Anabei Washable Modular Sofa, Unboxed, Assembled And Reviewed

You’ve probably seen Anabei on social media and been curious.

The ads come round over and over again, and the sofa looks good, and it keeps saying 60% off. So you find yourself clicking away and about to buy it, and then you get a little nervous, because it comes in boxes. You have to assemble it. Buying a sofa you have to put together is a new thing for a lot of people. It kind of gives futon vibes, and the question sits there. Is this really worth the money?

The one in this review is a two seater, the smallest they offer, and it was 60% off. Those ads say 60% off, but if you actually click through, it’s only on one colour.

The colour that’s 60% off right now is plush weave in ash, so a plush fabric in a grey. Lovely colour, as it happens. The other one worth wanting is cinder in a luxury velvet, and that one is not 60% off.

Now, the thing about it, it’s modular. So you can get it in two seats all the way up to nine, like a very large sectional. And you can get ottomans. So that’s kind of the cool thing about it. If you want to go bigger in the future, the option is there.

The Benefits That Come On The Card

There’s actually lots of benefits and they’re all listed on a card in the box.

It’s machine washable, and that’s probably the biggest draw if you have pets, if you have kids. Obviously fabric is a little bit scary on a sofa, but this you can take off, put it in the washer, and you’re good to go.

It’s also stain resistant, liquid resistant, pet friendly, snag resistant, and pill resistant, which is those little balls that appear on fabric that drive everybody crazy. And it’s earth friendly, because it’s PFC and PFAS free and certified non toxic.

So those are some of the reasons to go ahead and order it. And again, it was on sale. The 60% off colour came to $639. Free shipping, so that plus tax.

Now, the last thing that pushes you over the edge is the return policy. They have a pretty great one. You order it, you have 30 days to try it at home. If you don’t like it, you can return it for free. No return shipping, no restocking fee, money back. So hopefully you love it and don’t have to go down that road, but it’s peace of mind to know it’s an option.

It did take about two months to get. So if you order it, expect about two months.

And if you’re wondering about the colours, it comes in 13 different colours and they’ll send you swatches. You do have to pay shipping, so $3.99 to get them. Interestingly, they sometimes turn up without being ordered and without the $3.99 ever being charged. But it’s a good idea to get them if you’re unsure.

Assembly, And The Thing That Goes Wrong

One of the issues during assembly is the guides that come in the box. They’ve updated the assembly instructions, and the updated version is not what you get in the box.

So there’s this random piece in the box that never gets addressed in there. You put one side together, then you go online to their website to figure out what the extra piece is, and that’s when you find out there were updated assembly instructions. Which is actually really frustrating, because then it all has to come apart to put in the piece that wasn’t mentioned.

So the advice here, if you’re trying to put this together, don’t use the guide that comes in the box. Go to the website and get those.

But it takes about 15 minutes per side. So 30 minutes total to put this together.

First Impressions Once It’s Up

The first thing you notice, and it’s the thing everybody’s afraid of, it’s very wrinkled. It came folded up in a box, so the fabric is very wrinkled. It says you can iron it or steam it. So it’s not a happy first look. Which is pretty frustrating.

As far as looks, the fabric is nice. Good colour, good feel. It does feel like a very nice quality fabric.

Now, the cushions come overstuffed and you can take some of the cushion out if you want. So it looks a little puffy and kind of uneven.

Another thing, the very last step, you connect the two pieces and it comes with basically just velcro to do that, but it kind of makes it look sloppy at the bottom.

But as far as comfort, it really is quite comfortable. It’s kind of low, which doesn’t bother everybody, but maybe for a taller person that might be an issue.

That’s a week’s worth of thinking still to do at that point. And husbands are not always impressed, especially when they hear how much it cost.

A Week Later, Starting With The Wrinkles

The very first job is the wrinkles, because it had been folded in the mail and they suggested ironing or steaming it, and no one is excited about doing either of those things.

So here’s the thing to try instead. Put the covers in the dryer under a wrinkle release setting. It all has to come apart, all of them go in the dryer on that setting, and it works. So that’s a relief, rather than having to actually iron it all, and the wrinkles do come out.

