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I live in New York City, where you can walk from one side of your apartment to the other in the amount of time it takes a broker to say “Fuck you.” So when I started to look for furniture for my new studio apartment, I had a few requirements: All pieces had to be comfortable but space-efficient, as well as both easy to move and set up.
This presented a particular challenge when it came time to search for a couch. Most mattresses these days arrive rolled up; most furniture is broken down between boxes for easy assembly. But with a couch, on the other hand, there’s no guarantee what size box it’ll come in, how it’ll be shipped, and how you’ll get it up the stairs and into your apartment. (New York even has special moving services dedicated to couches, like the NYC micro-celebrity the Couch Doctor.)
Luckily, I live in a building with an elevator, so I knew I wouldn’t have to haul boxes up several flights of stairs and also wouldn’t have to worry about navigating corners, à la Ross on Friends. But no matter how you slice it, a couch is bulky, and the whole prospect seemed daunting no matter what I decided to buy.
Enter Sabai. Sabai makes sleek, minimalist couches, sofas, loveseats, and chairs all designed for fast shipping — in separate, easy-to-move boxes — as well as quick assembly. The brand also has a manufacturing process that’s rooted in sustainability, which is a major plus. (All pieces are made in North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, or Michigan, and the company has instituted a buy-back initiative, where customers can return their used pieces for refurbishment and/or resale if they choose to swap out their couch or upgrade their current model.)
Sabai’s The Elevate Loveseat
Given my space constraints, I opted for one of the brand’s loveseats in Moss, a dark green shade. When it arrived, I opened it — it came in three separate boxes — and discovered that, in what I assumed was a clerical error, the company had sent me no instructions for assembly. I stared at the various boxes and finally said to myself, “This doesn’t look that hard.”
And it wasn’t.
In the absence of a guide, I decided my best course of action was to align the separate pieces into a roughly couch shape, and then screw it all together. And reader, it worked. I could claim that that is because of my own handiness and ingenuity, but I know that’s not true. The only reason I was successful is because Sabai delivers exactly what it promises: a well-made, easy-to-put-together piece of furniture. When I was done, the last thing I had to do was slip on the velvet cover, which covers the body and back of the couch, slide the cushions into place, and sit down.
I’ve now had my Sabai loveseat for five months and, while it’s a smaller piece of furniture, it does not feel cramped or tight — it fits seamlessly into my apartment’s aesthetic. The aforementioned cover is removable and machine-washable if a major spill happens, but so far I’ve been able to keep it clean just by vacuuming. It’s also a true loveseat, meaning that while I can’t stretch out horizontally and take a nap, it can fit two people sitting upright comfortably, with plenty of space for cushions and pillows.
And the best part? After my assembly hack job, I worried that the couch would collapse under me, but it did not. Instead, it feels sturdy and high-quality. Its assembly process is simply too idiot-proof to fail.