Good Design".
is it enough to just kind of have a slighty modern look and just "okay" manufacturing and design qualities ?
one example that i think is gawd-awful is the portola sofa from dwr... what is "modern" or "designy" about this ? its terrible. f minus. no different than any other sofa available at your local "leather barn" that sofa is just a plain pig.... they didn't even bother to put lip-stick on it.
and the antica chair dwr sells ? quick, call me a paramedic !! 😉
so though i may have not articulated my point very well earlier, and yes i was a bit rabid and inflammatory..... and i do apologize for offending anyone, i guess i'm just trying to point out that some items sold at dwr and yes, room and board are pushing the reasonable limits of what truly can be considered "modern" and "good design" to the point that if we aren't careful no one will really remember the core principals of modernism, no ?
that said.... if you see a sofa you like and you think its comfortable and the right price.... buy it and enjoy !
seriously.
p.s. check out this reviewer and arbiter of good taste in the link below. no split hairs here. kind of like some of my strict judgements on furniture 😉
http://www.thebestpageintheuniverse.net/c.cgi?u=irule

Rockland
If that's the Bensen sofa you posted I can attest to it's quality. I'm pretty sure Olive owns it too. It's built like a brick house (and weighs as much)

Hello everybody
I don't know what is the cause of all this animosity going on in the forum these last weeks. Is it the late arrival of spring? A general bad temper due to the crisis?
We are extremely busy with the radar these days and we don't have the time to moderate all the threads. Would you have the kindness to preserve a courteous and friendly tone which is one of main qualities of this forum?
Concerning the subject that is controversial here, I would say that I quite agree with Chewbacca Rug concerning the choice of a good quality sofa that will last a whole life, BUT to have known the situation in which Whitespike is going to be in a few months (to become a young father), I can testify that his approach seems very reasonable to me. When she was a baby, our daughter completely ruined a " Dijnn" sofa by Olivier Mourgue (the one in '2001 space odyssey') by regularly vomitting on it! I would have largely preferred that she did it on a sofa from Room and Board. Now that our children are big, we bought a quality sofa (made to last). There is a time for everything. There is not one unique answer that is valid for each one of us for this kind of domestic choice. We live different lives in different contexts and we all have different priorities. Let's respect these differences, they are worth a lot!

Patrick
Thanks for your understanding. And, I do apologize for my irritability. Baby is due in weeks, I am building a house, I am working constantly, I am sick with a cold, and to add to it all someone committed suicide at work (during office hours while I was present) just two days ago. Perhaps I am on edge and out of line. I apologize.
But Patrick's past situation is precisely what I am trying to avoid. A sofa is a congregational, well used piece. I can avoid using my Eames 670 lounger, but the sofa ... it's inevitable.
And chewy, I understand your sentiments about buying quality. Believe me, I have been there and am completely OCD about it. I don't know if you're a parent, but when you find out you are going to be a lot of priorities really change. I might have been one to get on a high horse about the same thing in the past. But, when you create human life it seems all else becomes very unimportant.
What I am looking for is enough quality that I don't want to vomit, for a medium price, that can be slip covered, still handsome enough, etc. I am basically trying to avoid IKEA and trying to avoid vomit on a Knoll simultaneously.
Friends?

Whitespike, how about a vomit-tested sofa thread??!!
TRhe closest issue I have to deal with is with two cats, declawled, but they occasional 'urp' up where they prefer to sleep.
I don't want to keep my furniture covered, so I keep a good hair removing brush and cans of carpet cleaner around. So far, one of my cats has urped on the sofa only once. I got it up and there's no protein stain.
I hope I continue to have luck in this!

