Call us crazy (and I know plenty of you will), but I'm loving these couches made of 18 gauge steel coffins salvaged from local funeral homes primarily in Southern California (keep recycling local!). The Dodger Blue couch is my favourite of course, but the rest shown below the jump are strangely appealing too. We blame our teenage goth years for this unusual macabre love.
We at Coffincouches.com have the mindset of thinking "Green" and we know it is different but we strongly believe in recycling. Our niche happens to be 18 gauge steel coffins which we collected from local funeral homes primarily in Southern California. It is a health and safety law that funeral homes cannot resell used coffins to the general public. We approached funeral directors with the attitude of recycling. These coffins are not used for burial due to slight cosmetic inconsistencies. They are reconfigured and modified resulting in a finished product - a unique one a kind coffin couch. If you notice (although it may be too small) the six cast iron heavy duty legs are embossed with the universal biohazard insignia. The reason we utilized this sign was because safety was our utmost concern. If you are not aware, once a human body is placed in a coffin it is considered biohazard tissue. The legs have the embossed insignia for precautionary reasons in the event body fluids are exchanged on these coffins. Perhaps you would feel safe knowing that you are in designated biohazard scene!
100 DIY Ideas for the 3-Day Weekend
Danielle's Charming, Classic Walk-Up
Good Food to Share 
The Big Book of Small, Cool Spaces 
Apartment Therapy Presents 
The Eight-Step Home Cure 
White Enamel Flatwa...
How To Make Perfect Bacon in the Oven
Perfect Summer Cocktail Recipe: Honey Bourbon Lemonade
im sure the LA punk/hipsters will just die for them!
"It is a health and safety law that funeral homes cannot resell used coffins to the general public."
And just where would you get a Used Coffin? Oh yeah...
"These coffins are not used for burial due to slight cosmetic inconsistencies."
Like anyone's gonna notice a scratch in the paint after a day or two...
I'm sorry - There's nothing remotely "Green" about any of this. These should have been simply shredded for scrap metal...
Um.... NO!
The fact that they're coffins doesn't creep me out. What DOES give me the heebie jeebies are those legs. Seriously, those legs are creepy looking.
That is SO bad-feelings.
Creepy!
AHHHHHGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! scary creepy and weird.
the legs are AWFUL!
These are the most fabulous couches I have ever seen.
!
That's just wrong!
"The legs have the embossed insignia for precautionary reasons in the event body fluids are exchanged on these coffins. Perhaps you would feel safe knowing that you are in designated biohazard scene!"
Um... wow. *shudder*
Ew, ew, ew... I am just gagging. Logically, I don't see anything wrong with it, but I can't control the involuntary response this is causing me! EW.
umm.. i just don't know what to say..
If I wasn't already signed up for cremation, these couches just gave me a mental picture of having to spend eternity in a hideous environment. No thanks!
Also its not clear to me where these coffins are coming from - were they rented for the wake to display the body, and then the body moved into a cheaper casket for burial?
beautiful
Interesting, but I don't want one.
The white/light one is the only one I find creepy, since it resembles actual coffin upholstery.
I prefer exchanging bodily fluids with someone who is -- at the very least -- alive.
Thug/gangsta/mafia chic.
Yowza!
Fabulous and brutal. I would have never have guessed it was a recycled coffin, just maybe some kind of punky-gangbanger-Matthew Barney-inspired piece. Perfect decor for a slick tattoo parlor if you ask me.
There's something sickly brilliant with the cow couch
I like them, but don't think I could live with it. Seems like something that would pop up in a Kelly Hoppen designed LA boutique hotel.
In the midst of life we are in death et cetera- Morrissey
I agree with most of you about the couch being creepy and/or eerie......but, I do love the 'shape' of it!!!
It would be the perfect couch for laying down and vegging on! Ha! Had to add some dark humor to this. Sorry....funny, though!
swany... particularly if you were listening to some past-life regression tapes and eating Fugu fish.
I didn't read the article right away, so I didn't even know there were coffins until I looked at the comments. I agree with someone above it's the legs that make these crazy.
"Gomez, darling, this would be simply stunning in the reception parlour."
