Why this blue couch is all over your feed right now

When New Yorker Amanda Joy found her dream couch on a curb, she turned to TikTok to share her score — and then she became a meme.

Joy, who goes by @yafavvmandaa on TikTok, posted a short video Saturday about finding what she thought was the trendy French Bubble couch in blue. Original Roche Bobois couches are coveted pieces among interior design lovers and retail for $8,000. In her TikTok, Joy compares the sidewalk couch with a photo of the Roche Bobois version.

“It was pouring raining and I was walking home and I saw this couch in the middle of the street,” Joy said in her video. “I called my dad begging him to come pick it up because I couldn’t just leave that couch there.”

But Joy’s victory lap was met with skepticism, debate, praise, and sometimes outright disgust. Internet warriors scrutinized the fabric the couch was upholstered with and theorized it was probably a knockoff. They questioned the curbside couch’s cleanliness. Among the most prominent narratives? “What about bedbugs?”

“It looks so good but I’m SO SCARED about it being BED BUG CENTRAL,” one top comment said.

“Y’all not scared of bedbugs?” asked another.

“No one throws away an $8k couch for no reason,” said a third.

Within 24 hours, Joy’s video had more than 30 million views. From there, the controversy spiraled.

Joy’s video was reposted on Twitter, where others debated what they would do. Some called Joy — who did not respond to requests for comment — lucky and celebrated her ultimate thrift score. Others criticized her for not cleaning the couch enough before bringing it to her apartment.

The blue couch has become a full-blown meme. As noted by Know Your Meme, the blue couch meme formula consists of a stock photo of the blue couch plus a satirical story about its origins (many of which are not suitable for newsprint).

“[A] buddy of mine found this $8,000 couch in an abandoned building, took it home, and found it’s haunted,” one Twitter user wrote. “The ghost of a Victorian child would rise off it every night at 3 a.m. and stare at him, blankly. He threw the couch on a sidewalk last week.”

In her TikTok, Joy documented the process of cleaning it with soap, water, and a steam vacuum before setting it up at her place.

Virginia Chamlee, an expert thrifter and author of Big Thrift Energy, said that cleaning fabric furniture is a multi-pronged process. Chamlee said upholstered sofas can be cleaned by combining vinegar, dish soap, and water in a spray bottle, spritzing it over the upholstery, and scrubbing out any stains. From there, you can vacuum and steam the piece.

As for bedbugs, those can be treated only with insecticide. The couch would need to be stored somewhere while the chemicals wear off, which makes the process cost-prohibitive, especially in urban environments. Joy said in her TikTok that she kept the couch at her father’s office for two weeks before moving it into her apartment.

It’s not uncommon to repurpose curb treasures. In New York, it’s often called “stooping.” In Philadelphia, “Penn Christmas” marks the time of year when University of Pennsylvania students dump their dorm and apartment items, making for a dumpster diver’s dream scenario.

Chamlee, who documents the art of curb hunting on her popular Instagram page, told The Inquirer it’s not completely unlikely to find a Roche Bobois in the wild. She found the blue couch’s cousin — a Roche Bobois bubble armchair — a few weeks ago at a consignment store in Greensboro, N.C.

“It was priced around $250, which is honestly a steal considering the original price tag, around $4,000,” she said. “I didn’t buy it, but I shared it on Instagram and one of my savvy followers ran to the shop and snagged it.”

Chamlee said that even if the New York curb couch is a dupe, it’s still a “worthy pick.”

“Many of the most iconic furniture designs have been duped to death and the dupes are often still pretty pricey,” she said. “And the originals, frankly, are just not financially attainable for most people.”

» READ MORE: TikTok’s ‘dupe’ trend: Explained

Online, a segment of couch-gate participants questioned the couch’s authenticity. Joy clapped back in an update TikTok in which she points to the couch’s Roche Bobois tag.

“I know people are piling on her because they think it’s a dupe, but you often have to take the piece home and really examine it before you know for sure whether or not it’s real,” Chamlee said. “I found an antique Goyard trunk at a secondhand shop for $95 several years ago and, of course, I initially thought it was fake. But I bought it anyway because hey, if it was fake, it was a good dupe. Then I had it appraised and found out it is, indeed, the real deal.”

Chamlee said she’s found dupes of Togo couches at thrift stores, but she’s also found real Knoll chairs and art by artists whose works are in the Smithsonian’s permanent collection. She says that’s the beauty of thrifting.

“You never really know what’s out there,” she said. “In a thrift store or sitting on a curb.”