What kind of sofa??? Curre...
What kind of sofa???
Currently I have a Steelcase tufted cushion sofa. Looks nice and it was recovered in Modernica Chataqua fabric. I have to deal with pet hair constantly ... it's really a pain. But, at least hair comes off.
My cat has never barfed on any furniture before believe it or not ... just once directly on top of my computer keyboard (which fried ad a result).

fabrics
Some fabrics are way easier to clean than others. I have some pieces upholstered in Unika Vaev's "Wink", which is a nylon/poly/wool/cotton/rayon blend with a stain repellent finish. Stuff just beads up on it. No one has barfed on it (yet) but I spilled some soy sauce on it and it blotted right up with a paper towel.
It's a damask weave, which is smooth and tightly woven. That helps. I would avoid all textured weaves if possible. Velvet is among the worst for cleaning. I still remember a velvet sofa we had when our first baby was born. It had a long trail of spit-up on the back until the frame broke and it went to the dump.
So whatever you do, keep stain repellent finish in mind for the fabric. It really does help a lot.

A leather sofa
would also be fairly forgiving, I imagine (depending on the leather finish, that is).

Lucifer.
Great to know! And the Goetz is gorgeous. I've not seen it in person.
I do drive through mid-town Manhattan every morning and often take a
different route for Architectural site-seeing. Not much open at that hour
except for the 24hr Mac store.
Fabric. It always baffles me. I did visit my local upholstery shop and they are
wonderful. The son has taken over the business. Mom and Dad still work in the
background. Many projects in various stages of completion. They may have
built my couch 50 years ago. I looked at fabric. Shelves of samples...
I need very durable. One elder dog, 17, and a puppyish with allergies. (oy)
So, i may go with a custom re-build...
Then we took a drive and i bought a new car. Oops.
I pick it up in 20 minutes.

long winded...
The wife and I spent a good deal of time driving around town and trying sofas out in person. This led me to the obvious realization that I should only buy what I can try. So R&B is out.
We've basically pared it down to three sofas in three completely different price ranges and quality leagues.
I would love to know the DA's input, but to help you help me better I will reiterate what our program is. The sofa must:
1. Be durable. We have a son on the way.
2. Be very comfortable. We only have one living area/den for entertaining and relaxing. We especially want removable back cushions.
3. In our budget, which unfortunately since we are building a home, is pretty low (1000-1500 USD).
From the most to the least here's what we've got. Please be nice.
From IF+D - $2000
http://www.gusmodern.com/products1/sofas/jane-sofa/jane-sofa.shtml#jane-...
PROS: Awesome, comfy, perfect
CONS: Expensive, all fabric options contain some cotton (not stain resistant), I would be freaked out about the tot f**king it up, over my price range a bit.
From Crate and Barrel - $1200 (upcharge for better fabric)
http://www.crateandbarrel.com/family.aspx?c=932&f=25928&q=troy&fromLocat...
PROS: Right in the price range, seems reasonably solid, lots of nice stain resistant fabric options (I will not be doing microsuede, they have a hopsack-esque polyester in a grey green i like)
CONS: Not as streamlined and impressively modern as I like. Worried the cushions may lose their shape over time.
And from, don't kill me, IKEA - $650
http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/S09840535
PROS: Cheap, easily replaceable, no guilt associated with ruining it, more streamlined/modern looking than the Crate and Barrel sofa, easily replaceable covers, would replace when the tot gets a little older.
CONS: Cheap, probably would not look exactly right next to my Herman Miller/Knoll/Danish pieces in terms of quality.
Eh?

Don't kill me, either, but...
Don't kill me, either, but you might want to consider something from EQ3. I think they have a showroom somewhere in Austin. We have the Hugo sofa, and it has been a decent choice for some of the reasons you mentioned whitespike; fairly easy on the eyes, and may in certain circumstances be worth at least a look I think.

I vote for
the Jane sofa. Lots of style. Love the legs and the square tufting. If you're worried about stains, get a darkish color and then scotchguard the heck out of it.

you might also consider.........
vintage and/or used.........
its a crap-shoot but sometimes you can find pretty much new condition stuff out there that is amazing and affordable.
you might also try going to some of the medium to higher end stores to see if they have any blow out floor models......

Ikea...
Hands down. Save some dough and headache and go buy yourself a couple things with the difference. In three or four years you can dump the thing on craigslist and get the one you really want.

hudson
Never seen EQ3 before. How is it terms of build as related to IKEA? Seems it's just barely more expensive - could be perfect. Comfy? I'm gonna see if they are in AUstin...