Sofas & Chairs
Buy and sell sofas and chairs in Guatemala.
In Guatemala the plastic chair is as much a part of family life as the sofa: stacked in the patio most of the year, then set out in rows for a christening or a birthday. Both are bought and sold new and pre-owned, along with sofa beds, swivel bar stools and poufs with room inside for blankets. White and beige plastic chairs change hands by the dozen whenever a party-rental business renews its stock, and they are priced per chair. Upholstered pieces are a different job: what matters is the part under the cushions, so ask for a photo with them lifted off.
Upholstered seating and hard chairs:
they wear out in completely different ways. On the soft side are sofas, from the loveseat to the L-shaped sectional and the sofa bed, and single armchairs; they age through foam, springs and cover. On the hard side are dining chairs and office chairs, where joints, castors and gas lifts give out first. Swivel bar stools and poufs sit between the two, and a pouf or ottoman is often a box with a hinged lid that swallows blankets.
Sofa beds, and the springs or webbing under a sofa seat:
start with how the bed opens. A click-clack or futon-style sofa bed drops its backrest flat, so you sleep on the seat foam itself: firm, quick, fine for a visiting relative. A pull-out hides a folding metal frame and a thin mattress; it sits like an ordinary sofa, but whoever sleeps on it feels the bar across the middle. Under any seat the support is either zigzag steel springs running front to back or elastic webbing stretched across the frame, and webbing sags sooner on a sofa sat on all day. A solid block of high-density foam keeps its shape for years, while backs stuffed with shredded foam go lumpy.
The cash price behind a used sofa:
not the monthly instalment. Furniture stores in Guatemala advertise the instalment as loudly as the price, so a seller often remembers the monthly figure or the total paid, not what the sofa cost outright. Compare against the cash price of something similar new: a three-seat fabric sofa runs from about Q3,000 for a basic one to Q7,000 and more for a better-built frame. Then take off for the cover: stained fabric or a smell of pets costs far more than worn arms, while washable zipped covers hold the price. Event chairs work the other way round: a new moulded plastic chair costs well under Q100, so the per-chair price on a used lot has to leave room for the few that turn out cracked.
Plastic and Tiffany chairs from party-rental firms:
the businesses that set up christenings, first communions and graduations replace their chairs in batches, and most used event chairs come from them. Turn several over: white streaks where a leg meets the seat are stress marks, and a chair that shows them is the next one to split under a guest. Resin Tiffany chairs, often listed as Chiavari chairs, should stand without rocking on a level floor with every spindle in the back intact. Ask whether the cushions and covers come with the lot.
Under the cushions of a used sofa:
take them all off before anyone talks price. Press the bare deck with your hand: it should push back evenly, and loose zigzag springs click or knock against the frame. Unzip one cushion to see whether it holds a block of foam or crumbled pieces. Run a finger along the seams and look under the dust cloth stapled to the base: tiny black specks there are a sign of bedbugs, and a sofa carrying them should stay where it is. On a swivel bar stool, sit for a minute; a gas lift that slowly sinks needs a new cylinder.
Photos of the bare seat, the fabric and the stacked chairs:
are what someone in Huehuetenango or Jalapa wants before making the trip for a sofa. Shoot in daylight with the cushions on and then off, and say plainly whether pets or smokers shared the room. Show a sofa bed opened. Give width, depth and height, and for a sectional, which side the chaise sits on. For event chairs, give the count and colour, say whether you will split the lot, and add a close-up of a leg joint. If the sofa bed has not been opened in years, open it before anyone arrives: a mechanism that jams in front of a buyer costs more than any stain.