apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I think that the people who can afford to buy it new are the people who can afford to upgrade every couple of years. And not to worry about depreciation.

I bought a Multy sofa bed at the Ligne Roset in SF in 1998. It has followed me ever since and it is still as good as new. It was definitely expensive but it has paid for itself in terms of durability and design.

The colors in these pieces are so beautiful, I want to dive into the green ones.

We bought an 'Orient Express' (a precursor of their 'Nomade Express' line) sleeper sofa floor model, hadn't been there for long, in the late 90s. And after 4 years of daily use, the top cushions had so lost shape they were hanging over the edge like a melted Dali clock instead of showing crisp modern lines, and the fabric was worn, faded, grimy, and could not be cleaned, nor removed from the tufted cushions for replacing.

We replaced the cushions with new foam and new upholstery, but it was never as attractive again, and some other parts of the textiles that attaches the cushions to the base started ripping. When 'Nomade Express' came out we took a look and noticed that some of the attachment points had been moved into places we now knew would make more sense.

We retired this expensive showcase sofa to the office / guest room where it served well as a couch or a bed, with a big futon on it that folds well where it has to fold for when it is a couch. Of course, the futon slides down after use and needs to be pulled up, but it works. We saved our money and bought a Casprini Salomé for the living room. It cost even more, but it has held up wonderfully.

I have to say that for the price we paid and the amount of time it actually looked good, I consider it a bad buy, and am very wary of Ligne Roset. I will only buy sofas now where the covers come off all the way and can be easily stuck into a washing machine, and just hope for the best with the cushions. Something like Togo costs a complete fortune new, and it takes just one coffee mishap to make it look dowdy forever, and I now know not all foam constructions last.

Multy sofas can be seen quite often over here. The quality is okay, but I don't want a sofa everyone else seems to own. I don't like their stuff, it is usually too big to be used in small apartments (everything is so huge and needs lots of space to work in a room) and I don't like the fact, that they never offer slipcovers for their sofas (Multy is the exception, again).
I prefer IKEA, good quality vintage or something really really high quality stuff that will last forever.

What vendor(s) do you put in the "really really high quality" category?

I fell in love with the Togo when I was 8 years old, after seeing it in the homes of two different family friends back in the '70s. I vowed it would be my first sofa. It was.

We bought our first Togo in 1989. Being starving grad students at the time, we chose the lowest range fabric -- simple cotton canvas.

We "retired" it in 2007.

I think that 18 years is pretty good for multidensity foam seating! Sure, kiln dried hardwood with horsehair will last practically forever, but little else will.

We bought our next Togo in 2008, and even with daily use and two young children (my two year old had a cold this week, and umm, got some on the sofa), it is as pristine as the day we got it. The alcantara fabric is wonderful -- so far, everything wipes off with water (knock wood).

My husband and kids love the Togo as much as I do, and we still love it after all these years (and I am notoriously fickle and picky design-wise). There simply is nothing else as comfortable for cuddling or watching tv, or holing up with a book. Even our cats love it! (back when we had 3, each would sleep in one divet of our 3-seater, it was very funny).

In the current edition of Elle Décoration (France), they have a feature on timeless design, and declared that Togo is one such exemplar.

So much for the design standing the test of time, and for quality.

Personally, I find the pieces small-scale and perfect for apartments (the norm in Europe, their major market), so don't understand that criticism. And I would hardly call them ubiquitous either.

We bought one of their sofa-beds about five years ago because it was the only sofa-bed we found anywhere that looked good, did what we needed, and fit in our space. It is still as good as the day we bought it. Since we bought it on sale, the price was not entirely insane. The 5-month wait for it to be made and delivered was a bit much though.

I got the fugue sofa about 3.5 years ago. working out pretty well so far. The fabric is remarkably stain resistant. It seems to make stains disappear. Granted, it's a russet color, but I do think the fabric is great. Before this, I had a $2,000 sofa that started pilling after a year. Cheap fabric shows-- after my experience, I'd rather have good quality fabric that is not removable, rather than cheaper fabric in a removable slipcover.
My one beef-- the down in the back cushions kept escaping. Drove me so crazy that I complained to the store, and they sent me replacement pillows in foam at no cost.

Mschatelaine, you bought a Togo sofa while a "starving grad student"? Not so starving, I think. I really was a starving grad student years ago, and slept on a used mattress and had a $200 futon from Cost Plus for a sofa, and ate beans and tortillas for meals.

I've coveted a Togo for many years, but have never been able to just do a complete turnover of my furniture. That is one design that does not play well with others. You need the proper "shiny and new" decor to show it off, not an eclectic mix, as I have. It's interesting to read both good and bad comments about the quality of LR, though. Down escaping? Very bad. It means that the cushion was cheaply made.

I think that the reason you see these designs listed for sale by owners is that they make such a strong statement, and are so recognizable. Not trendy, but not subtle either. If you want to change the look of a room considerably, they might not be so easy to work into the new design, and many aren't candidates for new upholstery. A top-quality classic sofa, on the other hand (kiln dried wood, double dowelling, blocked corners, horsehair padding, etc.), should last a lifetime and adapt to new surroundings with reupholstering. To tell you how far in the other direction (from the LR Togo coveting) I have gone, my living room sofa is a George Smith, in mohair velvet. I've had it for ten years and I suspect that it will survive the apocalypse. That thing is sturdy. (Will I be chased out of here by the modernists, having admitted that I have such stodgy furniture?)