Is buying a white couch a fool’s errand? What if you own one toddler and might have plans to make it a two fer? What if you have a long haired gray cat who thinks she’s a wad of velcro? Deep down inside I know buying a white couch is probably a very bad idea, but my superficial exterior thinks it would transform my living room into a shining beacon of glory. I do know what I won’t be buying, though…
A white SUEDE couch. I mean… wow. White. suede. Hasn’t Robert Couturier ever seen Can’t Buy Me Love?
Cindy is going to be in big trouble when mommy finds out she spilled wine all over the megabucks white suede outfit Cindy jacked from her closet…
Another thing I’m not going to buy is a white chesterfield. Sure, it sings its siren song of leather and whispered promises of easy clean up, but that’s a dirty lie. Cleaning gunk out of those little buttons is the bane of my existence, and our chesterfield is dark. I can’t even imagine what cleaning a white chesterfield would look like… Hell, methinks.
I want to like this, but I think the cushions look cheap. Agree? Disagree?
Still I really want a white couch. I’d love something slipcovered, but I don’t want it to look like a slipcovered couch. The one above would do nicely.
Am I crazy?
Please answer with regard to the white couch question only.
[Robert Couturier, Lili Diallo, Lazaro Rosa Violan, Met Home]
Related posts:
Who made that slipcovered couch that the Novogratzs used for that boring NYC Penthouse couple? It didn’t look slipcovered at all…very tailored. It’s the pale blue sofa…but can’t find a resource. http://blog.hgtv.com/design/2011/07/30/home-by-novogratz-cortney-talks-on-taking-design-sky-high/
oh my god – must watch that movie now! it’s still all i can think of when i see mcDreamy on grey’s . . . everybody starts somewhere
as for the white couches, good luck to ya. i would do it in a heartbeat if i didn’t have all of the same things stopping me. i’m more of a creamy beige myself, but would have the same dangers. i once saw a show featuring some kind of fabric protector that literally forced kool-aid off of a couch. i would be applying it daily, though. once you let up, the stains creep in . . .
I have been dreaming about a white couch too, and I love love the chesterfield couch. so I thought I would get a old one and have re-upholstered with white indoor/outdoor fabric. Until I found out how much the re-upholstery could cost. My jaw is still on the floor…lol
but I haven’t given up hope yet. Any suggestions?
How much was it, Deb?
I have a few slipcovered couches I’m eying… may post them in a comprehensive couch guide roundup thingy.
I bought a white couch a few years ago, with button tufting (not chesterfield tufting, mind you) and with the hopes that “the fabric is treated to resist stains, how hard could it be to keep clean?” Turns out, hard. Way hard. And I have no kids – just had a dog who was only allowed on the sofa after last year’s renovation extravaganza. The worst offender: blue jeans. We kept food off the sofa, we vacuumed it regularly, but our typical American fashion sense killed our sofa. And the lovely buttons hurt to sit on after the cushions got broken in. We’re planning on getting it reupholstered in a non-white fabric. Food for thought.
I’d love a white couch but since I have a 10 month old…sigh.
Besides, I should totally spend that money on a super-cool telescope.
I don’t what the standard costs are but the quotes were $1000-$1500. Crap for that price I could buy a brand new couch, coffee table, side table, and a pair of Steven Madden 5″ pumps….LOL
I have a white couch and I love it! I had it upholstered in white sunbrella that looks exactly like linen. You can unzip any cushions and wash them or use a stain pen. It does not stain or change in any way! Looooove!
-e (modern24seven.blogspot.com)
My one white couch + one young son was a disaster in the making. Between his navy blue school uniform pants, my almost entirely black wardrobe, and an unfortunate occurrence of rapid-onset projectile vomiting (following a school Christmas party) the poor thing never had a chance.
It was supposed to be stain-resistant, but apparently, there were some stains it just couldn’t resist.
Of course, we lived in our room. If your couch will reside in one of those look-don’t-touch rooms, you might have a fighting chance.
Not against the cat, though.
i have a white couch. i have a small child. i have THREE cats, 2 of which are long haired and black.
it has slipcovers that i wash A LOT. and it kinda looks like shit after 2 years..3.?
p.s. it’s this one: http://i-cdn.apartmenttherapy.com/uimages/sf/movie072309.jpg
as in cb2′s movie sofa.
we’re carrying a furniture line called The Best Slipcover Company. The furniture is upholstered in muslin and you pick the fabric for the slipcovers. They’re the fitted kind.
http://www.bestslipcovercompany.com/
All I’ve ever wanted was a white couch, but that would never fly with 3 dogs, one of which is great dane who treats the couch like it’s his throne. We can dream though right?
