As you all know by now, I ordered a Chesterfield Sofa from England. Well, about a week ago I received notice that it had arrived at the port of call in Secaucus NJ. Getting a sofa out of customs is no easy task. I had to go to Newark NJ to the Customs and Borders office. That was actually painless. I took the NJ transit train to Newark which only took fifteen minutes. The CBP office was only two blocks from the station and there were no lines at all!
The big scare for me was the call to Dr. Sofa! Most apartments in my building are pretty big. They have great big living areas, high ceilings and different configurations. The elevator however was made for dwarfs. Seriously, getting any large piece of furniture up to my apartment is a chore. The stairwell is pretty wide, but the door leading into the stairs is too low to allow for larger pieces either. The only answer is to take apart your furniture or order sectionals. I knew I wanted the Chesterfield, but at 8 feet long , I also knew it was not going to fit into the elevators or the stairs. That is where Dr. Sofa comes in. I had heard of Dr. Sofa before, but I did a lot of research prior to calling. The reviews on Yelp, citysearch and other sites were almost all positive. They all said pretty much the same thing. Dr Sofa works miracles, but dont watch them take apart the sofa...its pretty upsetting! Well, I made the call and I have to tell you they were professional from beginning to end. The office staff were very reassuring. I had to drop off the stamped customs letter so they could pick it up at the port, so I went to their offices in the Bronx. They were hidden away on 134th street, but I managed to find them thanks to my GPS and knowing the area a bit. Everyone was terrific there and they even said they do many Chesterfields so I should not worry. Today, my sofa was picked up at the port. They disassembled it there, so when they arrived at my place, it was already apart. That saved me the agita of watching them destroy it! Neil and Mario were incredible. I had actually read about how nice and professional Mario was on the reviews, and indeed he was. Neil was also a pro and very nice as well. They brought up the sofa in two pieces and began the tedious task of putting it back together. A Chesterfield has brass tacks all around the arms, back and bottom of the sofa. Mario and Neil had to put them in one by one! Mario did the nailing while poor Neil had the boring task of straightening out hundreds of tacks which were bent when they were removed from the sofa. The process took about 90 minutes and the end result was fantastic. The sofa is as beautiful as I had hoped and Dr. Sofa did a great job. A big thanks to Mario and Neil and everyone at Dr. Sofa. This a Dr's visit that anyone can look forward too
Dr. Sofa arrive3s
My Sofa already taken apart
Four years of Sofa School to become a Surgeon!
My Chesterfield being reassembled. Look closely and you can see the cuts
Tacking the leather back to the frame
Mario hammering in the tacks
Neil straightening out the tacks
Mario still tacking
Voila! The finished product
A perfect fit
Neil & Mario sitting on their work!
