New sofa arrived. Massive buyers remorse. Can anyone relate?

[sellotape12]

Hi, I’m literally 6 days postpartum and very fragile so I could be irrational. Our new sofa arrived yesterday after a 10 week wait. It’s in a bespoke fabric which I chose and supplied. I feel quite shocked at how much I don’t like it. Firstly, it is so much harder than the one that we tried in the shop over three visits. I assume this is just because it’s new? It has foam cushions with a light feather layer. And the colour is so much more shocking now that I’ve seen it in our living room. I pored over fabric samples but now it’s on a bigger surface area it just looks bright and shocking. It also no longer goes with any of the other accessories in our living room and just doesn’t look very holistic because it’s such an opinionated colour.

I just don’t know what to do. It cost me £2000 and I thought I would feel excited. Do I try to get it reupholstered? Do I just live with it for a few weeks? What do I do? I feel so low.

Are we still waiting for the picture? FWIW I think it sounds fab 🤩

Still no picture….

No they won't, they'll tell her it's awful for fun 😂are we on the same website here?

OP imagine if you were sitting on it and it was all soft and squashy now, it would be flat as a pancake and needing replaced in a very short space of time. I thought my sofa was a bit hard when I got it, 14 years on its still going (black Chesterfield style, probably starting to date now but stayed nice for a long time). I love bright green, I like it with beige and black, love that colour scheme, also love it with pink and even adding in red. Get yourself on Pinterest and work out a new way to style it, some paint or wallpaper, some new accessories, a rug, lampshades etc you will probably be able to make it look beautiful, it likely needs a bit of styling

She's got a brand new baby, she has higher priorities than taking a photo of her sofa.

Google 'grass green sofas' to see sofas similar to yours in room settings. Honestly, they look lovely!
My big mistake? Large hall, stairs and landing needed recarpeting. I chose a deep russet/ red colour to hide dog paw prints. We had a golden retriever. Gold hair all over it 2 seconds after hoovering. Dark hall - carpet makes it even gloomier. I loathe it with a passion - but it's too expensive to replace. We all make mistakes.....

We brought a dark green leather sofa from DFS last August, we also tried it many times in store, but it's still too firm, I'm trying to resell on gumtree with a £500

£500 loss

What did you like about the colour when you chose it?

Unhelpful I know OP but I've always found that when something arrives and I feel averse to it that rarely meaningfully changes. With a sofa though I'm sure there are plenty of ways to redecorate to settle it into the room a bit better so all isn't completely lost.

Not a colour issue but our current sofas were far too firm when they arrived (more so than the showroom), we paid for them and don't dislike the look of them so they're all still here but nobody really likes sitting on them, they haven't softened up much and you really can't get that sinking in feeling. On a plus side it has meant that they still look almost as good as new after a few years because the shape has been retained. We plan to move in the next year or two so will pass them on and replace then and I won't miss them.

@sellotape12 Your health and understandably fluctuating mood are a priority right now and the sofa issue can wait. Prioritise speaking to your Health Visitor or GP about how you feel in general. They should direct you to local support services. If the sofa is bothering you, get some throws and cushions for it It's a lot less expensive than to pay for it to be reupholstered. Then tell yourself you'll review what to do with the sofa in 6mths.

@FruAashildAnd yet, decides to post on Mumsnet.

Don’t feed the….

Live with it, you'll get used to it, and hopefully will like it

It will be more than fine! It's the hormones plus big life event plus new stuff often feels weird! I have a blue sofa and most of the time it's under a lovely throw, so the blue parts make for more of an accent colour in the room.

Get a good support cushion or 2. Try one for your back (wedge style) and/or a semi circle that wraps around you for baby to rest on while feeding. I think you'd be hard pushed to find a sofa that met all your body's comfort and support needs right now, so it's not a matter of you having made the wrong choice.

And it will get softer in time. I wish our sofa hadn't!

Congratulations!

Totally understand.

I had a 3m sofa reupholstered at great expense - special Italian sofa for which new covers can be made to order. After several weeks they were delivered by a couple of guys who changed the covers... they said 'We're done!' & I walked into the room and flatly announced 'I hate it'.

Pretty sure they thought I was rude and ungrateful, but I was so disappointed in the colour clashing with the carpet. The carpet has since been replaced and I like the sofa.