I feel your pain. I’m not sure a white couch would look great in my current interior, but that doesn’t mean I don’t love them. I think they look great in light, sun-drenched spaces. But I totally agree about the downfalls (animals, kids and general living). And while slipcovers are an option, I think those things are a pain to take off and on to clean all the time. Plus, some can look sloppy (I speak from experience here – have a slipcovered sectional in our basement rec area). Love the couch in that last photo. Mitchell Gold/Bob Williams has one that looks similar to the last one although it’s not slipcovered. Good luck with your journey, and I would love to see your round-up because I might be in the market for a new couch in the next 6 months or so.
I love my slipcovered white couch. Room and Board Metro. I go every two-three months to the mondo machines in the laundromat to wash. (I have two cats that get shit butts and a dog. Oh and I eat dinner on it too.)
I think they are timeless-both classic and bauhaus modern-oh and hygenic. I’ll email you a photo.
I’ve had an IKEA white slipcovered sofa and chair for going on 10 (seriously) years now. All washable (even the arm part), bleachable. No kids, but 2 dogs….if you end up replacing the slip cover with something else, so be it (bemz.com has a ton of options FOR ikea sofas), you can go back to white later…
My internal alarm bells are ringing!
I did a white sofa for a client recently – its so beautiful & upholstered in a gorgeous white brushed cotton. I only agreed to it after the client promised me she wouldn’t eat her dinner on it! (yes, I make my clients make me promises!!! before i give them what they want!!)
but it scares the hell out of me to sit on it! Even jeans leave a mark & the clients long brown locks are very visible upon.
I think white sofas are best left to interior photography!
I have an oatmeal linen sofa and it worries me silly. I would pull out every hair if I had a white one. Love the round up though. And totally digging the double chow tables in the next-to-last photo.
you crazy to get one
Funny that I’m just reading this now. Well, white is probably better than cream because you could bleach it if need be. I prefer my oatmeal-esque couch, but to each there own. One suggestion with slipcovers is to get it custom cut- not something to be ordered online. Mine fits like a glove and that’s why I love it. If you have more q’s just shoot me an email, Yo!
Oh, a white sofa, yes I would love one. But I’m really just happy you’ve made reference to one of the great movies of my childhood. I have a slipcovered sofa (ancient, from Mitchell Gold back when it was just MG) and I love it, though I think I’d love it more if my slipcovers were machine-washable. (Let’s go back in time and tell first-solo-apartment-Rebecca that someday she will have a dog and a husband and baby on the way and to rethink the choco brown velvet, shall we?)
I would only get a white sofa if it were a slip-covered white sofa and I was prepared to wash the slipcovers practically every week. I too had the same desire for a white sofa so I tested it out by getting a white futon cover on the futon we were trading in to see how I could deal. It was fine (we don’t have kids and the dog is not allowed on the couch but we do have a cat and we can’t keep her off of it) but it had to be washed once a week to look decent or it would start to look grubby. That got tiring fast. Traded it in for a leather couch in a pale green and it is SOOO much easier! I’ve put the white cover on our guest pull-out futon in the study and it works there because it doesn’t get heavy use.
I think white is hard unless you want to look at it rather than sit on it! Something easy to clean is a must for me, and without the hassle of washing:
http://www.sofastreet.com/splitback-sofa-in-white-leather-textile-w-chrome-legs.htm
So, a week ago we bought a white Hovas from (don’t judge) Ikea. We have a 22 month old toddler, a 5 year old and a 7 year old. Of course, the thing is already trashed. Cheeto dust, Gogurt, chocolate (healthy foods apparently leave no trace) have all been smeared across the once pristine white slipcovers. But – and here is why I went with white – the slipcovers can be bleached. And replacement slipcovers are only $50. So, we bought a spare slipcover, and can easily switch them out, wash the dirty one and always have one in reserve. The main downside is that I’m not sure how well the largest part of the slipcover will fit in my washing machine. Also, I don’t like that the bottom cushions can’t be flipped over (but for $50, what can I expect?). The couch is super comfy and really deep. And if we end up exasperated with the white we can always go get a charcoal grey slipcover for it.