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A woman has explained why she apparently decided to pick up a US$8k (£6,434) sofa after meeting her on a New York street.
A video created by TikTok influencer Amanda, who goes by the name @yafavv.mandaa, recently went viral on social media as viewers could not believe that she had taken the sofa home.
The influencer said that, two weeks later when he picked up the furniture from the street, he didn’t see any signs of bedbugs and felt it safe to bring it into his apartment.
In her initial TikTok video, Amanda said her father helped her move the sofa in his office away from the street, where she, her father, sister and boyfriend pitched in to clean it.
The blue sofa appears to be from interior designer Sacha Lecic’s Bubble collection, which retails for between £5,000 to over £6,300 online.
However, many believe that the sofa could be a replica version after noticing some differences in color and style.
Amanda’s first video was reposted on Twitter over the weekend and quickly went viral, as many questioned why the expensive designer sofa was dumped in the first place.
Most people commenting on the video suggested that there may have been bedbugs or other infestations within the sofa, which may have led the original owner to decide to throw it away.
Others criticized her for only doing “one round of cleaning” according to her video, and for not having the sofa professionally cleaned.
In her follow-up video, Amanda said: “I only recorded five minutes of the entire process of cleaning the sofa.”
Since going viral, the sofa has become a meme on social media, with people creating increasingly off-putting scenarios alongside a picture of it.
She also reported that she found the item of furniture in front of a “very prosperous building”.
“Rich people throw away all their furniture all the time because they get new furniture every other year,” she continued. “So I saw the opportunity and took it.”
Some agreed with Amanda, pointing out that wealthy residents in New York often leave designer furniture items on the street for passersby to pick up if they wish.
“No idea whether it’s safe or not, but people who are like, ‘There’s some reason why someone would throw away such an expensive couch?’ And I’m sorry but you really underestimate the ability of wealthy people to throw away items that are in good condition,” wrote one person.
However, others say that hard surfaces are fair game to remove from the street, while soft items run too high a risk of bringing infection into the home.
One Twitter user said, “We have horrible stuff on our sidewalks in New York City (half my apartment is street furnished) but you have to draw the line at upholstery because that gets f***ing dirty.”
Another added: “Hard surfaces, yes. Soft/fabric items are a big NOPE.
Amanda ends her sofa update video with a clip of how she “styled” it by strategically placing pillows over the rips and stains left behind, as well as a clip of the tag on the side of the sofa saying “If someone Wants to tell that it is fake”.
