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New couch! – We got a new couch. This might not seem like a terribly exciting thing to write about, but bear with me. HJ and had been thinking for some time about replacing our couch; it had served us well and was still in quite good shape after over a decade of use, but there were aspects of the design that no longer suited our needs. For one, it was a very soft couch, and this wasn’t great for a couple of reasons. Sometimes we will invite students over for dinner, and invariably a few will have to sit on the couch. We have some very thick cushions that we would put on the couch to create seating, but it wasn’t ideal. Guests aside, we’re getting older, and we need a little more support in our seating. The couch also has very low, pillowy armrests that you can’t lean on (imagine trying to lean on a pillow lying flat), and this is something that has always bothered HJ.

So we wanted to get a new couch, but we didn’t necessarily want to just go out and buy one—we wanted something that fit our specific needs and wants. In addition to being sturdy, providing good support, and functioning as bench seating when necessary, we thought it might be nice if it doubled as storage as well. I think we originally got this last idea from watching tiny house videos on YouTube; space being at a premium in tiny houses, furniture pieces generally have to perform more than one function. To be honest, we don’t desperately need the storage, but we were thinking of a wooden structure that we could put cushions on top of, and if you’re going to have a wooden box as the base of your couch, you might as well turn it into storage.

So, sometime back in February, we started looking around for carpenters who could build our couch for us. We found one carpenter who told us that he wanted to make it out of plywood because hardwood would warp. Granted, he wanted to use what looked like a decent plywood, but he quoted us a price that seemed a bit high for plywood, so we told him we would think about it. To be honest, he didn’t seem all that keen to take on the job; he kept scratching his head and saying things like, “It’s not that I don’t want to do this, but....” You hear that enough and you start suspecting that he might actually not want to do it.

Then HJ found another carpenter on Instagram who had made a bench that looked very similar to what we wanted. We paid him a visit, explained our idea, and made a deal. He ended up quoting us a price for a couch made of oak that was the same as the quote we got from the other carpenter for plywood. HJ asked him how much extra it would cost to make a little side table, and he waved it off: “Oh, I’ll just make that from the leftover wood, no charge.” HJ and I conferred for about thirty seconds before we shook hands with him on the deal.

I think it ended up taking about a week-and-a-half for him to build the couch and the side table. On the day we took delivery, he came along to put it together on site, as it was in two pieces. The plan was for me to come home and help, but he ended up arriving early, so when I walked in the front door the couch had already been put together and set up. Our old couch still needed to be carted down to the first floor recycling area, though, and I was able to help with that (tweaking my shoulder a bit in the process).

The carpenter had used a non-toxic stain on the wood, but it still had a very prominent odor. Fortunately, the weather had started to get warmer by this time, so we were able to open up the windows and get some ventilation. After a few days the smell started to fade, and after a week it was gone.

So, we had our couch, but it was basically just a hardwood bench at this point. The next step was to make the cushions for it: one long cushion for the seat and three smaller cushions for the back. Dividing the back into three separate cushions was HJ’s clever idea—arranged horizontally, they would cover the back of the couch, which came up to a little below our shoulders, but if we wanted to lean our heads back we could just flip the cushions vertically to get that extra height. Until we got the cushions, though, we basically grabbed every cushion, mat, and extra pillow we had in the house and sat on those. It wasn’t great, to be honest—even with the cushions and padding, it wasn’t the most comfortable seating arrangement.

We went out to the textile market at Dongdaemun to see about getting some custom cushions made, but the price we were quoted seemed a little high. After looking around for some other options, we decided to have the cushion covers made separately and then order the foam and padding ourselves. That ended up being a significantly cheaper option. We ordered the covers first, just to make sure we knew exactly how big they were going to be before we ordered the foam. There were actually two sets of covers: the outer cover in a coarse brown fabric and an inner cover made of a sheer, silky material. This is something we probably wouldn’t have thought of ourselves, but when we ordered the covers they told us that we needed a liner-type cover or we would never get the foam into the outer covers—it would just catch on the coarse fabric. It makes sense once you hear it, but if you don’t do this sort of thing regularly, you might not think of it.

Once we got the covers, we ordered the foam—a high-quality, firm type—and some padding to wrap around the foam and round off the edges a bit. This arrived while I was out at my office, and I came home one evening to find the couch fully furnished with cushions. HJ wasn’t entirely happy, though, as the cushions weren’t as full as she wanted. I had to agree, so we ordered a little more foam, this time of a slightly softer type. A few days later, I came home again to find the couch had finally been finished—about a month-and-a-half after the whole process had begun.

