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I hear your frustration. Why would urban outfitters sell a COUCH thats "online-only" ?? Silly people.

I sat on some urban outfitter couches recently and they are very very very cheaply made (like everything in that store.)

I bought a similar couch at Urban Outfitters (this one- http://www.urbanoutfitters.com/urban/catalog/productdetail.jsp;jsessionid=B6688D2F69257DF3F757A19C7DFE8F44.app12-node7?itemdescription=true&itemCount=60&id=13216502&parentid=A_FURN_FURNITURE&sortProperties=&navCount=196&navAction=poppushpush&color=) about 9 months ago. It looked great and was comfortable at first, but the buttons pop off very easily, the cushion is wearing down fast, and it's getting dirty and it is difficult to clean. So 9 months later I broke down and bought a couch from Room & Board, and I wish I had done that to begin with. Originally I wanted a sofa bed too, but they were all too poofy looking for me so I got a Wells and decided that if I have guests I will have to get an aerobed or have them just sleep on the couch.

I used to have a futon couch from Ikea that was much more comfortable and durable but not as cute. Room & Board has some sofas that are in the $1000 range (like the Lenox and the Archer) and if you are going to end up having to replace the Urban one in a year anyway it might be worth spending a little bit more for something that is built a little better.

Not sure about the sofa bed in question, but if anyone out there is looking for a comfy sofa bed and is willing to part with a few grand, check out Cosma by the German furniture manufacturer COR:
http://www.cor.de/_products/4_bedsdaybeds/e_cosma.php

It runs around $2950.

I really love this couch too. I would add to the question, "Are the colors true to what they look like online?" I don't think they'll send swatches, and it is quite a gamble buying a couch you've never seen.

I wish the more expensive brands made something just like this. I've been looking for a while, and this is the nicest fold down design I've seen, hands down. If anyone's found something that is higher quality and similar, please post.

Ive sat on this sofa, and was not impressed. It's great "throw away" type of furniture with an average lifespan of 2-3 years, and if used often I'd say closer to 2. The grade A fabric does not wear well, and reminds me of my middle school gym clothes...I too wanted this sofa until I met it in person..

I'd keep looking. The inexpensive foam inserts and lackluster upholstery on this piece was enough to make me spend the extra dollar for a similar Mid-century style sofa....without the sleeper function.

Good Luck

Funny, I was curious about both sofas last week, and now I've got a helpful post to read about them.

By the way, is anyone else experiencing a really odd formatting on these post pages, after you click on the initial link from the main page. I'm getting it in both IE and Mozilla Firefox. The righthand nav bar keeps getting superimposed on the central content, so I can't read the posts or the main content very easily.

It happens inconsistently too, not on every post.

Urban outfitters will send swatches for free. just call the phone number that is usually posted in the description.

i've been looking for a couch similar to the one canyouwink posted about and went to my local urbn and sure enough - VERY UNCOMFORTABLE - and it actually was wobbly when i sat down on it. too bad because it was on sale for $298..............

Great to look at, but won't last.

DON'T DO IT! I was foolish enough to buy an UO futon to use as a couch about 2 years ago and was completely disappointed with the furniture. The bolt of the legs became badly stripped within 6 months (and as they are welded onto the frame, they are impossible to replace) and now it wobbles so much its fit for the rubbish bin. The quality is just completely lacking...you'd be better off with an Ikea piece in my opinion if you're looking for an economical piece.

Also consider that Urban Outfitters (and Anthropologie) is owned by Richard Hayne, who gives quite a lot of money to right wing conservative political campaigns, including to Rick Santorum. Perhaps this isn't an issue for you, but if it is, it's worth considering.

Have you consider the CB2 LUBI Daybed?
It got decent marks in an AT thread...

http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/chicago/seating-sofas-armchairs/good-questions-quality-of-cb2s-lubi-daybed-030939

I think, you get what you pay for. Sometimes, less than what you pay for...

Oh Charmac, that is such a bummer! I wish I didn't know that about those stores, I enjoy shopping in them. What a drag.

Thanks Charmac. I won't be shopping there anymore!

I don't know what I'm more upset about...the cheap sofa or the company giving money to the likes of little ricky.

Look at Crate and Barrel's Petrie sofa. I bought one 18 months ago, and I love it. It is great quality, a nice mid-range price, and I think it will last a long time. I also bought it because it is a couple inches deeper than the average sofa, so it is really comfortable as a bed. It comes in brown or cream. I went for the brown. I think it's around $1600? But it will LAST.

every piece of furniture that i have ever tried from urban outfitters was disappointing. they are uncomfortable and feel like they will fall apart within a year.

Thanks for sharing the behind the scene info Charac.
I don't shop at either, but I will share that info with friends.

A sofa is one piece of furniture where it doesn't pay to cut corners to save a few dollars. Low cost sofa's often hide poor quality construction behind low quality fabrics. The look good for a while, but they won't hold up.

You are better waiting to buy a better quality piece.

Charmac. As an employee of Urban Outfitters, Inc. , I think its important that you know the facts before slandering a company. First off, Urban Outfitters is not owned by Richard Hayne [I remember this article from about 5 years ago, by a lazy reporter that obviously doesn't fact check]. UO inc. is a publicly traded corporation that is owned by its shareholders. The company is very progressive in regards to the way it treats its employees, and the communities in which it conducts business. Another frequent accusation is that UO operates factories that use child labor. This could not be further from the truth, as the company does not operate any factories of its own, and does not support vendors that do.

If you want to state a quality issue, that's fine, but muckraking is unacceptable. I would certainly not work for a company that abused their employees, used child labor, or had right-wing conservative policies. I think you'd be pleasantly surprised to know that company and its employees are markedly left of center.

