Just as it says in the title - here are some photos of sofas grouped into pairs that look quite similar. Which of the two do you think is the more expensive version? Don't forget to check out the price differences after the photos!
Pair 1: £1412 vs £269 (excl. sofa). On the left, Arco in chartreuse polyester from BoConcept; right, the now discontinued Kramfors sofa from Ikea with a Bamboo Green cover in Tégner Melange textured cotton from Bemz.
Pair 2: £674 vs £6,624. On the left, the Kivik sofa (£375) with a Light Olive Green cover in Belgian Linen Blend (£299) from Bemz; right, Neo Wall in Tosca 45 cotton linen mix at Geoffrey Drayton.
Pair 3: £3785 vs £149 (excl. sofa). On the left, Petal in velvet from Rume; right, the discontinued Stromstad sofa from Ikea with a Bemz cover in Real Red.
Pair 4: £379 (excl. sofa) vs £4999. On the left, the discontinued Stromstad sofa from Ikea in Unbleached Linen from Bemz; right, the Crescent Corner sofa in linen from John Lewis.
Pair 5: £1624 vs £439 (excl. sofa). On the left, Slim Suzie from Sofa Workshop in wool mix; right, the discontinued Tylosand from Ikea in Zinc Grey Tegner Melange textured cotton from Bemz.
These sofas are a selection from interior design go-to guide House to Home's very own 'Pick of the best modern sofas' which I then paired with an Ikea / Bemz version to match. It is true that many of the Ikea models are now discontinued but that's the point - you don't need to get a new sofa. Recovering your existing one is enough to get the look of the best modern sofas around!
And if you still need convincing, check out this delicious Lotus in Designers Guild fabrics from Heal's which will set you back a cracking £4755.
Could you not achieve that very same looking using the sum of these parts (covers come to £529)?
If I were to reiterate my question posed in the title of this post: 'Which is more expensive: can you tell the difference?', I think I might change it to say 'Which is more expensive: would you pay the difference?'.
This is a fantastic post! Very inventive! It really is eye opening when you put sofas together like this! The best look isn't always necessarily the worst price! - might give this a go on our blog!
Posted by: Hannah from Plumbs | February 06, 2012 at 05:42 PM