karlstad

Sofa styles come and go

sofa, karlstad

KARLSTAD 2-seater sofa in the livingroom. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2015

Sofa styles come and go. So also in my livingroom. Presently I have a KARLSTAD sofa from IKEA. A 2-seater (or love-seat as some call them). Presently in its grayish cover. Over summer it was dressed in white.

Before that, I had a MIO sofa called Coffee, that MIO still sell. A 3-seater. That one was way too big for the present livingroom. And I didn’t like its rounded look. I much prefer the straight and simple look that KARLSTAD has. The MIO sofa actually could be ordered with differently styled ends, not all that rounded as the one I then choose.

sofa

The previous sofa. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2015

I gave the MIO sofa away for free when I bought the new, smaller KARLSTAD sofa. First tried to sell it on Blocket.se… None existent market. Too many sofas there. One of my neighbors got it for free (new it costed SEK 10.000…). He later gave it away to his son who lives elsewhere. Nothing wrong with the sofa, except the size of it. A quality sofa…

Now, these more rounded sofas are coming back again.
And Ikea has discontinued the KARLSTAD model.

karlstad

Karlstad discontinued. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2015

IKEA flagged the discontinuation of KARLSTAD some time during this summer. What I do not understand is why on earth they discontinue a sofa that has been one of their most popular sofas over time…

It is really a pity that they discontinued KARLSTAD. It is a nicelooking, simple sofa. Straight and classy. Much loved by people all over the world. Including me. And it is comfortable to sit in and easy to get up from.

norsborgsofa

Norsborg sofa from Ikea. Photo: Ikea.

IKEA replaced it with a new model called NORSBORG. (Which has a 10 year guarantee, so I guess they will sell it for the next ten years at least… regardless of changing sofa styles…).

I don’t like NORSBORG.
At all.
It is too rounded.
Too big.
Not an elegant form (as I see it).
And not particularly comfortable.
Too soft.

norsborgsofa

Norsborg sofa from Ikea. Photo: Ikea.

One detail on the new sofa NORSBORG is that pocket at the ends of the sofa.
Good idea?
Not really.
After putting away the newspaper into the pocket a couple of times… how dirty will it be? Fun idea, yes, but practical? No. A loose pocket to hang over the sofa end is much more useful. As the one I have in the first picture (also from IKEA and not discontinued). Not for newspapers or books, granted, but for all those remotes you have.

sofa

Norsborg sofa. Photo: Ikea.

The NORSBORG sofa also is not all that comfortable.
It is too soft.
Isn’t soft good?
No. It means it is difficult to get up from it.

norsborgsofa

Norsborg 2-seater. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2015

I think NORSBORG is ugly…
Of course it is personal what you find ugly or not. But…
It is something with the proportions. And the roundedness…

Maybe Gustav, the neighbor cat, would like the roundedness of NORSBORG, but I don’t.

I wonder though how long the IKEA sofa EKTORP will survive… One of the most comfortable sofas IKEA has. When I was sofa-hunting, and bought the MIO sofa, EKTORP didn’t have any grey covers. If they would have had that then (they do now), I would have bought the much smaller and cheaper EKTORP sofa from IKEA instead of the one from MIO. Rounded ends, but much nicer than NORSBORG. The EKTORP 3-seater would also have been too big for this livingroom though and been exchanged.

sofa

Gustav on my KARLSTAD 2-seater sofa. Photo: ©nini.tjader.2014

Posted by nini in Furniture and Decoration, Interior Design, livingroom, Thoughts, 4 comments