The Balancing Act Lifetime

The following segment originally aired on the national TV show, The Balancing Act on Lifetime Television. The featured guest was furniture designer, Shawn Nelson to explain his revolutionary furniture line called ‘LoveSac’.

The Balancing Act on Lifetime Television host Danielle Knox: I am sitting on this comfortable sofa with Shawn Nelson, a man whose unique vision is revolutionizing the face of furniture today.  The LoveSac is a great piece of furniture. Did you just wake up one day and say ‘I want to make an oversized beanbag chair? What is the story behind it?

Shawn: The whole company started because I was 18 years old and thought it would be funny to make the world’s biggest beanbag.

The Balancing Act on Lifetime Television: You were 18 years old?

Shawn: I went out and bought the fabric, took it home, cut it up and sewed it up.  I started filling it with everything soft that I could find. And when I finally got it done and took it out and used it, everyone seemed to want one.

The Balancing Act on Lifetime Television: It’s interesting because did you ever fancy yourself a furniture designer?

Shawn: No. I actually left the country for two years to go be a missionary, came back to finish university and started using the ‘Sac’ again. Once again, everybody wanted to buy one. So I started this little company and we started selling them out of a van and making them in the basement for three or four years. Also at home shows, boat shows, car shows.  Finally I got an order for 12,000 units at this big trade show.

The Balancing Act Lifetime Television: With no big company behind you?

Shawn: Yes, with just me and my buddies. So we built a factory on credit cards and in order to keep that factory alive when we finished that order, we opened our first retail store at a mail in Salt Lake City in 2001. Since then it’s been a few years and we have 25 locations around the country in shopping malls from L.A to New York City.

The Balancing Act on Lifetime Television: So, you’re in a store and you have the LoveSac, sitting next to a sofa.  Just so people can get an idea of how it flows and fits into a room. Then what happens?

Shawn: In the very first store, it was set up like a living room and people kept trying to buy the sofa. So I spent five years trying to develop a sofa that we could actually carry in stock, deliver it in a box and  it would be really easy to assemble.  I wanted to be able to make all kinds of different furniture configurations and make it machine-washable and that is what we did.  We called these pieces, ‘sactionals.’

The Balancing Act on Lifetime Television: Can you explain to The Balancing Act Viewers how this furniture works and what the options are?

Shawn:  I am going to show you how it works. I am going to take that chair, change its covers, make a completely different color chair and then we’re going to build some other things out of it as well.

The Balancing Act on Lifetime Television: well that sounds like a tall order. Let’s check it out.

Shawn: So go ahead and have a seat on the arm because people are going to do that. What you’re sitting on is a completely machine-washable chair.  Every piece of this can just be peeled off and changed out.  Actually, this chair was built from just two components.   Three sides and one base make an armchair in ‘sactionals.’

The Balancing Act on Lifetime Television: Boy that’s awesome! Now, because you have talked about machine washable a lot of times, I’d like to see how we take these off and wash them.

Shawn: And you can also just change the covers if you get tired of a certain color.

The Balancing Act on Lifetime Television: Let’s do it.

Shawn: Just move these cushions out of the way, go ahead and grab that black strap, yank it and now we can take these pieces and build whatever we want out of them.  We can add another piece on, but first we can change the covers.

The Balancing Act on Lifetime Television: Okay, and let’s build something bigger.

Shawn: Okay, with just a few bases and sides, you can literally build anything you want with no tools required, no talent, and you can change the covers as often as you like.  There are lots of different fabrics, colors, whatever you like.

The Balancing Act on Lifetime Television: So where can The Balancing Act viewers find out more information?

Shawn: You can just go to lovesac.com or there might be a store near you. Otherwise you can order anything you want off the website.

The Balancing Act Lifetime Television is the only morning show in America produced by women specifically for women. Every morning, The Balancing Act on Lifetime hosts Danielle Knox and Kristy Villa tackle the issues that face today’s woman. Popular show segments include Live weather updates with Mark Mancuso, surprise celebrity visitors, and news about the latest trends affecting your life, home, career and family. The Balancing Act on Lifetime Television airs daily on Lifetime at 7 a.m. ET/PT. For more information, visit The Balancing Act on Lifetime Television’s website at http://www.thebalancingact.com.