Oh my goth, its not as if they were burried and dug up! These are awesome. But then, I warped sense of humor. The biohazard on the legs are a great detail. Now if they only made biohazard baggies to put my lunch in so no one would steal it from the fridge at work!
"Gomez, darling, this would be simply stunning in the reception parlour."
Hahaha - My initial thought was of Morticia Addams too!
Morbidity and dark humour (or lack thereof) aside, these samples are just ill-conceived and foogly IMO. They look like tacky unwanted resting places for the dead (wetslick mauve? wtf?) that have been transformed into yet tackier unwanted resting places for the living. Pearlescent vinyl and cowhide patchwork are difficult upholstery choices for any kind of seating. I don't think even hardcore goths, should they have the scrill to spare for such a lark, are going to go for the shiny or hairy finishes. I could see this concept selling maybe in all matte black with artfully tattered Belgian velvet upholstery. And shorter, less spidery legs.
Ugly, just ugly!
Actually, certain coffins can be reused legally. Many families whose loved one is going to be cremated will rent a coffin rather than spend on fortune on something that is going to go up in smoke (literally). There is a slide in coffin liner that holds the body and is slid out when the body is transported to the crematorium. The shell of the coffin is kept and reused time and time again. Most funeral homes have a few of these around so that Mrs. Magillicudy's funeral doesn't have to be delayed because Mr. Johnson is using the rented coffin.
These sofas are ugly and they certainly don't look comfortable.
Other than Marilyn Manson who is going to buy these?
Even if I liked these, which I don't, I have a feeling I wouldn't have very many guests coming over if I had one. At least, they wouldn't go anywhere near the sofa area...
Talk about bad taste!
All kinds of creepy....
Hideous! Just too morbid for my tastes...but I'm sure that the goth's will love this.
Haha, I like it!
Ummmmmm...
Funky in the right space. Too bad the right space is nowhere near my house.
I actually thought these were quite hot until I realized they were made from real coffins. The whole green aspect doesn't really seem to fly, but I can see how it would have some novelty effect. Nice designs though. Very a-la-mode.
Yuk! Yuk! Yuk!
I emailed the link to my long-haired biker BF as a joke saying that this couch would be great for his 'man cave' -- he responded that he wanted one but it would have to have flames on it...he wasn't kidding.
I don't mind them.... I actually like the black one. The shiny blue and the mauve- not so much. The coffin part doesn't do anything special for me but it also doesn't creepy me out. I guess with friends in the business (funeral-not sofa) I am immune to the gross out factor.
Vampires take notice!!
That's the most hideous thing I've seen in a while.
Since my grandma took me (age 4) with her when she went shopping for a casket, I'm not creeped out by these at all. My grandma ended up with one similar to the pink and white one because her funeral flower was the orchid. It looked fabulous. (Note: She didn't end up using her coffin til about 20 years later, but she planned out -- and paid for -- her funeral early so she could 1) have everything she wanted and 2) not leave her family struggling to make decisions at a difficult time.)
As a couch, I'd sit -- and even lie -- on it if it were in someone's house or a hotel. They don't seem like the most comfortable things in the world, which is my only real objection. But I do think they look cool, though judging from most people's reactions, they're not going to catch on.
As for the "used" part of the description, these are probably display models. I doubt they had bodies in them. So if a funeral home buys a standard size so clients can check them out and they sit in a showroom and get dings and scratches as people "kick the tires," they'd be considered used.
These are GREAT!!! gaudy as all heck, but great nonetheless. Not sure why the fact that it's a real coffin would creep anyone out, but then again, my wife is a licensed embalmer. :)
Wow, talk about polarized opinions. I don't love them but I don't hate them either.
This is some crazy freaky sh!t! I love love love it!
I can't see 1 in my house, but I bet there's a dominatix out there somewhere just click'N her heels in glee. Of course she's wielding one of these too
http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/sf/cleaning/leather-flyswatter-by-tarmoset-047559
They don't look at comfortable. Of course, coffins probably aren't made for comfort.
Chiming in a year late on an old post, but whoever said it looked good for a tattoo parlor... I think I saw one of these in High Voltage Tattoo in Hollywood when I was there earlier this year.