Five years ago we welcomed a Joybird sectional sofa into a house we had rented while we built our dream home. This is the story of how that Joybird couch started as a temporary solution and was a big part of the final destination we now call home. This article is part Joybird review and part Joybird sofa story.
Let me tell you how this Joybird sectional sofa ended up in our living room in the first place…
Joybird Sectional
We had just downsized from a very large home on acreage to a small rental row home while waiting for our dream townhouse to be built. It was a move that cut our square footage by 2/3rds and nearly all of our large-scale furniture didn’t fit in the new smaller home.
I got an email from the Joybird furniture company wondering if I would be interested in receiving a Joybird sofa in exchange for writing about the experience with the furniture retailers here on Kids Activities Blog. The timing couldn’t be more perfect since I needed some furniture ASAP that fit in the rental house.
My thought was that I would use the Joybird sectional sofa in the rental house living room and then buy something “I really liked” when we moved. I said yes to the Joybird offer and started investigating what I had just gotten myself into since I had never bought a large piece of furniture from online furniture stores!
Joybird Review
1. Joybird Sofa Ordering Process Review
I popped over to the Joybird website which was a virtual showrooms of sort. I am obsessed with mid-century modern and all things clean, bright, and simple and that pretty much describes every single piece of furniture Joybird makes!
It was encouraging to read the many positive Joybird reviews online (and very few negative reviews) and gave me courage that this would turn out well. I couldn’t wait until the delivery date! But I am ahead of myself…
2. Finding a Joybird Sectional Sofa that Fit the Room Review
I had measured our new living room and found that to make the best use of space and get enough seating for the entire family, it would be best to do an L shaped sectional that had equal size sides and the most efficient length would be between 8′ & 8 1/2′.
When I visited the Joybird website I found that their corner sectional with 3 cushions measured about 8′ 4″ which would fit perfectly.
Now that I had the perfect sectional layout, I needed to choose the frame style for my new sofa.
After waffling between several amazing sectionals that all had clean lines and a modern feel of both the back cushions and seat cushions, I settled on the Calhoun Armless Corner Sectional.
Isn’t it beautiful?
Now that I had my sectional selection, all I had to do was choose a fabric.
3. Selecting the Best Sofa Fabric for 3 Boys & a Dog from Joybird Process Review
With Joybird upholstered furniture, you can select any fabric with any frame along with the color of the legs of the wood frame. I needed a good quality fabric that I liked and looked good in the room, but even more important was that it needed to be able to withstand three boys and a dog.
I requested the Joybird fabric samples and got strangely excited when they arrived because there was so much choice for the furniture pieces.
So many different fabrics options: types of fabric, textures and beautiful sofa colors and I was having a hard time deciding.
Joybird Furniture Durable Fabrics
There was one set of fabric swatches that I was most excited about. They are called Safeguard Fabrics, and they are super soft and stain-resistant, yet have a high level of comfort. That is a good thing! It turned out to be the best couch fabric for kids AND a dog.
After going around and around in my head, I ended up choosing which was perfect for my home decor at the time:
- Cody Pacific color Safeguard Fabric
- Coffee Bean colored leg
And then I placed my order.
4. Delivery of My Joybird Sectional Sofa Review
I received update emails from the customer service team about what was happening with my Joybird couch and an approximate delivery date window. For instance, the build progress series includes frame cutting, frame assembly, fabric cutting, sewing, upholstery, quality control, and then shipping and delivery timeline.
I received a call scheduling the delivery date a few days before the load arrived via curbside delivery and then a confirmation on the day. The truck arrived on time for home delivery and the delivery guys carefully took three very large boxed furniture boxes off the truck and opened them in front of the house.
They carefully carried it into the rental house.
Once in the living room, they attached the pieces together. The Joybird sectional pieces are held securely together with a metal latch.
It was white glove delivery without the literal white gloves.
I really liked the way my new couch looked and functioned in our rental house and have fallen in love with that particular style.
And the sectional was big enough to hold an entire family or two sleeping boys without them even touching (which is extremely important).
How do I know this?
It wasn’t long before there was a sleeping boy comfortably stretched out on the sectional…no, this is not the sleeper sofa version!
