The Sartorialist

wonder how quickly it grows mold…

Why not?

Most of those terraces are low rent, usually multi-tenant student accomodation. You find a couch by the side of the road ready to be taken to the tip.. drag it to your place with the help of your mates.. and voila, an excellent place to drink tea / beer with a friend and watch life pass you by..

You don't usually find the porch-couch in front of the nicer pricier terraces in East Sydney / expensive parts of Glebe.. I guess some turn their nose up at it.. but that's speaking more of the gentrification of the traditionally bohemian inner west, and that's a different story altogether.

Well, they're comfortable of course!

http://mynaturalanthem.blogspot.com

I absolutely love it. In a couch for a perfect chill-out.

Cause it's warm, doesn't rain very often, they're more comfortable and most importantly it's cheaper to drag home the couch your neighbour puts out on hard reduse day then to buy actual outdoor furniture.

I'm from NZ, not Australia, but you'll see a similar thing here. Most likely they're student flats.

Great photos. I saw the same set-up happening when I was in Sydney a few years ago. I love it; bring the inside outside without sacrificing comfort! Plus, being Sydney, it is done in an ultra-stylish manner, naturally.

I can just imagine a bunch of trendy hipsters with their de-caf and bi-annual fashion magazines lounging on the leopard print number!

http://www.whatinthenameoflove.blogspot.com

let me guess your in either Redfern, Surry Hills, Waterloo, Darlinghurst or Paddington. Its the intoxicated roommate bed/bad boyfriend bed/or afternoon drinks type of couch, usually.

because the weather here is so beautiful, and we like to be comfortable. that's why it makes sense to me, at least.

I think it's just an aussie and sharehouse thing… Happens whereever there's student sharehouses, all over Australia.
…. exactly what Zac said.
It's much cheaper than buying outdoor furniture, the fuel used for transportation on it is hardly anything because you need to drag it and it's comfortable. An because it would hardly rain into the terrace front veranda, hardly any mould.
comfy too…

Oh dear. The memories! When I lived in Melbourne we had at the highest count 16 sofas in our shared house and its garden. I think we sourced most of ours from either hard rubbish days or the local op shop (thank you Brotherhood of St Lawrence!).
Good times, good times…

Ha ha! It's so true. My brother lives in Melbourne and everyone there just seems to rock the old furniture from inside on their porch instead. The Aussies seem to like it, I think it looks a little like they're waiting for the junk collector to come…

cause thats how we roll..the best place for people watching..especially in surry hills/darlinghurst

We don't call them patios. They are front verandahs. And it is one of the most comfiest ways to watch the workd go by.

oh gosh – thats awful!!!
being a Sydney sider …thats SO embarrassing….but guess its a comfy way to watch the world go by…

We do the same thing here in Melbourne!

its much cooler than being inside! and you can chat to the locals

With reference to Diana Vreeland… if you have constant fabulous weather, why not bring all things indoors outdoors!!!

If they were nicer they'd be stolen. The good ones are probably on the back porch.
I think I'd prefer to put big plants there!

http://www.myPetsQuare.blogspot.com

its because we [students] are awesome.

Scotty its the same in melbourne

this is my hood so i shall share my view…

probably couch was found on council rubbish collection day… not a stylish find but a useful one.

this is not a small terrace, it is at least a 4 metre wide front, which by Newtown standards is enormous… would have at least 3-5 bedrooms…it may be Surry Hills or Paddo. Rents are ever increasing in the inner city here and out of necessity you have to collect furniture this way.

tenants are likely smokers. we don't like cigarettes much in Oz.

You see that occasionally in North Carolina. But more recliners, I'd say. Especially in old houses that may not have AC.

Reminds me of frat row.

It's our thing. Like, how in other countries people put a flag out the front of their house. We put a couch.

It's widely known as recycling – reusing what we have and reducing our global footprint. Yes, they're probably relics of previous tenants and it's mostly likely of a share house. What dumbfounds me are your regular naive comments in your blog and book. It's a contradiction for a well-travelled person. Is it suppose to humour or simply to condescend?

it's perfect for chilling out on a nice day.

http://www.flowerchildstyle.blogspot.com

Yea, this seems to be what most of them look around in the inner city area like Surry Hills, Glebe etc – a lot of the time, students co-renting / hippy-like people living there.

