Minneapolis/St. Paul Nesties
Dear Community,
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Help me buy a...
...couch? H and I currently have two leftover college couches in our apartment. They're ok, but I kind of want new ones. One is a futon, and the mattress is super comfortable, but it's really squeaky, just from having been opened and close so much in the last 4 years I think.
Is it worth it to buy a couch now? Should we wait a year or so until we buy a house? Anyone have any luck with craiglist furniture? We'd like to spend less than $500 if possible... any suggestions?
Does anyone have an IKEA couch? How are they? Our bed is from there and it's comfortable, but I've never purchased couches from them...
Re: Help me buy a...
We had good luck at Royal Star in South St. Paul. They are a liquidator so they have a variety of brands. We did a lot of shopping around and settled on a set from there. We got a leather couch and love seat for $595. We also got a great dining room table and chairs for $350. You could also check Dock 86. We ended up getting a coffee table and 2 end tables for.....$225, I think?
We actually just upgraded our couches (formerly Ikea couches). We got a couch and loveseat at Ashley for $499 on a President's day sale...we've still got our Ikea couch and loveseat, and they've held up really well (they're only 3-4 years old).
I was actually surprised at some of the deals out there, we always just assumed we'd be sporting Ikea couches for the rest of our lives, but after seeing some of the stuff at Ashley we were really impressed and also decided that Ikea has gotten really expensive.
If you're planning on moving to a house in the next year or so, I'd wait. The new living room may have a different shape have room for a massive couch, etc.
If all that's wrong with it is the color, wait until a BB&B coupon comes out and buy a slip cover. I found the cover we have for our porch couch at Burlington Coat Factory for around $20.
I bought a craigslist couch ages ago and it finally gave up last year (the fabric on the cushion tore and it would have cost more to re-upholster than I paid for it). I bought it from a woman who married later in life and was merging her furniture and possessions with her husband's. It was in great shape and I had zero concerns with buying it.
DH and I had good luck at Dock 86 to buy our replacement couch. We literally went to ALL the traditional furniture stores one weekend and liked the product at HOM and Ashley the best (Slumberland was our dead last - the furniture didn't seem like it was made to last) but we went to Dock 86 to see what there was to see. We struck gold there! The selection changes constantly and it is sort of "outlet" and "scratch and dent" all rolled into one. Our couch would have cost close to 900 dollars at HOM but it was the last one and there was some scratches on the base. We paid less than 500 with tax and they agreed to use a stain pen on the scratches. You still get a full warranty on the items they sell and they deliver (for a fee). Couldn't be happier.
That being said - if you know you're going to be buying a house in the next year, I would see if you could limp along for a bit. As PPs mentioned, it is tough to plan for a house you don't have yet and it would royally stink if you got something that either doesn't fit or just doesn't work with your new place.