Joybird Couch Moves With Us – Functionality Review
OK, so my initial plan was to use the Joybird sofa in the rental house as a temporary solution until we finally moved into our new house.
And then the new house took 3 years to build. <–So much time!
Oh, and I fell in love with the Joybird sofa and decided it needed to come with us to the new house.
The size surprisingly was perfect for the new living room. What I didn’t know until I looked for a new sofa was that this size is surprisingly hard to find and it was one of the many options when configuring furniture with Joybird.
Joybird Reviews: What I Like About the Joybird Sofa
- The design of the sofa is really nice.
- The couch cushions stay on the sofa even with rough family use.
- It is easy to clean the cushions when needed. In our house this is a regular occurrence since the dog is given free access to the sofa.
- It looks and functions really well after 4 years of daily, family use which includes 3 teenage boys and Panda!
Joybird Furniture Reviews: What I Don’t lIke About the Joybird Sectional
- The cushion covers get twisted with use and so the seam lines are askew. If you open up the cushion with the zipper, you can manage to get it straight, but it takes some work.
- The cushions are a little bit bigger than the frame (or feel like they are) after years of wear. It may be that they can’t be pushed as close together as they used to be.
- The fabric that has been exposed to daily Texas sun is slightly faded. In the sofa’s defense, I can’t imagine finding a fabric that would hold us as well as this has and it isn’t very noticeable.
- At year 4 1/2, one of the front couch seat cushion seams that is in the most popular seating place ripped a little. It could be easily hidden by flipping the cushions.
I have been incredibly happy with this sectional sofa and returned to the Joybird website recently to see if they offer other items 5 years later…and they do!
In fact, they now have a full line of furniture that extends beyond the living room pieces of furniture into dining rooms and bedrooms. They are unique pieces with a mid-century modern feel that would fit perfectly into my new house.
Joybird Couch Update: My Joybird Furniture Has a New Home
After 5 years of living with this living room furniture, I decided I wanted a leather sofa thanks to Panda, our frenchie. I went back to Joybird and was happy with the choices that they offered, but ended up finding exactly what we wanted from a local home furnishings outlet store and made our purchase there.
One of my friends who had been over to my house many times and sat on that sectional for hours {giggle} asked if she could have it for an Air B&B that she ran. It is the perfect solution because it is sturdy and still looks great and can stay in good shape for a long time.
Joybird Sofa FAQs
Based on my experience with Joybird couches, I would definitely say they are worth the money. Not only did the couch wear well and look great, it was an easy ordering process and delivery went off without a hitch.
La-Z-Boy acquired Joybird in July of 2018 which was considered by many to be a way to attract furniture buying millennials online.
Joybird’s corporate HQ is in Los Angeles, CA and Joybird’s distribution warehouse is located in San Diego. The Joybird furniture is manufactured in Tijuana, Mexico. You can see more about their factory online.
The definition of “high end” will vary depending on who you are talking to, but generally the quality of materials, craftsmanship and design details all weigh into the high end equation. I thought that the Joybird sectional was made of excellent materials that wore well. The overall sectional design was perfect with a retro modern look. My one complaint was with the back cushion design not fitting perfectly especially after some wear, but it wasn’t something anyone but me would notice.
Yes, based on my experience I would say that my Joybird sectional couch was high quality and worth the money.
Based on what Joybird states on their website, they are dedicated to sustainability through two initiatives. Joybird participates in FloorFound which is a marketplace for returned furniture items to less the over 12 million tons of furniture wasted each year in America. Joybird also is a part of One Tree Planted, a global reforestation effort.
When shopping online, it is really difficult to judge the quality of a sofa and the materials used. I usually rely on reviews in this situation — reading both the good and the bad. You can usually get a pretty good idea of what you are ordering after some research!
Joybird was founded in 2014 known for manufacturing custom, mid-century modern upholstered furniture.
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Have you found a piece of furniture that you totally love? Do you have any experience with Joybird furniture?
Thank you for this!
You’re welcome!
I bought a joybird sofa, because they look beautiful and the seat was comfortable, but ours broke at the base after JUST a month.
We hoped that was a one-off mistake and got a replacement for the same model, and it broke AGAIN within a year. Truly, their products are so cheaply made.
