apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

great find, guessica! it completely transforms the space, beautiful.

does anyone know who makes that sofa?

love the sofa & the yellow on your walls. great job!

It looks like Crate and Barrel's Petrie sofa, which we've got in mocha.

It is lovely! I love the skirt :), does it really work?

That cat is acting like, oh that foil? That doesn't bother me. I didn't even want to sit on that couch.

Yep, it's Petrie from C+B. Retails for $1499.00

I just love your windowed dining nook in the living room!

I love your new couch and good luck with the cat-scratching deterrent tactics!

THAT is a super sofa. Looks fantastic with your art, too.

Très fabulous! All is lovely... (:

hey look, the new couch, the cat, and the gentleman companion are all on AT! hooray!

as you all figured out, it's a 2-year old petrie sofa from C&B, which we got for about 1/3 of retail from a lovely craigslister on the UES. we're thrilled to have found it, and to have survived getting it through our door, but are in the thick of a standoff with our cats concerning their desire to scratch it.

the foil, incidentally, does work. they hate the sound and feel of it, and don't even bother coming near when the sofa is "armored." i'm not sure it's a long-term solution, but it gives me piece of mind when we're absent or sleeping. hopefully in time they'll just be used to not going near, and we'll be able to dispense with it. until then, thank goodness foil is cheap!

we're also thinking of constructing some kitty scratching posts / pods along the lines of these by fellow AT-er Kimhas4cats:

http://flickr.com/photos/kimhascats/336554034/

ps - THANKS for the compliments! Praise from Apartment Therapy and AT readers is high praise indeed :)

pps - er, "peace" of mind, not the other way

Hey Jess, I have almost the same sofa, and most definitely the same cat problem. What's worked for me is that clear double-sided tape you can get at the pet store. Put a strip everywhere the cat prefers to scratch (arms, bottom edge) and after the first couple sticky-paws, kitty cat learns to far stay away. Not the prettiest solution at first, but you can always rip it off if someone is coming over ... and after awhile you can leave it off for longer and longer periods of time to see if kitty has learned his lesson.

Alternately, Soft Paws also work and aren't too expensive (good luck getting them on the first time though).

I REALLY wanted my sofa to stay unscratched, so I used both together. So far so good.

Thanks, Tequila Red! I've heard the double-sided sticky material won't adhere to a stain-resistant surface. Any idea whether that's so?

We ordered Soft Paws but have yet to attempt to get them on. We are mustering up the courage to wrestle the cats down...

Wow, I've half assedly armored my sofa before but never to that degree.

I have a Petrie sofa on order (purchased during C & B's custom upholstery sale last Fall) and I hope to get it before March! The key for me was to get it in more kitty-friendly ultrasuede. Your post has made me even more excited to finally get the sofa!

I have that exact sofa AND four cats.

Don't ask me what I was thinking, but it is a beautiful sofa.

Anyway, the biggest problem is that the loose fabric weave catches kitty claws very easily, so it's always getting snagged. The sticky tape works really well (it sticks just fine), especially along the upper back side of the sofa, where kitties love to lounge.

The best thing that worked for me was a sofa cover, which I'd take off when company came over. I used it for about 6 months before deciding that I wanted to enjoy the sofa even when I'm alone.

The sofa is getting more scratches, of course, and I've just decided that I'll try to get it recovered in a sturdier fabric in the next year or so.

Enjoy your sofa.

I've never tried the aluminum foil trick. Another option I love is Nature's Miracle Best Behavior Pet Training Aid. It's an all natural spray (water & bittering agents) that you spray on the leg of the sofa or the bottom of the cushion and then put kitty's mouth on it. It worked for us. We bought a white couch and after 2-3 times using the spray, we have a 95% avoidance success rate. It tastes like super strong pepper water (we had to try it on us before we used it on the cat). Getting kitty's mouth on the spot can be tricky, but even if we got it on her nose, she'd lick it off and it still tasted icky to her. Congrats on the new couch!

I was admiring the sofa and then i realized that is the same one I have- feeling ditzy today! I got the chocolate brown one at the C&B outlet in Kittery, Me for $400 (small rip on back) . Nice House by the way

I like teh sofa, but I don't understand how people can buy used upholstered furniture, knowing what they do about transporting bedbugs and other creatures. Not worth the risk IMO.

I think Soft Paws has previously been discussed on AT and these things are really problematic, as I recall. I wouldn't put them on my cat and would warn others to research them thoroughly before subjecting a cat to them.

I know for a fact that my cat does not enjoy the Soft Paws but he's adjusted to them over the past 4 months fairly well. He even tolerates the reapplications with only a few blinks of disdain.

Declawing your cat is far more traumatic, in my opinion. Having said that, I probably would have done it if this hadn't worked.

Get one of those cardboard scratching post refills and lay it ont he ground next to the sofa coated in cat nip. My cats love them and sleep on the scratchers like beds. They don't even bother with the rug anymore.

i love this sofa!!! you even chose it in my color. white...how is it in keeping clean? i think i know the answer to this...but are the covers removable? say if you had to wash them??? (oh yeah...they are 100% cotton, arent they?) maybe i will have to go for the charcol...m