Put it all back together, and that’s when the real trying out starts.

The Pros

One thing you realise very quickly, it’s very, very easy to move. Once the cushions come off, this weighs pretty much nothing. And most sectionals are large, heavy, very difficult to move, especially going up and down stairs, stairs that turn. So for moving purposes, if you were to buy a big sectional version of this, it would be so easy to move. That is a huge pro.

The second pro, obviously, the Anabei’s sofas are washable and removable fabric, that’s awesome. For kids, pets, just everyday life, it’s great to be able to take these off, wash them and not worry when things get spilled.

And it is a really high quality fabric. The fabric itself is very heavy, just really good quality.

And honestly, it’s super comfortable. A lot of people online say that it isn’t and that they can feel the bars. That’s not everybody’s experience. For a pretty small person this is actually probably the most comfortable sofa ever, though someone a lot taller or a lot bigger might feel differently. Still a huge pro.

The Cons

One thing that bothers you is the cover. Hard to know what you even call it, but this thing here, it doesn’t attach. It’s just loose on there and it kind of goes all over the place. It should attach. Not sure why they didn’t think of that, but it moves around and it kind of looks sloppy. So that is a con.

The other big con. In order to attach the two pieces you use these velcro straps. Once you put these on, it forces the fabric to come up and it never can fully come down. So again, it just makes it look frumpy, messy, sloppy, and that’s hard to like.

Not sure why they came up with this solution. Most sectionals have brackets and they just snap into each other. There must be a reason they didn’t do that, but these aren’t the greatest. You can put it on pretty tight, and it still moves around a bit. Brackets would have been a better solution. It wouldn’t move around at all. And somehow they need to design it so the fabric isn’t affected by this.

And honestly, here’s the one that doesn’t come up while you’re building it. It’s kind of like a glorified futon. That’s how it feels when you see how it’s actually constructed, and it’s hard to get past. Putting it together, it’s reminiscent of those camping chairs, the ones you can put together and pull apart. That’s what it reminds you of, a camping chair. Which is hard to get past based on the price.

Price For What You Get

Now remember, this colour is the only colour currently that’s 60% off, and it came to $639. This is just a two seater and that was 60% off. Regular price would have been $1598. So almost $1600 for this at regular price.

And the luxury velvet, the one worth really wanting, is $2198 regular price. It’s on sale, it’s not 60% off, but $2200 for this, that’s crazy.

And at the end of the day, $639 is too much for this. Which is kind of saddening, because it’s very easy to want to like this. It’s not a sofa to hate. It’s likeable. It’s what it cost considering what it is, and that’s the part that can’t really be justified.

What It’s Being Compared To

There’s a sectional on the other side of the room from Ashley, and Ashley’s not a luxury brand or anything fancy or special, but it’s a pretty large sectional that was delivered all put together, for about $700.

It came from Nebraska Furniture Mart. Not everywhere has those, but it’s actually a really good store for really good prices. It’s pretty big, it’s two pieces, and it was about $700. And it’s expected to last a lifetime. For 700 bucks, that’s quite a lot to get. You do have to put the feet on it, but that’s it.

So comparing that to this, which was also about $700 with tax. That’s where it gets hard to wrap your head around whether to keep this or not, just based on what it is and what it cost.

So Is It A Keeper

Still undecided.

Remember that generous return policy. They want you to try it for 30 days. If you don’t like it, they’ll let you return it. No shipping to pay, no restocking fee, none of that.

Now, a lot of times businesses make it seem like a really easy return policy and then when you actually try and return something, you’re jumping through a lot of hoops. So hopefully that is not the case here. That road hasn’t been travelled yet, so there’s no information to give on it.

And it would be really good to hear from anyone who has this and has some comments or input. Maybe you have it and you love it and something is being missed here. Maybe it hasn’t been given the chance it deserves. If you disagree, please speak up. Or if you have any questions about this, like you’re thinking about getting it yourself and a question didn’t get answered here, that’s worth asking too.