apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

If you can't find the exact one, take as many pictures as you can from the movie to a custom furniture maker (play the DVD on your PC or Mac and make screenshots of the best scenes and print them).

I know that sounds scary but you can have a nice sofa custom made for the same price you'd pay for a *quality* sofa in a big store somewhere. The upholsterer I use has made sofas like that for a couple grand. Compare that with over 5 grand for a Neiman Marcus velvet sofa.

Honestly though - search antique stores and Craigslist. Look for one with a good frame, and reasonably close styling. Ignore the fabric. In fact the more crappy the fabric the better. You can get old sofas like the one above, in need of re-upholstery, for $300 or less. I see 'em every day.

Once you find an old one for not much money then have it recovered. The upholsterer will replace all the stuffing and etc so no worries about allergies or etc. And the total cost will be less than half that of a new/custom sofa.

That's what I would do for a sofa like this, not knowing where to find this exact one.

You might try Funky Sofa. They have similarly styled sofas and several types of velvet. I don't know about their quality or customer service.

I think those Funky Sofa ones are basically throwaways. Anything you get for under $600 isn't going to last more than a couple of years of daily use. They do look nice though.

Domain on 22nd/Bway used to carry a curved tufted red velvet last year or 2005.

Here's a perfect example of what I was taking about re-Craigslist.

This is a really close match as far as I can fell from the limited pictures.

Ignore the shot fabric. Picture these in red velvet (and new stuffing) and you'd have something *really* close.

You'd be looking at maybe a grand for reupholstering each of these two sofas in the ad. Especially if you buy your own velvet fabric ahead of time. Velvet fabric is really cheap, you can get it for less than $10 a yard.

http://portland.craigslist.org/mlt/fur/367942318.html

Just search your own local Craigslist for variations on "vintage couch", "vintage sofa", "tufted couch", etc.

Aww, that looks almost exactly like the sofa I grew up with! :)

I got a red velvet-ish sofa from Storehouse (now sadly bankrupt and out of business)--the floor model they showed was a different color and fabric, but any of their stuff was available in a huge number of colors and fabrics. I assume this is true of other furniture stores too--so maybe go browse the racks of fabric samples and see if you can put together something like this.

I also saw a similar sofa at Domain this spring -
http://www.domain-home.com/catalog.cfm?group=live&c_name=tate
When it was on sale, I think it was about $1500?

If you really have your heart set on that one, what you need to do is go to the Internet Movie Database (IMDB) and find out the name of the set decorator/designer. If you contact them, there is a very good likelihood they will help you with contact information.

They usually buy or rent their furniture from the same companies from job to job and this helps their relationships with the manufacturers. Just imagine how friendly and accommodating Crate & Barrel is to movie set decorators after "The Break Up" and that darn "Petrie" sofa!

I have also been able to find almost anything from a movie by searching for it on Google. You just have to figure out the right combination of words. What did we do before Google?!

Check out this sofa on CL. Maybe you can get in professionally cleaned or reupholstered http://newyork.craigslist.org/mnh/fur/369996195.html

Boomer, do you live in NY? Because I am HIGHLY skeptical about getting a sofa restuffed and reupholstered for anything close to $1K in the NY area. Based on some guestimates I got from others on this site I bought a like-new chair on CL that just needed a fabric change, thinking I could get the whole job done for under $500; ultimately I have gotten estimates for labor alone ranging from $500-900 not including fabric.

Throw in 8 yards of upholstery quality fabric at a not unreasonable $40/yard, and I'm looking at $1K easy when you include tax. I will ultimately end up paying roughly the same price that the exact same chair would have cost me brand new. Frankly I don't even really like the fabric I have selected as much as the ones available from the original manufacturer, plus getting estimates from upholsterers has been a big hassle and has taken me hours.

I think all the posters on this site who urge people to reupholster thrift shop finds are doing novices a real disservice. To have a large piece completely overhauled could easily cost a couple of thousand, and I think few non-professionals have the knowledge to know if the frame is sturdy enough, etc. to be worth overhauling. And relatively basic upholstery-quality fabrics are routinely $60-100 a yard or more.

Accordingly, unless you have upholstered pieces before or have a pro to assist, I STRONGLY discourage you from working with Craigslist finds, particularly for something likely to see as much use as a couch. You could end up paying several thousand dollars and investing many hours of time for something that is still not exactly what you want, and ultimately of no higher quality than a piece from IKEA! I personally will never consider reupholstering something ever again unless it is some type of heirloom piece with sentimental value that I won't mind spending more on than I would with a new piece.

eeeck - I live in Vancouver (WA).

