Sofa Hunt 2013 Part I

You know what sounds like a lot of fun but actually turns out to be kind of frustrating? Furniture

This is not our sofa but it's close (and it's from
Shelter Furniture)

shopping. Husband and I are moving to a new place at the end of August and we've decided that our upcoming move is a great excuse to buy a bunch of new stuff.  At first, I was really excited by the “hunt” for new furniture but now I kind of just want to say, “Yep, that, that and that, will do just fine."

The biggest new thing we wanted was a couch and I’m happy to say that on the weekend, we found The One. But it wasn't easy; we must have gone to over a dozen stores, trying to find the perfect one for us.

Below is a quick look at where we ended up buying from, as well as the two runners-up. And in my next post, I’ll take a look at a few of the other places we checked out while on Sofa Hunt 2013.

Toute Suite
We stumbled across this custom furniture shop while checking out the Leon’s located on Dundas East in Mississauga. While the shop isn't huge, it is packed with great-looking, contemporarily styled couches and chairs (as well as a few other odds and ends); most of which are customizable and made in a nearby factory. Most styles come in a range of configurations (full-sized sofa; sectional, stand-alone chair, etc.) and there are dozens of fabrics choices to choose from.

Both times we went we were greeted by the owner, a friendly guy who knows the in-and-the-outs of his products. He’s also not nearly as pushy as you think a furniture shop owner would be.

There are actually quite a few styles at this shop that Husband and I liked but one in particular stood out: A sleek, modern full-sized sofa that has high arms and a matching, armless chair that can stand on its own or be pulled up to the sofa to turn one side of it into a lounger (I tried to find a photo of it online but was unsuccessful).

At just under $1,500 for the couch and just under $900 for the chair, both pieces were within our budget. They also worked with our timeline as they needed six-eight weeks to be built. So we were all set to order both pieces this week but then…

Shelter Furniture
… we discovered Shelter Furniture. I spotted an ad for this store in last week’s The Grid that was highlighting a buy-one-item-get-half-price-off-the-second sale. I checked the store out online and, after seeing that its styles matched my style, decided that it was worth the drive up to Caledonia Road.

There we discovered a large space filled with mostly contemporary pieces including the exact sofa and chair that we had spotted at Toute Suite. And in addition to being on sale, both pieces were also $100  cheaper. So bought we bought them from Shelter Furniture instead of Toute Suite.

Besides selling our sofa/chair, Shelter Furniture also offers tons of offer great items, including some really sharp looking sideboards (sadly none were quite the right size for us).

EQ3

This is the runner-up style

We came very, very close to buying a couch from this Canadian company but in the end, decided that we preferred the sofa we first saw at Toute Suite.  I was also a bit concerned by some of the reviews I read about EQ3 and its custom sofas. While most people seemed to be ultimately happy with their purchases, many ran into delivery issues and less-than-positive-post-purchase service.

The service we received in the store was great. The clerk we dealt with knew her stuff, offered constructive advice and didn't hesitate to put her promises in writing. And she even told us how we should delay our purchase until the next day, when the store was going to be having a “surprise” 15% sale.

While we didn't get our sofa from EQ3, I can see us buying other furniture from this shop. I really like the clean, modern lines that most pieces have as while as the wide variety of fun colours that many items come in.

Price-wise, EQ3 isn't exactly cheap but it’s not insanely priced either. The quality is also quite reasonable; we've owned an EQ3 TV stand for a few years now and we have no complaints. So yeah, I’m pretty sure I’ll be back at EQ3 soon, maybe to pick up a fun Marimekko print pillow.