apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

without a doubt.

It would depend on the condition of the fabric. If it were in great vintage shape I would definitely leave it as is. But if the fabric were ratty then I would reupholster it.

no! its so cute

I love it!

what? no way. if it's in good condish, i wouldn't. that thing is awesome.

Maybe keep one of the back rest pillows as an accent color, but the whole couch with the "retro" pattern is too much.

If this sofa is used in an unconventional living space, like a warehouse, loft, etc white walls concrete floors mixed with some Modern furniture all very simple and solid colors it would be really fun. I guess it depends on where it is going and how it relates to the rest of the space.

Since it is a very old school conventional sofa a solid velvet or wool fabric might just be a bit boring.
Also, very easy to slip cover when you don't want the
day-glo look and take slip cover off for something palm beach pucci -ish.

I love it just as it is.

NO--please don't touch it. If you don't like the fabric, give it to someone who appreciates it. It's classic.

No way! That room is great. Love the photographs.

If it's in nice shape, I'd keep it! If only a few cushions were in good condition and the rest of the fabric was worn out, I'd probably reupholster the couch and try to salvage the good fabric for throw pillows.

Keep!!

NOOo! That's an awesome sofa, so vibrant, don't take away its personality!

I like it in the room, but I don't know if I could live with it for a long period.

i say get rid of the coffee table in front of it before getting rid of the sofa. the sofa looks great in the room... for some reason i think the coffee table makes it look old instead of vintage though...

It's great in that room. I think if you brought it into most living spaces, everything around it would have to be changed to accomodate it. But I'd be willing to make that change!

it looks great in that space. definitely a keeper if in good condition. if it were in my home, however, i'd recover it. it wouldn't work with my style at all.

reupholster. The one I grew up with had blue flowers on a lighter blue background. (it was a high back)
With new fabric, you would think this couch was brand new and modern.

NO IT'S AMAZING. I'll trade you.

If the fabric is in really superb condition– keep it! It's cheeky and fun. If it could be in better shape, change it.

I love the vibrant colors, but the pattern is a bit too old fashioned. It looks like it came out of my grandma's living room, and the portraits of the old people above it don't help.

Are the springs drooping underneath? Maybe remove the skirting and replace the legs to give it a more modern feel. Also exchange the existing throw pillows with something a little more contrasting to pull from the great prints.

oh, I love it. it's aware of its semi-tackiness and owns it. but it definitely needs the bold artwork above it to work.

That thing is so hideous it makes my eye twitch just looking at it. The shape and lines of the couch are attractive, but that fabric? Yikes. Now that the 60's-70's garrish patterns and colors are back "in style" for a few seasons everyone has totally forgotten how we've spent the last 30 years cringing at these tacky design mistakes. All that's missing is an advocado colored fridge in the background.

That fabric looks very familiar. I think my grandma had a pants suit that looked like that. I think it looks great in that space. It's like a perfect marriage there. This was destiny. This is like a couch, if you saw it and you wanted to reupholster it, maybe it's better if you leave it behind for someone who needed it because it's just so right. Do not try to interfere with the course of the stars. Perhaps your karmic gesture will bring the perfect couch for you, that stunner, non-ho-hum, that is your style, that will not merely suffice, but will make the space. You have to give this upholstery so much credit and if you let it go where it belongs, if I had anything to do with it, you would be rewarded.

I would show some leg and staple the skirt back.

it's awesome - they should go all out and paint the room

People who like the Pottery Barn and Dwell aesthetics will hate that couch. One thing might be that the white walls are a little stark next to it, but I like the keylink from the pillow on the chair in the other room.

And that coffee table is kinda neat. I was always curious about that "brass bamboo" look that I figure was a parallel phenom with rattan and wicker.

Yes.

How does the sofa smell?

I would find some unique pillows, maybe black and white with text on them to replace those (yawn) on the couch. Pillows are tough to get just right. Are there any pillow consultants out there?

I like the suggestion of keeping the pillows the original fabric, but reupholstering the couch in a solid color. I think it would be a great modernization without losing the original integrity.

Those photographs are to die for.

It's a keeper.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Don't touch it - it's spectacular.

I agree with LoriSF - it would be in it's element in a larger space rather than in a small apartment.

But seriously, don't change it, it's beautiful!!!

i'm in love with that couch. but i could understand if it's a bit too much for some people. if it were me, and everything on the couch was in pretty good shape, i'd totally keep it. probably already scotch-guarded too... i mean, if i DID come from Palm Beach! haha!