It is pretty much everything that we wanted—which it had better be, seeing as we had it custom made. The back cushions can indeed be turned upright if we want to lean our heads back, and the foam is more than firm enough to support that. We also made it quite deep so that it can function as a bed if you take off the back cushions. It’s a fairly narrow bed, but it’s wide enough for one person of reasonable size to sleep comfortably; at least, both HJ and I can stretch out on it and have plenty of room. I actually had to use our old couch as a bed for a while after my leg injury last year, so it’s nice to know that we have a bed for that purpose if we need it. Also, although we’ve never had guests stay overnight, it could also be used for that if necessary.

The base of the couch functions as a pretty spacious storage area; just take off the bottom cushion and the seat lifts up to reveal the space. Needless to say, we’ve already found things to put there (as George Carlin said, everyone needs a place to put their stuff). And, last but not least, there is the reason that started this whole thing: It also functions as a bench seat for when we have students or other guests over for dinner. The actual seating area is wider than our old couch, too, so we can easily fit three people on it, if not four. This is good, because with a new grad student this semester I now have a cohort of seven students to invite over for dinner.

Like I said above, we’re pretty happy with it. We’ve been using it in its finished form for a few weeks now, and I have no complaints. That would be a logical place to wrap up this entry, but I actually wanted to explore a linguistic tangent before I leave off for today. When I was thinking about writing this entry, I started thinking about terminology, as is my wont. I’ve used the term “couch” throughout this entry, but in Korean this type of furniture is called a “sofa”. This is, of course, borrowed from English, and I started wondering if there was actually any difference between the two words or if they were maybe just regional terms, like “soda” and “pop.”

Whenever I start wondering about words, I generally try to go back to the beginning. Where did these words come from? How have they been used? My constant friend in this regard is the Online Etymological Dictionary (etymonline.com). Here, under the entry for “couch,” we have a helpful explanation of the differences between various pieces of furniture: “Traditionally, a couch has the head end only raised, and only half a back; a sofa has both ends raised and a full back; a settee is like a sofa but may be without arms; an ottoman has neither back nor arms, nor has a divan, the distinctive feature of which is that it goes against a wall.” This makes some sense, because “couch” of course originates with the French “coucher,” or “to lay down.” In other words, couches are for reclining. Sofas, on the other hand, with their full back and two armrests, would appear to be for sitting upright.

Or are they? The dictionary’s entry for “sofa” says that it comes from the Turkish “sofa,” which in turn comes from the Arabic “suffah,” meaning a “bench of stone or wood; a couch.” It gets even more confusing: The earliest attested usage, from the early 17th century, is a “raised section of a floor, covered with carpets and cushions.” The related meaning of a “long stuffed seat for reclining” dates back to the early 18th century.

Maybe we should leave origins behind and see how the words are used today. Dictionary.com says that a sofa is “a long, upholstered couch with a back and two arms or raised ends.” Forehead, meet hand. Hand, forehead. OK, how about “couch”? This definition is a little longer: “a piece of furniture for seating from two to four people, typically in the form of a bench with a back, sometimes having an armrest at one or each end, and partly or wholly upholstered and often fitted with springs, tailored cushions, skirts, etc.; sofa.” Hmm.

The fact that the entry for each word also contains the other word would seem to indicate that they are interchangeable. And I suppose as terms for a piece of furniture, they often are. But there are situations where they aren’t. We don’t call it a “psychiatrist’s sofa,” for example, nor do we speak of a “couch-bed.” It’s also interesting to note that only one of these words can also be used as a verb; we don’t “sofa” something. But we can “couch” something, usually in words. I’m trying to think about my own usage habits; while I think I generally use the term “couch,” I know that I’ve used the word “sofa” in English, too. I just can’t remember why I’ve used one term or the other. “Couch” is definitely my preferred term in English, but it’s pretty natural to switch to “so-pa” in Korean, maybe because I’m thinking of it as a loan word and not an English word. (Funny aside: HJ has used the screen name “Sopagamja” in the past. This is a literal Korean translation of “couch potato.”)

Was there any point to that linguistic tangent? No, not really. I just thought it was interesting, and it shows how imprecise and fluid language usage can be. At any rate, whether you call it a “couch” or a “sofa,” I am pleased to finally be able to use our new piece of furniture.