Here is a similar sofa from Macy's that is $900. http://www1.macys.com/catalog/product/index.ognc?ID=251414&CategoryID=35377&LinkType=SiteAd&LinkLoc=29391&AdID=42797

I believe that Johnny55 and Charmac are both right. Urban Outfitters is a publicly traded company but it wasn't always and I guarantee that Dick Hayne as Board/President/Director/Founder owns a HUGE chunk of stock and controls the big picture of how the company is run. The head of the company is definitely NOT left of center.

I have nothing but respect for Dick's business acumen - I was one of his early employees in the 70's and even then he had an interesting political point of view for someone so young. I viewed him as a libertarian at the time. He seemed live and let live when it came to lifestyle choices. I have no idea what led Dick and his wife (the creative director of Free People) to donate to this creep but unfortunately it does color my view of him and what it seems he has become politically. Being from PA, I fought long and hard for Santorum's defeat in the last election.

Charmac is correct in the sense that if a company head's political affiliations affect where you shop you might not want to shop at UO, Anthropologie, Free People or Terrain, their new effort. But FWIW, when I attended a Planned Parenthood event last fall an executive from Anthropologie had donated a big fat gift certificate to the auction part of the evening.

Johnny 55-
I find it very strange that you suddenly appear on Apartment Therapy today. Maybe you work for PR? Just throwing that out there.
While Richard Haynes may not own the company, he is the Chairman of the Board and President of Urban Outfitters Inc owning 30% of the company. Last year he was on the Forbes Billionaires List, with a net worth of 1.4 billion dollars. While he may not “own” the company, he does play a major role in its decisions. He did in 2004 donate $4250 to the Republican Party, which isn’t entirely “left of the center.” Granted, $4250 is meager compared to his net worth. This isn’t muckraking. All these facts are true and can be gathered at the following sites:
http://www.campaignmoney.com
www.Forbes.com
http://www.urbanoutfittersinc.com

Politics aside (and thanks everyone for enlightening me...) isn't the fabric polyester? That alone would blow it for me.

So you are using this as a couch and a bed? I think you should get a bed and then some chairs to sit on. But if you are stuck on this sleeper couch I would invest in a nice one. If money is an issue, I know Macy's has excellent payment options.

Thank you everyone for your comments and tips!!

-leanbean- the Macy's sofa is really cute and I want it NOW!! But unfortunately I need a sofa bed, since my room is way too small for both bed and a sofa...what a bummer, especially since it's $200 off now!

Since I sent my question I've gone to another Urban Outfitter where I found and tested their other sofa beds/sleepers and I was very, VERY disappointed with the quality. One was hard as cement, and the other took me and my friend (and an employee) over 10 minutes to convert to a bed...

Since I will be sleeping on it every night, I think I will take everyone's advice and go for quality (perhaps http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/S49841104 ?).

BOO for more nights of sleeping on the floor, but a lot bigger YAY for not unknowingly contributing to the Republicans :) (thanks, Charmac)

Thank you SO MUCH for all your replies!!!!

first off, i thought i just heard you say you'd be going for quality at IKEA! lol. i mean, i buy a lot of stuff from ikea, but i don't exactly consider that crap quality LOL. i have a futon thing from urban outfitters, and it looks AWESOME, and is decently comfortable. have you asked in the store if they can order it and put it in the store so you could try it.... i dont know why they couldnt do that. also check out www.futonplanet.com and www.thefutonshop.com

-tim
www.timmelideo.com

IKEA and quality:
I've found the quality at IKEA varies considerably. A lot of it's not too great, but some items are actually of pretty decent quality. Price doesn't always equate with quality. For instance, I have the EFFEKTIV system:
http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/categories/rooms/workspace/11689/
and I've found it to be quite durable, usable and it's held up extremely well.

haha, yes.. Sad, but IKEA is in my price range. And hopefully it's (better) quality than Urban Outfitters...?

I guess I can buy the traditional sofa beds/sleepers, but they all seem very... bleh. I know I should be focusing more on the quality, but since it's going to be the focus of my room, I want something CUTE.

When did this become about Republican bashing?

I just saw the Parker Sleeper Sofa from World Market and thought of this thread. http://www.worldmarket.com/Parker-Sleeper-Sofa/lev/4/productId/7010/Ntt/parker%20sleeper%20sofa/Ntx/mode matchallpartial/Ntk/Def/N/0/Nty/1/index.pro

It's similarly priced to the Urban Outfitters one, though not quite as modern or structural looking. And I have no idea about comfort or quality, but thought you might want another option to consider and research.

mmmmh.
well if they have that much fee-tag, I'd rather spend more (longetivity > hip) and I dont mind spendin a bit more in a place like west elm, room board (this last, is pricier, but you can get to test their stuff, most of their collection even sit and chat for an hour, w/o pressure). Of course that didnt apply before I payed off my school loans... now theres a bit more room for those budgets. sort of.

Richard does have some interesting politics and as such would never ever buy anything from his publically traded companies....even though Anthropologie is headed by a gay man.

Bottom line...the quality of the goods are questionable as are the politics of the majority shareholder.

I bought this couch because of the price tag, and I wanted a more mid-century looking couch. I got rid of my Ektorp sofa, and it was the worst thing I've ever done.

This couch is AWFUL. It's super uncomfortable, almost unbearably so, and feels super shaky. It does not feel sturdy at all. Not to mention the fact that when I picked it up from the store they only gave me 1 box, even after I asked "is there a second box? It says 1/2 on the box" and three employees assured me there was no second box. After the drive home an hour later, I discovered that I was right. I had half a couch for a week, had to sit on the floor for a week, and had absolutely horrendous experiences with their customer service.

I'm going to try and sell this couch and cut my losses. What a waste!