Thursday, October 26, 2006

Your couch my couch

Sofa, Settee, Couch. So good they named it three times. Oh but it is great isn't it? Your couch I mean. Or my couch at least, because of course it stands to reason that your couch is never going to be better than mine. You probably feel the same way about your own. A couch is a very personal thing. Some people say that your bed is usually the most important piece of furniture in your life, after all you do spend an obscene amount of your life cocooned within its warm folds. But beds are all pretty much the same, more or less, unless you happen to have some crazy four-poster affair - in which case you probably aren't reading this but are either courting royalty or sleeping with a footballer.
But with the couch there are just so many more variables. high arms, short back, cushioning, vallance - all are important things to the couch connoisseur. The couch is the first thing you appraise when walking into someone's living room, and you don't feel comfortable in a house until you've sat down on it.
My couch is great. It's a huge dark blue thing that looks about as lazy as I usually feel. It seats three comfortably, and so is perfect for swinging your legs up onto it completely, or alternatively houses other people or a fanned-out array of channel zappers and DVD remotes with the greatest of ease. It is perfect for either snuggling or more formal occasions. Although my house has very few formal occasions, I will opt for as many opportunities for snuggling as I can get.
How many coins and candy wrappers have worked their way down into the little nooks between the cushions? How many small items have been lost under it?
If anyone takes the time to leave comments on this article, I'd love to hear about your couches. Take a breath when you are about to sit down, savour the moment, and take a seat. Describe how it feels. Could it be better - a little softer maybe - or is it a wondrous feeling to take the weight off your feet for the first time in a day? Do you feel guilty about spending so much time on it? What do you do on it; watch TV, play videogames, kiss?

Tell me about your couch! This is important Join The Road research.

7 comments:

Ester said...

Join The Road research, huh. lol

my couch is like a bed to me. it's a huge leather 3 seets couch and I love laying on it with my bedsheets hehe. Watching tv. It is my place. My very own place of happiness (of course the tv contributes to that very much too ;-) ) and of course I'm lazy so why walk if I can sit on such a beautiful, big, cosey, warm, nice, lazy couch? ;-P

I'm quite curious about the results of your research, Charlie ;-) Let me know when you got them :-P

xxx

Anonymous said...

My couch is a source of great amusement to all who visit my abode, so much so that my housemates have banished it to the conservatory.When I lived closer to the canal, someone even remarked that perhaps it would be better suited to being deposited there.
At one time I imagine it to have been a fine piece of furniture, fine deep red leather. Its current state is somewhat worn, the cloudlike white stuffing spilling out of the many holes, the largest on the cushion being concelaed with gaffa tape, not being able to be turned around because, indeed, there is a hole on the other side anyway.

I acquired it free of charge but I would not part with it for any sum of money. It looks worn to some, but to me it looks loved. How many conversations of the prior owners has it listened to? How many arguments, albums, jokes? I learn new songs on my guitar on it because it is a half size and it only really fits me onto it.

I used to cover it with a dustsheet but now I leave it as it is - ugly to everyone apart from me.

Sam Innocent said...

Hard, wooden and inherently evil are the words I use to describe the piece of furniture where I spend many hours of my life.
It lures you in with its soft looking green padding and it's only when you actually sit on it that you realise that you'd be better off sitting on the floor.

Maybe I'm being a bit harsh - after all, it's getting on a bit and is distracted by a fight to the death between its ageing padding and its wooden frame - a fight which the padding is currently losing : http://www.innocent.it/EvilSettee.jpg

That doesn't excuse the sheer venom it showed to me when I tried to run into the lounge for the phone - putting its hard, cold, wooden leg right in the way of my bare foot, the result of which can be seen here: http://www.innocent.it/ToeTastic050505.jpg

Still, it's the most used bit of furniture I've got, evil or not and I've been told by my friend Flange that it's surprisingly good to sleep on. And if you're reading this Flange, get your arse down to London - you haven't been here for months you lazy git !!!

Anonymous said...
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Charlie said...

Thanks guys so far. Some really great stuff. if anyone knows anyone with a particularly cool, or horribly bad couch, please get them to come on here and post about it. I want to come back to this subject - I think its great.

Anonymous said...

We have two couches. A Loveseat and a three seater. i always get the loveseat and my stepmum always gets the three seater. But, I must say, that I love the threeseater. Its right under a window, that gets a lot of light in the late morning, and there is nothing better than lying on it with your feet up, basking in the glow of that warm sunlight.Its also quite nice to sleep on, at times when I am ejected from my bedroom due to visitors. Or, just when I fall asleep watching TV. Thats about all from my couch, I reckon I'd need just about a whole blog for it. BTW: My couch is A warm, inviting, deep blue, about halfway between navy blue and blue. And it is made of like, corduory (sp?).

Anonymous said...

The couch in my current house up in Leeds is an utter sham of a piece of furniture. It's a three-seater affair, with separate cushions for each person. Said cushions are ridiculously poorly designed though, and after a 30-minute Mario Kart (64) session, you find that the cushion under your bum has slipped worryingly far forward, and that which is behind your back has either slipped down to fill the resulting gap, or has just flopped forward. A terrible state to be in, naturally.

Next year's house, though, is blessed with two sofas, one of which is leather! I'm greatly looking forward to summer days, wearing shorts, sitting down on a just-too-cold sofa, only for it to perfectly warm up, and reshape itself to the body's natural temperature and shape whilst enjoying the aforementioned Mario Kart antics...