Sigh, reminds me of Crown Street days in Surry Hills, we had a sofa on our terrace porch too and for all the reasons mentioned, nice to be taken back, seems so far away in London

I've seen the exact same thing in some North American cities, including as far North as Toronto. It's always in the more underprivileged/student neighbourhoods.

People down under are laid back! Couch is there for the mates to come down have a chat & a beer, then pass out not on the mouldy gutter but on the comfy couch! :)

fashionforsatudaybrunch.blogspot.com

eew..that is embarrassing! And may I add, not at all representative of all Australian porches! But each to their own I suppose! Just not my idea of comfort! :)

Oh! back in my student days we had a bed on our porch…boy if that bed could have spoken….

In Melbourne too!

Looks like Newtown to me, I've seen house couches dragged out of upstairs windows onto shop awnings on King Street too – makes a great place for a bird's eye view, if not such a great idea for those with vertigo ;)

while it doesn't happen often in toronto, there are more than a few porch couches to be seen. my old room mates and i had one and it was THE party spot on warm summer nights. we may have been doing it for the sake of white trash inspired irony though. by "may" i of course mean "were".

Lived in Sydney – Mosman actually ? in a house with a bunch of friends and we had a couch on our porch too! Drove all of our fancy neighbors and the local neighborhood council crazy!! We were having a great time though…

Ah, the porch couch! This is a very common sight in Portland, OR. I'm born and raised here so I didn't realize how odd it looks until visitors started questioning it. And it Portland it's not even a frat/student thing, either – it's very wide spread. It's something of a "we don't care if this looks presentable, we want to be comfortable and drink beer (and not throw away something perfectly good because we bought something new/got rid of pets/quit smoking)".
Thanks for sharing some of Sydney daily life for those of us stuck at home.
-Allison
http://bramblenotebook.wordpress.com

Another person here from Portland, OR confirming that there are many porch couches to be found here! And they are spectacular. My current house does not have enough room outside for a couch, and oh how I miss the morning cup of coffee out on the couch, listening to the rain hit the pavement.

haha.. so you can save the money of buying outdoor furniture.

You could shoot that all over Indianapolis.

Q: What do the really rich and the really poor have in common?

A: They both have upholstered outdoor furniture.

Scott–You've never lived in a neighborhood where everyone has a front porch? This is so common in Los Angeles and all over the south.

Indoor furniture often looks great outdoors. I use a vintage chandelier as a patio light. People love it.

http://www.myromanapartment.com/uniform-project/

No worries! It looks just like the Portland, Oregon, USA, Inner South East neighborhood – for all of the aforementioned reasons…tres chic!

I've seen those alot in California and even in Germany on Balkonies! When I grow up I'll have my own front porch with a couch on it! :)

Classic Sydney! This one is making me homesick!

They're always crappy old couches that no one in the house can be bothered throwing away – why would you when you can just stick it outside for you and your mates to kick back on and enjoy a beer together at the end of a long day/night?

Indeed, as many readers are asking, why not? It is amusing to read the wide-eyed accounts of the well-heeled, as they scour the globe and think they're uncovering something radically different in another society. What the Sartorialist sees as something particular to a national culture is very much particular to a socio-economic class.

It's odd to see The Sartorialist's slow transformation toward more broad subject matters. Yet, The Sartorialist's efforts reek of exclusivity, the same sort on display in well-tanned, sculpted bodies at pool side in Rio. Bravo.

I am reminded of his photographs of India's poor, caught from inside cabs, and from his effort to reduce the photograph of a Pakistani lawyer to a mere fashion critique, and to ignore the lawyers social context, a moment of demonstration over the dismissal of a supreme court judge. This is nothing new.

But we keep coming back for the eye candy he gives us. And, every so often, we are reminded of what eyes gaze and frame the photos of these high-couture-blogs.

This is not a respectable abode.
A bunch of 20-year-old party animals with no money and no jobs live there (otherwise known as students). I think I lived there once. That is someone's mum and dad's old couch that no-one wants anymore. Enebriated friends who have drunk through all their cab money always know they can stagger to your house for emergency accommodation. They will be snoring on the couch when you wake up in the morning, or, more likely, at midday, to share stories about the previous night's excesses and make plans for tonight's.

great colours.