I've had most all of my Craigslist finds professionally reupholstered in Portland (OR).

The most I ever spent was about a grand for one large lounge chair (including the leather hides which I also bought from Craigslist) but that was mainly because the wood finish needed a lot of restoration, and I used new decorative nailheads for the entire trim which is very labor intensive. My original cost from Craigslist was $40 for the piece. It's now worth $3500. People were begging the shop to sell it to them before I could even pick it up.

Labor here runs about $75 an hour if I remember right (it's been about a year since I had anything re-upholstered). I don't know what the better shops charge in your area.

All you need to to do to find out is simply take a picture to a good shop and ask. Anybody worth their pay will be able to give you an estimate from the photo, plus or minus a couple hundred bucks.

I once owned an 1800's French Victorian sofa and had a written estimate for $1200 for restoration (the shop I use are experts in antiques).

So instead of scaring people away from recycling furniture, I'd suggest helping them in getting educated.

All the pieces I've had done are worth (appraised) 3X what they cost me to do.

The Ikea reference is *way* off base.

You just need to know what's worth spending money on and what isn't.

For example - sofas like the one in the movie seem to be going for upwards of $2800 for anything with good quality.

So it's very reasonable to find one and reupholster it, even if the cost is say $2000 (which I doubt very much). You're saving $800 or a lot more and you have complete control over every aspect.

Because in the end, assuming the person chooses wisely and picks a piece with a good solid frame and coil springs, they will have a quality piece of furniture that will outlive them.

As to fabric, the question is about velvet.

There's no good reason to spend $40 a yard on velvet. It's between $12 and $20 a yard at J&O (great source for vintage fabric BTW).

http://www.jandofabrics.com/products.asp?id=133&viewall=True

I felt the same way about the movie - I hated it, but I loved the loft, and the furniture.

Now I'm going to see that movie just for the decor.

About the velvet -- there are many different kinds of velvet - cotton, silk, rayon (I think i even came across linen velvet once. oddly enough), as well as acrylic and polyester. As with anything, you get what you pay for. An acrylic velvet for $20/yd will not feel or look like a cotton or silk velvet.

As for a source of classic tufted sofas, I think immediately of George Smith. Their sofas are built to last a lifetime. Another source are auctions, where you can often find classic Enlish tufted sofas, albeit usually in leather. Definitelt worth checking though.

i think that that exact sofa is from either horchow or george smith.... both expensive. BUT Michelle Gold does a nice chesterfield (called 'chester') available in a variety of velvets and I BELIEVE the price is the neighborhood of 2000 bucks. and they areavailable all over.

monika1 - Thanks for the velvet info, I had no idea.

Here's rayon cotton velvet @ $13 a yard.
http://www.housefabric.com/ProductDetail.asp?ProductID=21019

100% cotton velvet for $17 a yard.
http://www.fashionfabricsclub.com/catalog_itemdetail.aspx?ItmID=S1292

rayon/silk combination velvet for $12 a yard.
http://www.fashionfabricsclub.com/catalog_itemdetail.aspx?ItmID=EE059

I'm wondering what is the difference between those and these :

http://www.iluvfabrix.com/upholstery-fabric/velvet-fabric/11.htm

By the way - the leather tufted English sofas are called Chesterfields.

If you can find a real English Chesterfield for less than a few grand, grab it.

Horchow makes Chesterfield reproductions for $2800 (same price leather or fabric).

http://tinyurl.com/2cp8du

Here's a real Chesterfield from 1930 for only 5 grand.

http://www.rubylane.com/shops/londonmarket/item/DL-25

Hi Boomer - I did not mean to sound nasty but trying to get someone to reupholster my piece in NYC has really been an unpleasant, difficult and expensive experience, and I felt the advice I received on this site really misled me.

Even getting the estimates has been difficult for someone like me who works typically hectic NYC hours and, like most people here, does not have a car. Many won't do it by fax or e-mail, and stopping by a shop with a photo just isn't feasible if the store is in Jersey or the farther reaches of Brooklyn or Queens.

Costs are also much higher here: Again, I was quoted up to $900 to reupholster a club chair that did not need any stuffing or spring work done, and also did not have any tufting, any loose cushions or a skirt. The very lowest quote (out of 4) I received was $450 from a firm in Queens that would neither pick up or deliver, adding $150 easy given the need to rent a car not to mention the hassle factor. And both estimates were for unpatterned fabric only, I was told that leather, vinyl, stripes or other patterns would increase the price!