I’ve sent 50+ emails now about getting a different kind of replacement, since we absolutely can’t trust their sofas at all. But as port of their policy, they’ll refuse to give you replacements at sales value, even if you bought your item on sale. And, without explaining why, they later denied us using the full amount of credit they had initially offered.
So our replacement is worth hundreds less than the item we initially bought, which broke twice.
Don’t fall for their luxury aesthetic. Their products could not be cheaper.
I should have listened to all the negative reviews I have read. I ordered a couch and was given a delivery date. After almost a month I got an email stating that the couch and leather combo I ordered was being discontinued. They still have it listed on their web site. I wasted three weeks and now refuse to buy ANYTHING from JoyBird.
Hi Holly. Thank you for the review. I don’t see any mention of comfort in your observations. Comfort is just as important to us as appearance and durability.
Laura,
Sorry! Yes, it has been really comfortable for us. I would describe it as firm, but comfortable. My dog and I often nap there so that is probably the biggest recommendation…
its nice to see a long term review on joybird. i’ve been looking at them for years, convinced they were my hearts desire. However, i just learned that joybird was aquired by Laz-e boy a few years ago, and several of the reviews i’ve read written in the last year have been horrible. i’m regretting not having gotten the couch a few years ago. Have you bought anything more recently and if so, how was that experience?
I haven’t bought anything recently and was unaware of that. Thanks for the additional info. If anyone else has a more recent experience, I would love to hear about it.
Hi! I can’t seem to find any dates on when this was originally posted, but, I’m wondering how your Sectional has held up? I also have 3 young boys (oldest is 9). Most of the recent reviews that I have read of Joybird are far from glowing so that makes me slightly nervous to take the jump, although, many seem to be negative because of delivery delays (which seems unavoidable with any furniture retailer during this time). Looking forward to your response! Thanks!
Hi Jenn,
I have three boys too so I get it :). I originally wrote this back in 2017ish and then updated it with the “lived with for 4 years” in Feb 2021. For us, it has been one of the better surviving pieces of furniture in the house. I do think that the color being the blue has helped it still look new-ish. I wouldn’t go with anything lighter in color. But there are no stains or tears even with the dog. I regular wipe down the fabric and it seems to work really well. The cushions are a slightly dented in a few areas, but considering the amount of wear it has had – our primary sofa for 4 years – it has survived well. I wouldn’t hesitate to buy another Joybird — I also really liked the options to get exactly the right size and shape we needed for a compact room!
Holly
P.S. I used to sell LLR too :).
This is really great!!
Enjoy!
Hi
I just rec’d a circular in the mail today from joybird and have nevr heard of the company prior. I decided to search for reviews online and found your commentary. The first thing I noticed is that the sofa fabric, at the front edge of the sofa, appears discolored in the top photo; is this the case or is it simply particular to the camera/phone you used? The second thing I noticed was how cheap the connecting brackets look. In my opinion, the company should introduce colors of brackets to complement the color of the fabric so they are not so noticeable. My last thought is that you didn’t offer any price comparison of the product. Can you share how much the sectional cost? Thanks, Declan
Hi Declan,
The fabric was not discolored and looked beautiful when it arrived. That must just be a photo glitch.
The connecting brackets aren’t seen once the sofa is set up. They are not flimsy in any way and have worked well for the last few years.
I didn’t mention the cost because it was a few years ago and prices change. I looked into other sofas from other companies at the time and Joybird was comparable in price to many I had liked. Since this blog post was written several years ago, pricing would need to be updated anyway.
We have had the sofa for years and still love it.
Holly
Hi! How long ago did you purchase your couch from Joybird, and how would you say it is holding up? I am considering getting a sectional in the Cody pacific also. I have 2 dogs, and plan to have children in the near future. Thanks!
Hi Kenra,
I love the sofa…we have had it for 2 1/2 years. I have three teenage boys and a dog so it gets a ton of use. I am glad that I went with a darker color – there hasn’t been ANY issues with stains, etc. The fabric is wearing well. I still love the style of it too. We are moving soon to a new house and will be taking it with us for the living room again. Let me know if you need any other info!
Holly