Best place to have a cigarette and watch the passers by.

Ha ha, how provincial!

I think it's a down under thing – we do it here in New Zealand as well. Nice and comfy haha

Sometimes when you're broke and moving to a new terrace, you drag your huge old couch with you… only to find the terrace's doors and staircases are too small for your furniture to get into.

So you give up and leave it on the porch on your way to ikea. It becomes a place for your and your hipster friends to smoke and drink beer.

Oh my! When I first saw this I did a double take. Thought it was my sister's terrace in inner city Sydney.
Yeah we're all about recycle and re-use in Sydney!

LOVE the comments :)
i see outdoor furniture around my campus a lot during summer as well, even on roofs sometimes

Haha.. I never even thought of it as odd! Where else would you want to chill with your mates in the afternoon?

its a social thing, it's common all over australia.

Awww this and the comments makes me so happy! Makes me want to go to Sydney and hang out in one of these!

That is pretty much Australia. Its all over Melbourne too, and not just front porches but backyards…why sit on plastic furniture when you can sit on a lounge, usually one you've picked up for free on hard rubbish collection day.

http://jacintaloves.blogspot.com

its gross and unsightly, and yes they do get mouldy and stinky.

You're making me homesick. it don't happen in Canberra mate. We are all inside wearing uggies now :-(

it's the perfect people watcher!

Dundedin in New Zealand has a slightly different spin on this quirky furniture arragangement – pop it in the front yard, and add a sharehouse of students in their pj's sprawled over chair ;)

It's just what we do! Why sit inside when you can enjoy the beautiful weather outside? Happens all over australia. I'm in Perth and houses are more spaced out but still everyone does this. Frankly I don't understand the appeal of uncomfortable wooden or plastic furniture.

it never rains there….is that it????

Yeah, I don't think it's a Sydney thing, I think it's a student thing. Where I went to school, Madison, WI, plenty of student houses would have the same things, couches picked up from second-hand stores or the curb and given a nice home on porches.

This is such a southern U.S. thing–makes me gag to think fo the bugs in these.

It just can not rain… It gotta be sunny and warm…

i'm sure it's already been said (i can't read 106 comments) but i've seen a similiar sight around a lot of australia. i believe it's a part of our beauty. we're that relaxed we need a couch on our porch.
x

Were you conceived on a house couch like this? What's your deal. : )

Oh, you just made this Nashville-based Aussie homesick!! :) I've hardly thought about it before, but it really is a staple item for the porch / balcony / beach + a good friend & cool drink… Perfection!

I'm surprised neither of these photos have kangaroos hopping past, with people riding them.

Poor Americans. They're very sheltered. But bless him, at least Scott has ventured away from home so that he can observe the weird and wonderful ways of The Rest of the World.

assuming these photos were taken in Surry Hills… anything goes and it just adds to its personality..love it

my parents rent out a terrace in newtown, the first week the tenants went in there was a couch outside, apparently the homeless get some use out of it :)

This is common in low income neighborhoods and housing projects in the mid-west.

like so many have said before me, it pretty much is an indication of a student house.

When there is hard rubbish collection and there are any decent couches/armchairs they almost always become the furniture in and in front of a sharehouse.

The Dunedin, New Zealand spin also includes using the couch as fuel for mid-street party night bonfires. Something the university authorities are doing their best to crack down on.

It's usually found in places with renting university students. A great place to sit outsite if you have lots of friends over for some drinks. Usually the couches are found on the side of the road for hard rubbish collection.
You can see this in Melbourne too. :)

Well firstly is a 'lounge' not a couch and secondly its a 'veranda' not a porch :-)

Mate, it usually signifies student accommodation.

Oh, hi there. I'm an Australian uni student/40 year old hipster. Together with 15 of my friends, I rent a small terrace built for 2. See that couch on the front porch? It defines me. We placed it there because that's the best place you need to be to annoy the neighbors as they're trying to sleep.

Yeah… how dare they complain at 3:30 AM cause they can't sleep. Who cares if they need to work in the morning to pay taxes and put food on our table. Who cares if we're trashing this joint whilst they work 4 jobs to pay the mortgage on their overpriced shoebox. Yeah, who cares about civility, cordiality and common sense. Not us. We like to put a decomposing couch on our front porch cause that will make us Australians, somehow.

