Plastic covered couches: does the extra longevity justify the tacky look?

LOL. I once had to sit on a couch that was encased in plastic. It made the already hideous thing look like it could survive a nuclear bomb. Still, some people think that it adds years of use to something that will have wear and tear no matter what. You can’t encase the springs in protective plastic after all.

What’s to be done? I suggest you sit on the floor and admire the sofa from afar.

My grandma did this. She also had these plastic strips put down over the carpet in the places people were most likely to walk. And then she wondered why nobody wanted to visit her house.

My sister puts down a cover on her couch but the cover is super nice and made from cloth. She has a nice couch and has three kids that like eating spaghetti while they watch tv. It is easy to toss the cover in the wash to clean the cover.

Ahh, small children, that didn’t occur to me! I can see that being justifiable from a certain standpoint.

My Mom did it, but she always removed the covers when we had visitors. It was just to protect the furniture from the dust, dog, and us. We ate our dinners off TV trays in the living room. I suspect it did make the furniture last longer.

I now have furniture throws on my recliners and I cover my computer chair. The furniture wouldn’t last a year with the dog and the coffee/soda spills, but I’ve had most of the chairs for 5 years now and they look brand new.

No, never. Cloth covers I can understand, but never, ever the plastic ones.

I should add that my sister spent about 1500$ on her couch and loveseat. The covers were made of the same stuff. Covers for both were about 250 and properly fit them. A pretty cheap insurance policy.

So if one farted on said couch, would one’s bottom be immediately & neatly vacuum wrapped? These are the pressing questions of the day! :¬)

I can’t recall ever being in someone’s house that had plastic on the sofa. But I can understand why some people use it. More than the reasons above, I think it’s mainly for the mental security the stuff provides, which apparently is far more important to plastophiles than how it looks and feels. At any rate, a person’s house is his or her castle. Whatever moat works for ‘em…

No, no, no. Couches are not meant to be plastic covered! A guy I dated in college’s mother did this. Her entire “living room” was plastic covered.

My brother-in-law went on vacation to Tijuana, Mexico. he came back home bragging about his leather sport coat, he purchased in Mexico, for $5 U.S. dollars. he was proud of that coat and wore it all the time. my wife, being a curious person, did a really close-up inspection of her brother’s coat and discovered it was made of vinyl, not leather. he had been taken. he never wore the jacket again.

This is how i approach an anwer to your question. tacky is as tacky does.

No, i would never place plastic over a couch(sofa).

I’ve known people who cover all their furniture in plastic…mostly from childhood. And, I’ve known ‘plastic people’. I don’t sit on the former…and, I don’t hang around the latter.

‘Like to keep it real.

What @Austinlad said. I’ve never sat on one I don’t think.

A poem

Strictly Germ-proof
by Arthur Guiterman

The Antiseptic Baby and the Prophylactic Pup
Were playing in the garden when the Bunny gamboled up;
They looked upon the Creature with a loathing undisguised;—
It wasn’t Disinfected and it wasn’t Sterilized.

They said it was a Microbe and a Hotbed of Disease;
They steamed it in a vapor of a thousand-odd degrees;
They froze it in a freezer that was cold as Banished Hope
And washed it in permanganate with carbolated soap.

In sulphurated hydrogen they steeped its wiggly ears;
They trimmed its frisky whiskers with a pair of hard-boiled shears;
They donned their rubber mittens and they took it by the hand
And elected it a member of the Fumigated Band.

There’s not a Micrococcus in the garden where they play;
They bathe in pure iodoform a dozen times a day;
And each imbibes his rations from a Hygienic Cup—
The Bunny and the Baby and the Prophylactic Pup.

@john65pennington This is how i approach an anwer to your question. tacky is as tacky does.

What does this mean?

@FutureMemory

While I let it go above…I didn’t understand that
one either. No one else is going to wear the jacket. Being tacky isn’t the issue to me, at least.
It’s uncomfortable and bad for the furniture.

There’s tacky things that others do in their home,
but it doesn’t bother me at all. It’s their home.
They might think mine is tacky. Thanks, Future.
Now I know that it just wasn’t me.

Like my friend @john65pennington, I would never put plastic on my furniture, but like I said earlier, more power to anyone who feels the need to do it. Their house, their sofa, their right.