Given these experiences it's hard for me to picture someone charging less than $2000 for a couch with lots of tufting like the links you showed. There is more leeway with fabric but after spending so much on labor you would hardly want to compromise too much there.

As I did point out, if you have experience getting furniture upholstered OR have someone who knows what they're doing to help, I'm sure you can come out ahead with upholstering vintage pieces. But here in NY - and this is ApartmentTherapy NY, after all - the costs are so high that you are not really likely to save much if anything over a new piece. That's why I feel it is very important to warn novices in the NY area that they really need to be cautious.

wow i thought i was the only one who was on a desperate search for this movie couch!! i dont feel so alone..

I don't have a lot of upholstery knowledge, but I had this ottoman reupholstered for less than $150 (COM) here in Chicago. Maybe it is a NYC thing--do we know that the person who asked this question is in NYC? I like boomer's suggestion, especially the advice to get a quote and pick out fabric and do the math before buying the sofa...

eeeck-

OK. Well said.

I remember how overwhelmed I was at first with my first project. I talked to a lot of shops on the phone before I narrowed it down to the one I use now.

It's inconvenient for me too. I absolutely *loathe* Portland. I hate driving in Portland. Plus the shop is only open during normal business hours which means I have to take time from work to have anything done. I just chalk it up to part of the overall cost and work it in to my schedult. I'm fortunate to have a forgiving work environment too.

So I totally empathize.

The shop I use does offer pickup and delivery but of course as you said that does cost extra.

Sure, patterns cost more because they have to be matched. Leather costs more because it has to be stretched and is harder to sew. But if they start giving you a big song and dance about it, I'd beat feet and go elsewhere.

Personally, for a club chair I would expect to pay around $600 at the shop I use (labor only), so your estimates seem to be in the ballpark.

I had a big comfy 1930 art deco chair that I had an estimate in that range for. I ended up bartering it to the owner (I got it really cheap anyway) in exchange for a discount on another project because he'd been looking for an art-deco piece...

sprele -

I was googling out of curiosity for more info on the sofa and there's more than one thread out there on other forums with the same question. I have yet to see it answered. Maybe it was a craigslist find. LOL ;->

I use to work at Restoration Hardware and I recall thinking that was our sofa in the movie. I believe it was featured in Persimmon which was last years fall color. I don't know if it is still available. Here is the link to the Barclay sofa:

http://www.restorationhardware.com/rh/catalog/product/product.jsp?productId=prod1145057&navCount=2

Good luck.

I agree with eeek about the cost of reupholstery. It AIN'T cheap. And that's *not* simply a case of a novice being overwhelmed. As eeek says, you can EASILY spend more on redoing a piece that buying new. But, of course, vice versa.

But if you find the right piece, it *is* worth it.

Patrick (the other one) -

Yep, it's all about finding the right piece and doing the math.

An the other hand, if it's something you *love*, and you have the dream to create something special with it, then you can't put a price tag on that.

Like this one for example. This is oviously custom and pure genius in my opinion. Basically someone took an old Persian saddle bag and upholstered a chair with it. It will outlast the chair...

http://www.persiancarpetguide.com/sw-asia/Rugs/Persian/Shahsavan_Sumac_Bags/images/Shahsavan_Cruciform_Bag_Chair.jpg

BTW, I never said reupholstery was cheap. Cheap is relative though.

hey, this is a few days late but i think this couch on CL could be interesting...

http://newyork.craigslist.org/mnh/fur/369996195.html

good luck

oh man, i HATED that movie, but i too was in love w/ her apt. it was a tad unbelievable for a girl that young, but still. it sorta screamed vintage find. so, try trolling craig, ebay, & local garage sales.

I have a pink mohair chesterfield sofa that I'm selling, you can click on my name to see pics.

I know this is a pretty old post, but I've been searching for this couch, too! I found a few that are very similar, and they allow custom fabrics-


http://www.horchow.com:80/store/catalog/prod.jhtml?itemId=cprod19070077&parentId=cat3870731&masterId=cat3810731&index=3&cmCat=cat000000cat000001cat4690735cat3810731cat3870731

http://www.drexelheritage.com/collection/item.asp?id=1837

And then there's THIS one that I'm pretty sure is the actual couch- the company filed for bankruptcy and I'm working on contacting the supplier that they used to see if the couch is still available.

http://domain.advantalink.net/product_search.cfm?sq=tate&x=0&y=0

And one more- this one's more squared like the one in the movie.

http://www.horchow.com:80/store/catalog/prod.jhtml?itemId=cprod13960002&parentId=cat3870731&masterId=cat3810731&index=10&cmCat=cat000000cat000001cat4690735cat3810731cat3870731