How ridiculous. How vulgar. Next time I see one I will douse it with petrol and set it alight. Be warned. I'm in Paddington, often.

Just another reminder of why I should move back to Italy.

Scott, I've spent 3 decades living in Sydney and sometimes, I swear, it's like being stuck in a parallel universe. Don't even try to understand it.

And what they're saying about whole street parties where everyone mingles with one another… it doesn't happen. The community to which they're alluding… it doesn't exist. The passing parade which they're mentioning… there is no parade of people.

The couch thing, like the couches themselves, is an issue of social decay.

Weird!!! I don't like it at all! :)

australians also take couches camping

i see this in trendy singapore bars clubs now. sofas and ottomans taking over arcaded sidewalks after six. Must be a pain to take them in after hours

Why not?!
Sydney is always sunny, we might just enjoy the sun outside.. Lx

Sophisticated Misfit, why not go back to Italy if you're so desperate to escape Australia! your attitude clashes with this beautiful city.

I've noticed many people saying that it something seen in only low income areas, student accommodation, one person even went so far to say that it is a sign of social decay!

I'm from Perth and I will concede that you would more often see this in those areas.

That said, I have seen many well looked after couches on huge verandah/balconies/porches in some of our highest socio-economic areas.

I am currently a student and am living in a flat that has no balcony or porch but you can rest assured when I am working and am able to buy my own house (or at least rent a bigger one), I will be buying a big beautiful couch or similar to wile away a lazy afternoon while watching the world go by.

Love a good couch on the porch, ours tend to be the left overs from music festivals such as meredith and falls in melbourne / victoria, we take them so that we can sit on the hill /campsite and enjoy the music/scene. If they make it thru the festival they live on the porch to be enjoyed until the next festival rolls around.

and when the couch is finally too grotty for the porch – you take it to meredith – uber-stylish festival seating

eww – even reading unsophisiticated misfits comments made me feel cheapened

soonest gone – soonest mended buddy

see ya!

If I think about it, it's really an Australian icon – the couch outside. In Perth they are everywhere, as many have said, mainly in shared houses. Plus it's an awesome concept! Although they do get dirty really quickly..

it's so funny you put these up- i was around Paddington/Surry Hills the other week and counted about 7 places with couches out the front!

i don't say it's weird bt we don't have this in europe.

http://bulbizar.blogspot.com/

Dear Scott,

If you ever visit the deep south, you will find plenty of couches on the porch. The Australians got it from us!
I'm not kidding about the couch thing here in the south, but they've got us beat by a mile as far as the style of the couch. You wouldn't see any leopard print couches out front people's home down here, or anything so bright. They win!

I've observed that almost everything you find a bit "bizarre" or "the look" in other countries (couches on the porch in Sydney, men wearing leggings under shorts in Tokyo, etc.) has all been normalized for years in Santa Cruz, CA. I guess no big-wig fashion people ever really bother to stop here. But, I suppose, we kind of like that…..the death of Bohemia is commercialization.

KEEP SANTA CRUZ WEIRD!!!!

oy! All I can think of is it's a big home for mice. (lovely shots, though.)

We used to do the same thing 30 years ago at the frat in Berkeley. Families would gift us with often very nice couches, when Mom redecorated, and when the "Sun Room" at the back filled up, out to the porch they went. Once the winter rains came, it was off to the dump with them – it DOES rain in Northern California.

Two words: Student housing

I go to school in Los Angeles, and all the students do this. It's comfortable, and if it doesn't rain then it's no problem!

Probably already said elsewhere here, but it's a pretty common thing for students in rental properties to do.

In Dunedin, New Zealand, the couches are often burned in the winter chill and don't make it through to the next year's tenants. Plenty of second hand couches around!

Yes – this is fabulous Student house share Australia. We find it very difficult to throw away a comfy couch. FYI you may also find a couch on the back of a ute (small open back truck) ready to go to an outdoor concert or other summer event! Beaut idea!

