For the sake of this review, I’ll put aside the fact that receiving our custom fabric Stella Mid-Century Loveseat took nearly 5 months, a dozen frustrating phone calls, and an ultimatum to a manager. After all, we did wind up getting it for a fraction of the original price due to the frustrations.
Instead, we’ll focus on the loveseat itself (though I do recommend caution when ordering any custom furniture item on West Elm as I’ve heard experiences like ours are not uncommon).
So, what’s to love? What’s to hate?
For starters, at just 60.5″ it’s tough to find a couch this good looking at that size. The Stella has great lines, it’s stylish looking, it’s sturdy enough, has ample room for two people, and comes in a large variety of fabric types and colors. It comes in either brass finished metal or wooden legs, we opted for the metal as it adds some funky style, though we expect over time the brass finish may wear away as is common with other West Elm brass finished metal parts and pieces.
In the performance velvet, ours is relatively easy to clean with a vacuum or a lint roller, which is a big plus especially for pet owners.
The downsides? Despite it being part of their “Contract Grade” line, we feel the construction is questionable:
- It’s very lightweight so we’re not sure how the frame itself will hold up over time
- Additionally because of the light weight, it moves out of place easily
- The cushioning seems like relatively low grade polyfoam, so in a high traffic area we’d expect to see some indentations form
- The upholstery is taut, but with foam wear we’d expect to see some wrinkles form
- Our upholstery came with some defects, scratches or lines of some sort
We think this is a great item for a low traffic area such as a sitting room or a living room which doesn’t get a lot of air time, but not at the full sticker price of $1,099-$1,299. Wait for a sale and try to pay under $900 if possible.
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