Yes but you do need to sit on them to soften them. They are sofas not pears... they won't just kind of ripen.

When we bought our sofa for a similar price, I hated it when it arrived. Too big not as soft as the one in the shop. I cried and I'm 9 years post-partum. 🙂 It didn't help that DP, who would have happily grabbed a sofa from the middle aisle of ALDI, kept telling me (lovingly) that I was imagining it and it wasn't different.

I wasn't imagining it, but 3 months later and it's softened up and I love it now.

When you're spending so much money it's natural to feel stressed that you got it wrong.

You probably need to re-accessorise your room to tie the new sofa in with the exisiting decor- that will be cheaper than recovering the sofa. If the chair is pink, some cushions with the same pink in them on the sofa will help them go together and one with the green in on the pink chair.

I have to say that foam cushions with a feather outer were the worst cushions ever on my sofa. We couldn't replump them like full feather cushions so they went all mis-shapen and sunken and ugly looking. Luckily the cushion inserts were removeable and we had ordinary foam cushions made to fit the covers- never looked back! They spring back into shape when you get up, give good sipport and don't sag.

I'd check with them that the cushion filling is exactly as you tried in the shop. I can't see why, if it's the same filling, it would be harder.

well yes, obviously.

Our whole family has been sitting on ours daily for the last 4 years in the living room, since we bought them so I think we probably have the measure of them by now. They're still generally very firm and have retained their shape. There's a little bit more give in the most sat on areas of the seats than when they arrived but not much of a change tbh. Not every purchase turns out for the best no matter how much research or time you put in before buying.

I did that with a whole hand painted kitchen once. I thought I'd picked a soft cream but they turned up looking banana yellow. I cried. Luckily the units hadn't been fitted so they took them away again and resprayed them a different colour. It was an expensive mistake on my part but given how much the whole thing cost, not nearly as expensive a mistake as living with a colour I hated.

Hello OP. First congratulations on your lovely baby. Its such early days yet, so please don't stress about the sofa right now. Buy a cheap neutral coloured throw, preferably deep fleece or something similarly soft and cuddly, and also washable. Put it over the sofa now, cuddle up on it with DC and let it take care of any leaks or spills. If you live with that for a few weeks it will effectively be putting off dealing with the new colour, which is what you deserve right now. Maybe get some soft feather cushions or pillows to sit on too. If you can put the sofa colour issue out of mind now you can deal with it when feeling less vulnerable. I am sure there are furnishing tips and tricks to help mitigate colour, but that can come later.

Firstly, congratulations Mummy 👪

Just fyi, a sofa featuring a foam core with a feather-filled outer layer (feather-wrapped foam) typically takes a few weeks to two months to break in and feel comfortable.

While they feel firm or "like bricks" on day one, the feathers will settle, and the foam will soften with regular use, often settling in after roughly 6 weeks

As someone upthread mentioned, accessorise with cushions in a complimentary/green colour and a throw.

If you'll manage a wee dander out to the shops TK Maxx also have fantastic options.

For yourself @sellotape12 , should you require, temporarily, there are a lot of specialist post-partum cushions at varying price points to aid comfort.

I'm fairly certain that you'll come to love your sofa, so worry ye not lovely.🌸

@sellotape12 I understand fully! We got ours recovered several years ago in purple velvet! As the alternative choice was cream (were very conservative). I was shocked. Now love it and last year found a rug with exactly the right Colour purple to tie the whole room together. Give it a few weeks to soften and think about accessories.

Please don't do that. We have these cushions on our sofa and they are brilliant. They have kept their shape for the best part of 15 years. Still really comfy and supportive. I do remember that when we first got them the cushions did feel like I was sitting right on top of them and they had no give at all, but very quickly that settled down.
We had the sofa reupholstered 6 years ago and the cushions didn't need any work at all.

Thanks so much for the support everyone. Not going to share a picture because of a few unkind people who turned up. I’ve been sat with baby girl for hours and my back and coccyx are really sore. Even had an attempt to nap earlier but I felt black and blue. Went to bed instead. Surely the sofa company will just deny it’s harder? Sounds like a lot of you saying that it does soften up overtime which gives me hope.