‘I saw the opportunity’: Woman defends picking up ‘$8,000 bubble sofa’ from New York street

TikTok video went viral after viewers were concerned the sofa contained bedbugs

A woman has explained why she decided to pick up a sofa apparently worth US$8k (£6,434) after finding it on a street in New York.

A video created by Amanda, a TikTok influencer who goes by the handle @yafavv.mandaa on social media, recently went viral as viewers couldn’t believe she had taken the sofa home.

The influencer said that, two weeks after she picked the furniture off the street, she did not see any signs of bedbugs and deemed it safe to bring into her apartment.

In her initial TikTok video, Amanda said she had her father help her transport the sofa off the street to his office, where she, her father, sister and boyfriend pitched in to clean it.

The blue sofa appears to be from interior designer Sacha Lakic’s Bubble collection for Roche Bobois, which retails between £5,000 to more than £6,300 online.

However, many believe that the sofa could be a replica version after spotting certain differences in the colour 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 had been thrown out in the first place.

Most people who commented on the video suggested there may be bed bugs or other infestations within the sofa, which could have led to the original owner’s decision to throw it out.

Others criticised her for only carrying out “one round of cleaning”, according to her video, and for not getting the sofa professionally cleaned.

In her follow-up video, Amanda said: “I only recorded five minutes of the whole process that I took to clean the couch.”

Since going viral, the sofa has become a meme on social media, with people making up increasingly off-putting scenarios alongside a photograph of it.

She also explained that she found the furniture item in front of a “very rich building”.

“Rich people throw out 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 people agreed with Amanda and pointed out that wealthy residents in New York often leave designer furniture items on the street for passers-by to pick up if they wish.

“No thoughts on whether this is safe but the people who are like, ‘There’s a reason someone might throw away such an expensive couch?’ and I’m sorry but y’all really underestimate rich people’s ability to throw away items that are in great condition,” one person wrote.

However, others point out that while hard surfaces are fair game to be picked up off the street, soft furnishings carry a much higher risk of bringing infestations into the home.

“We have awesome stuff on our sidewalks in New York City (half my apartment is furnished from the street) but you gotta draw the line at upholstery because that s*** gets nasty,” a Twitter user said.

Another added: “Hard surfaces, yes. Soft/fabric items are a big NOPE.”

Amanda concluded her sofa update video with a clip of how she “styled” it by placing pillows strategically over rips and stains left behind, as well as a clip of the tag on the side of the sofa “if anybody wants to tell me it’s fake”.