It's perfect exactly the way it is - I hope he keeps it in good shape so that when he tires of it he can sell it to one of us here who'd love to have it.

No don't change the upholstery!!!!! Swap the coffee table for a cheap Danish knock off and throw some black pillows on the couch, but don't change the couch--it's so awesome.

I'd keep it a while for fun. But orange 70s print is not forever. It'll be tiresome soon enough.

Horrible. And I guess I'm the only one, but I'll say it anyway: it looks awful and out-of-place in that room. Like cheap beat-up shoes with an Armani suit. I doubt it was tasteful the day it was bought.

i love it. very much

I wonder if opinions about it have anything to do with how old you were when that sort of abomination was in style? For instance, I was old enough to be having sex. On couches that looked a lot like that one, and I vow to never go down that path again. Velvet, tweed, even microfiber, but never upholstery that is the visual equivalent of "Up With People".

Oh, I disagree about getting rid of the coffee table. That's probably my favorite element in the room. If anything, get rid of the end table. It's much too dark and heavy. And I agree with jess that they should paint. The white is a bit stark.

Absolutely. Beautiful shape, impossible color. I'm all about retro sofa pattens, but this is just TOO neon for me.

BTW- great photos! Very intriguing.

I'd reupholster - it looks good in its setting, but it could look great.

As with so many colour issues, the problem is not one thing, it's the ensemble of things that doesn't work as well as it could. That sofa demands a bold and dramatic setting to make it look like a deliberate choice rather than a dumpster dive find. It's not getting its due in the room as pictured.

Paint the wall a dark olive colour - one with a lot of yellow in it, not neutral. Remove the two small prints on the left and the tiny one at bottom right. Try to match the hot orange in the floral pattern for new throw cushion covers with white piping - the plain-jane ivory and green are way too tame. Swop out the lamp shades for black drum shades with gold lining. Replace the phone with a cream coloured vintage 'Model 500.'

You'd have to be awfully cool to carry that thing off as ironic.

The upholstery job looks expensive (it looks like the fabric is quilted to outline the pattern, which would make it late 1980's to early 1990's by my estimation... my mother had a decorator put similarly finished fabric on furniture and bedspreads in a bedroom back then, and the curtains matched -- ach!). The sofa looks like it's good quality. I'd keep it that way if the thing is sanitary. In fact I might even put a white and acid green rug in front of it, and just go with it. But please change out that pink photo on the wall (on the left). Pink against those greens, oranges and yellows is alarming.

Like others have said, if the fabric is good, then don't! Your living room looks great!

I like it there too, choose the slip cover or throw solution, and change once a year : summer in retro funk, winter in hibernation under a dark slipcover. The yearly rediscovery will keep it from being too oppressive, and there are many ordinary sofas already to destroy a fun piece like this.
Who knows, if it were an art deco sofa with its original fabric, or a 50s couch with Eames-pattern material the question wouldn't be asked?
I also agree that the coffee table does make it look more 70s, and something contrasting, with a few darker coushions are a good idea.

No way !!!! its such a unique piece , to Reupholster it , would mean conforming !!!!

Definitely recover - its looks bloody awful in that room! - with the heavy black side table and the black frames to the pictures above it simply doesn't work and bunging a yellow lamp in there just makes it all the more horrible - it would be beautiful in a nice neutral taupe

Yes, please reupholster! I can see what you're getting at -- if this sofa could look OK anywhere, it's in this room -- but it's still disgusting. Maybe the best thing is to learn something from the sofa -- ie, incorporate some kind of kitsch 1960s/70s element when re-upholstering -- but even so, this particular fabric goes too far -- it's just ick. There are plenty of, in hindsight, admirable ugly/beautiful kitsch fabrics out there. But this, surely, isn't one of them?

I like this sofa - reminds me of my moms. Hers isn't as intense but it has that same unique vintage feel. I agree with some of the others replacing the end table perhaps? Also, having a slipcover made to change 'round a bit during the seasons. Overall, I like the room and would leave the sofa as is.

I've already commented once but I just have to go again. I think the black side table is awkward.

Steven is obviously not afraid to have fun with his rooms. Just look at those photos. Almost unsettling! In a good way...like the sofa. keep the upholstery. Maybe you'll get tired of it one day. So be it. Change it then. Enjoy it (and people's reactions to it) now.

oh, Come On! Upholstery like that was bad then and it's bad now! Come to your senses, everybody!!!

love those portraits above the sofa

Yes - asap.