Since when are we (Aussies) calling a verandah a porch?
Is this yet another example of American cultural imperialism?
It's fascinating to hear new fashion in our vocabulary. Last time in Melbourne I was stunned to hear young people use "You guys" instead of "you". Wha…??
An especially alarming habit to observe in a waiter :
I rather like the colours in the animal-print sofa pic. Thanks Scott, your work is beautiful.

Awesome direction to focus your camera, Scott. Not. It seems like such a waste to picture Australians as a bunch of yokels. Not to mention unimaginative. Like no-one's done that before. Can't you think outside the stereotype, and be respectful rather than condescending?

I live in France and I have a couch on my terrace too. I love when I'm resting on it during summer nights, smoking a cigarette and chatting with friends.

I live in Sydney in Newtown.. Its what my porch looks like.. It nice just sitting outside with a beer and watching the people walk past =)

And if it gets mouldy just throw it out and find a new one on the street heheh =)

x!

<3 it!!! You see the same thing all over New Orleans :)

Couches are an astonishingly common sight on porches in Alabama, USA, despite the humidity. Often they are accompanied by a fridge and a washing machine, and guarded by an overgrown truck motor or some fake deer.

I've seen this kind of decorating often in the states.
But usually it is found in rural Georgia…

Student places in Canada do this all the time as well

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that is my house with the glorious cream velour couch outside- that damn thing would not fit through any of the doors into our house so that is why it is there!

In Abu Dhabi this is a common sight!! the coolish evenings and the passing parade of cars and people are wonderful. i particulalrly love the roccocco revival with tattered check covering down by the Al Mina docks.

Ann Arbor Michigan in the USA is home the The University of Michigan, you see this all over campus in the apartment/house rentals. This is pretty common in most college areas, despite where one is from. Nice to know that we are not so different.

Kind of reminds me of my porch. Instead of a sofa I have a futon with a wooden frame, raffia coffe table and a wooden bench. The beige sofa looks rather dumpy but the leopard print is fun. We all need somewhere comfortable to people watch!

oh man i love how the world marvels at australian creation….come to carlton, melbourne, grab a mug of tea, take off your shoes and watch the streets take place (imagination the shots youd get from the view of the couch)

I'm fairly certain most of these sofas and houses would belong to young groups of students or 20-somethings house sharing. Another tennant moves in, with their own sofa and it goes onto the verandah. A place for "mates" (friends) to enjoy a beer together.

In Melbourne we had a house full of junkies down the street from our first house in Richmond. They sat on an abominable sofa each afternoon and got high and drunk. Not nice neighbours, but that's what you get with inner city living.

One reason really. Couches are comfy. We are lazy. This way, the couch is accessible. Meh?

It's for when you get locked out.

It's an American frat boy thing too!

Twice a year, the capital city councils have 'hard rubbish collection'. So we all put out our old couches, dead tellies/ hifis et al. Most of us also have a tightass streak so it is almost irresistable to pass a perfectly functional couch on the nature strip without swiping it. We always think we will be sitting on these couches with a frothy and watching the world go by, but with one of the highest working hours in the developed world, it usually becomes property of the house's cat.

Perfect place to smoke, drink tea, chill and watch the world go past. I ? my porch couch.

I know where that first picture is, i'm pretty sure it's in Surry Hills! :) I go past a house that has a couch like that out the front every day on the bus. It makes me smile haha. What can i say, we Aussies are awesome like that.

indoor furniture, outside used to be very common in NZ and aussie, but now is solely the domain of students young workers and the lower classes

This is so typical of a lot of rental properties in inner city sydney and melbourne.. an old couch sitting outside an otherwise beautiful old two storey victorian terrace.. not sure why local councils don't do something about it??

This is definitely a great place to live in. a one of a kind beauty indeed.

I absolutely love it. In a couch for a perfect chill-out.

I think there's nothing wrong with these! The blue one actually looks great.

This is what i called a best Patio. I will be happy if i would have like this. Really outstanding patio.

You used to see the bench seats out of old Holden utes and cars on the front verandas, with a hub cap ashtray next to them.

I would like to think that the weather is always perfect! Always a fine day! Furniture like that in the patio is a risk.

i love your patio the coach it's cute, i wish i have that..

My roomates and I kept a futon on our back porch in an apartment I lived in. It was great to lounge outside. I even took a nap in a thunderstorm-lovely!

Use the new home living furniture can make your interior compact.