Woman responds to warnings after taking £6,500 couch she found on the street

A woman has hit back at critics who judged and warned her about taking in a £6,500 ($8,000) sofa from the streets of New York City.

I'm sure most people will have come across an old piece of furniture on the street at one time or another, and when you do you're faced with a decision: take it or leave it?

TikTok/@yafavv.mandaa

People probably go for the latter most of the time, but when TikTok user Amanda Joy, who goes by the handle @yafavv.mandaa, came across her 'dream couch' just lying on the side of the road, she couldn't resist taking it home.

In a video shared this weekend, the TikToker explained that she found the sofa sitting out in the rain and looked it up online to see that it was the $8,000 ‘Bubble’ couch from French brand Roche Bobois - with the label attached and everything.

Joy quickly called her dad to ask him to come and pick it up, but the sofa obviously wasn't in any state to be used straight away.

TikTok/@yafavv.manda

Joy and her family set about giving it a deep clean that would make Kim and Aggie proud, and after letting it dry out for a few days she officially moved it into her home.

The new owner was obviously over the moon with the find, but other TikTokers were horrified over her decision to bring it home.

People flooded the comments with warnings about the sofa, with many noting that its time on the street could have left it riddled with bugs.

One person drew on their own disastrous experience as evidence, writing: "I did that once and got a roach infestation."

TikTok/@yafavv.manda

Another commented: "Imagine sitting down and feeling something move all of a sudden."

Other viewers have pointed out that it's unlikely someone would have thrown out an $8,000 couch for 'no reason', but Joy wasn't going to let them spoil her mood.

In a follow-up video, the TikToker explained the sofa had sat in her dad's workshop for two weeks before being moved to her apartment, so she's confident she would have noticed if it had bed bugs.

She also pointed out that she'd cleaned it more than once, but that she'd only filmed 'five minutes of the whole process'.

Joy went on to share her own thoughts on why the sofa was thrown out, saying: "I personally think it was thrown out because it had a lot of rips that I've covered with pillows, and it has some stains."

"I saw the opportunity and I took it," she added.

Here's hoping the move doesn't come back to bite her - literally.

Topics: US News, TikTok, Viral

Emily Brown

Emily Brown is the Community Desk Lead at LADbible Group. Emily first began delivering news when she was just 11 years old - with a paper route. She went on to graduate with a BA Hons in English Language in the Media from Lancaster University before contributing to The Sunday Times Travel Magazine and Student Problems. She joined UNILAD in 2018 to cover breaking news, trending stories and longer form features, and now works as Community Desk Lead to commission and write human interest stories from across the globe.