I Finally Bought a Green Velvet Couch — Then, I Found a Community of Black Women Just Like Me

I bought my green velvet couch before I’d even found an apartment to put it in. When I was younger, I had a lot of requests for what I thought my room should look like: I once wanted to paint the walls black so I could use chalk to write on them, and I even begged my mom to purchase an expensive painting of a saxophonist that, by the following year, I had “matured and moved on” from.

All of these ideas were, and I cannot emphasize this enough, swiftly declined. So while I was preparing to move into my first solo apartment in 2021, I knew this was my moment to exercise the design autonomy I’d always craved — and the green velvet couch was the critical start. 

As a film and television production designer, I know world-building is a key component of creating an environment that is true to the character and overall story. The world, or set, is informed by the characters’ life and is an extension of their identity. A tenet in my design practice is to create intimacy between the characters and audience, so I know the importance of finding community through a prop or piece of decor. 

As the saying goes, life imitates art — and little did I know when I was first clicking “buy” on my dream green velvet couch that I was becoming part of a community of other Black women buying the very same sofa. 

During my time as an Obsidian Theatre Young, Gifted and Black fellow earlier this year, we were asked to do an exercise focused on our discipline. With mine being set design, I used my green couch as a prompt and, out of curiosity, Googled “Black women and green couches.” Out of sheer luck, I stumbled across a TikTok video from the BuzzFeed U.K. podcast Seasoned Sessions. In it, producers Ada Enechi and Hanifah Rahman talk about how they both own a green couch, giggling over their mutual affinity for the piece. The video is captioned, “Black women love themselves a green couch,” and since it was posted, the audio has been used a few dozen times by other Black women showcasing the beautiful emerald couches inside of their homes. 

Among those women is visual artist and creative consultant Stephanie C. Nnamani, who made a TikTok connecting color psychology with cultural expression to explain why Black women have been inclined to buy this specific shade of couch. As I began to think more about my own connection to the couch, I needed to know more, so I reached out to Nnamani for more insight. 

“Historically, Black women have always treated the home as a space of cultural preservation, storytelling, [and] radical self-expression because within the world, we have very limited spaces where we feel at home,” Nnamani says.

Recalling the work of Black feminist bell hooks, Nnamani says, “I think it was bell hooks who said homeplace as a site of resistance was where Black women could cultivate love and an identity in a world that is structured against us … using our interiors to make it feel safe because we have so much of the outside world to deal with.”

Still, the meaning behind the green velvet couch phenomenon goes beyond just having the agency to choose our own decor. The color and its texture also play an integral role in why the couch frequently becomes a must-have for Black women. “Colors really have a space of significance for indigenous cultures across the world, and Black women are not exempt [from] that connection,” Nnamani says. 

She notes that “green is representative of nature” and a sense of feeling grounded. “And where else,” she asks, “can you expect to feel [more] grounded than in your own home?” She explains how the material produces that same sobering feeling. “Even in the velvety texture of [the couch], there’s a sort of comfort that’s elicited in the materiality of it, [which] further expounds the significance of the color and how we connect to it,” Nnamani shares.

For me, purchasing my couch meant marking my space as my own. I didn’t buy all my furniture and decor in bulk; leaning into slow decorating gave me full control of how my home felt and how I would feel within it. But when I saw the couch online, I immediately fell in love. 

My beloved LORETTA is a signature three-seater couch from Structube. When I saw how high the arms were, it reminded me of those late nights I spent as a teen creased with laughter inside of a hot tub with my friends. I knew I wanted to host friends often in my new place, and I wanted to bring that spirit of togetherness and bonding into my home. Green also happens to be my favorite color, and the plush texture felt elevated. So, before I’d even signed an apartment lease, I felt confident that my green velvet LORETTA would be the center of my home. 

The layers of meaning behind the color and materiality of the ever-alluring green velvet couch made me want to learn more about what it means to different Black women. And in talking with several others who own this unifying piece of furniture, I uncovered a bevy of different meanings behind the green velvet couch. 

For film and television producer Sarah Muhoza, it was a touch of luxe that made her feel like the boss she is. “I knew I wanted a jewel-toned velvety couch for a long time. I eventually decided on an emerald green couch because it felt luxurious and provided a pop of color without being obnoxious,” she shares. “It made me feel grown and in charge. It was the first time I felt like I had agency over my style and could curate my world to look and feel as vibrant and bold as I pleased.”

Costume designer Samantha Scott has had not one, but two, green velvet couches. The first, chic and on sale, she bought with a roommate in 2018 and faithfully used it in her next apartment until it eventually broke in 2023. Her next couch she inherited from her late grandparents.

“They both had impeccable taste, and it fit seamlessly with their decor,” she says. The second green couch now lives in her Brooklyn apartment, and it reminds her on the daily just how capable this specific sofa is of growing with her as her life has transformed over the years.

When she bought her green corduroy velvet couch, designer Zoe Osborne says it felt like achieving a lifelong goal. “It’s something that I had always aspired to have. Living in my own apartment and having a velvet couch felt like a milestone for my life,” she explains.

For communications professional Makeda M., buying the couch signified a fresh start. “I had to buy a couch after a breakup,” she says. In her former relationship, she says she often deferred to her partner’s choices, as she was not yet confident advocating for her own wants and needs. When she decided to buy her own dark green velvet couch, it felt significant. “The couch was a symbol of me coming into my own,” she says. “Choosing something that I liked, that went beyond the usual safe or neutral options, and following my own instincts as I re-created the space to my taste.” 

When choosing her couch, stylist Pam Asemota knew she wanted a piece of furniture that made a statement. “I had always romanticized the idea of owning a piece of furniture that felt deeply soulful, soft, and luxurious — while also embodying a certain unapologetic boldness,” Asemota says. “Green, to me, is that color. As an earth sign, I feel an innate connection to it.” Plus, she says, “It’s Black AF and I love that shit!”

Talking to these women about the unsuspecting depth of their green velvet couches has me looking lovingly at my own, with lime-colored lenses. A few times a year I invite all my close friends over for dinner, and after we always gather on the couch. My couch has been the host to the most intimate moments of these soul-feeding gatherings: It’s where we’ve laughed together, where we’ve vented, where we’ve given highly anticipated updates on our hanging-by-a-thread love lives or shared major career milestones. 

When I’m alone, my couch is the place where I’ve happily binge-watched entire TV seasons in one sitting, where I’ve cuddled up into a corner when I’m feeling sad, and where I’ve done all my life’s planning and organizing buried in piles and piles of paperwork. My green velvet sofa is not just a piece of furniture — it’s where the fondest memories of my life have taken place. And after speaking with other Black women about theirs, I see that whether the reason for choosing it is for style, utility, or personality, the green velvet couch is an ode to selfhood — and at the same time, a love letter to having the ability to create our own sanctuaries.