I think the room is kinda funky as is. We found a couch like that in our basement, but had to get rid of it due to the smell.

http://www.makemineeclectic.wrodpress.com

It looks really good in this room, but I don't know if I'd want to live with that 70s vibe every day. Then, I probably wouldn't buy the couch, so if the owner likes it, no need to reupholster.

I agree about getting rid of that coffee table. There's a thin line between retro chic and dated.

If it were my couch I'd probably have to re-upholster eventually. But right now it look AWESOME. Keep it like that until you get sick of it. You can always re-upholster or buy a slipcover, but original 70's kitsch can never be restored.

The fabric is the only thing that sofa has going for it. The shape's not special but the upholstery is.

I suppose every home should have at least one object that your friends point and laugh at...ice breaker?

Absolutely not! the sofa is fabulous and gives the room a disntinctive flavor. Say no to bland, chic modern interiors!

That sofa rocks the room. Love the art too! Wouldn't change a thing.

OWN IT!! It is too awesome to change. Maybe once its worn out, thoroughly worn out. Until then, keep many small items in the color of the sofa around... love the yellow lamp!

NO!!! If it doesn't suit your taste, give it to someone who can appreciate it.

Don't touch that sofa! It looks wonderful AS IS. Reminds me a little bit of a sofa that my mom had when I was growing up, although not as bright as the one in the photo:
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=2203938&id=716179304

Trying too hard. And ugly.

Sorry, I think it's fugly. And it doesn't look good in that room either.

So unfortunate that those who think it is nice, cool, perfect, etc. Were not raised in that era. Believe me your eyes start to hurt and your teeth start to grind. It's not the colors as much as the pattern. All you want to do is run out of the house to the nearest funeral parlor or library for some peace of mind.

Hell yes, do that over. Keep the colors if you must but please that pattern is not "classic" as some one mentioned. Bad taste is a terrible thing "to die for!"

Although I do love this print and would personally keep it the way it is, it does not look like it is fitting your style, I am not seeing one piece in that room that is being complimented by it. Possibly the gold table but there would have to be a lot more in my opinion to make this fit.

And I do agree with finding someone who will love it and appreciate it, because I am not sure the shape even does the room justice...........

But remember this is YOUR space if you love it and everything in it, then keep it the way it is.

I'm with lambofcairo and mrs yow -- so ugly it hurts my head, and yes, the opinion is probably a product of having been there the first time around. Seems to me that younger people are the ones who love vintage, not those of us to whom it just looks "old".

Keep! Love it!

I would never change it. I agree with whoever said that if you don't like it, please sell it to someone who does. It's so unique and great and it looks like its in good condition from the photo. It's so great!

Are you kidding? That couch is fantastic! It's not for everyone, sure, but what is? I'm not loving the black side table with it, but I do like the bamboo coffee table.

Besides, if the owner ever gets sick of the print, it's always an option to replace or reupholster later. It's just a couch.

Bob Barker called he wants his price-is-right sofa back!

In that room the couch is PERFECT!!!!

I think it's rad... And I don't use that word much. In the space it's shown it looks fabulous. I love that the back pillows have some dimension in the pattern.

Yes, reupholster. It looks like my grandmother's Florida retirement community threw up on it.

Please, please, please reupholster. I don't like kitsch, it makes me squirm a little bit.

uuuhhhh... if you didn't, I would think someone was on crack

I **LOVE** that sofa in that room, especially with those photographs - please don't reupholster.

Only thing to change may be that black side table or the coffee table - both are unique pieces that I think compete too much with the sofa, artwork and lamp.

Go ahead and reupholster it. You know you want to...why else would you have to ask?!

I'd keep it as is or sell it to someone who wants it. With a few changes in the room (including the already mentioned off-placed magenta picture) it looks great.

I personally wouldn't want it, but it's amazing with the photography in that room. Whoever put those things together has a great eye.

Love the sofa with the lamp and the artwork, but I would keep only the two large prints and eliminate the others.

Lose the coffee table (or replace it with something more contemporary, less garage sale-y). Put something tall and airy on the new coffee table (like an elegant, clear vase with some kind of yellow or green blossoming tree branches). This will balance the tall artwork.

Lose the phone on the end table. Lose the red, white and blue books on the end table and find some with more neutral spines...or a simple, small bowl of some kind.

I would almost guarantee that decluttering this room a little will give the sofa more impact without looking so busy.

I don't think it works at all, but I just don't like the style. The old people are scary to me! The lamp on the side table is way too high, and that coffee table and the side tables don't go with the couch, or each other. I think the couch COULD work if the room was seriously decluttered, as karenajane said. Or changed. A slipcover would be better than reupholstering it.

i'd put it in my little girl's room.