leather or material? Couches

other way round - had fabric and found lost its shape and got really saggy (all 9 stone of me). Have leather now - always thought would hate - but great, very comfortable and easy clean (the half of it that I have from Clerys despite ordering months ago)
 
I can't stand leather couches, cold and slippy and ugly too. I have 2 white material/cotton sofas (12 years old )and 3 young kids, it's from Ikea but the covers can be taken off and washed. The kids take off the cushions and play on it everyday. No shoes or food though allowed. In the evening as I like to put my feet up on it I just put a towel on the sitting part and that works perfectly for me. Biro, red wine and kids vomit have all been easily washed.
 
It really is a personal choice - some people love leather, others hate it.

I hate it, since when the weather is cold, the leather is freezing, and when its hot, the leather makes you hot and sticky (especially if you wear little shorts/pjs, and your skin is directly on the leather). I also find leather sofas so uncomfortable, since you slip off them.

However, from reading other people's posts, they do seem to be practical with kids. But do you want to pass years and years on an uncomfortable leather sofa, just because it's practical?
I'd go for a material sofa with removable, washable covers.
 
sham_bo said:
really? do you have velcro attached to both the cushion and the sofa itself? i didn't think a strip of velcro would do it, i was thinking in terms of patches... do you mind me asking the best way of doing this??
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The velcro is stitched into both, it came like that.
 
ragazza said:
It really is a personal choice - some people love leather, others hate it.

I hate it, since when the weather is cold, the leather is freezing, and when its hot, the leather makes you hot and sticky (especially if you wear little shorts/pjs, and your skin is directly on the leather). I also find leather sofas so uncomfortable, since you slip off them.
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Totally agree with these sentiments - wouldn't touch leather with a barge pole and even when our four kids were very young we still went for material.
 
don't agree that leather is uncomfortable - you just have to avoid buying the real cheap end sofas on 1/2 price offer - buy a decent one and they are at least as comfortable as a fabric one. they can be cold when you initially sit on but warm up really quickly and retain the heat better than fabric .

but for me the best bit is the cleaning and as the OP said they may be starting family soon - we have a 4 week old at home and have had to clean off sofa numerous times already - we also have a fabric sofa and a 3 year old who loves it - she was sick last week and vomited twice on fabric sofa - what a pain in the ass, stripping cushions, washing, drying ... full day minimum before sofa is usable again.
 
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Hi,

We had a cloth sofa/chairs in our old rented house and with a new baby got destroyed with milk stains/puke/you name it. Child is now nearly 3 and in our own house we bought a leather sofa and chairs. It still looks bran new after all the abuse its taken, milk/food/sick/biro/crayons etc.

Its easy to clean unlike the cloth sofa we had to remove all the covers and wash let to dry and get back on the cushions which was the hardest part and then waiting before we can use the sofaa again, Nightmare and you will be busy enough with a newborn and wont want to be washing frickkin cushions covers.

If I was you i'd go with leather untill the child a wee bit older. We intend to get a cloth suite of furniture when she stops throwing stuff at it!! ;)
 
Or buy a cheap second hand suite until children are a bit older. We had a hand-me down sofa and chairs while our two were still babies and thank goodness because number 1 was forever possetting. Even though we had throws on them, it would still leak through to the material of the sofa and then through to the foam however quickly I thought I had cleaned up. Suffice to say that after a couple of years of this treatment it wasn't a sofa you would like to ask a guest to sit on. We have bought leather sofas since. They were not cheap ( not very expensive either) but there is no way you would slide off them. Surely your seat would have to be at an angle/sloped to slide off? Plus as per a previous poster the cushions are well attached by the manufacturer- they don't budge at all. I don't notice the initial cold as I don't wear shorts anyway ( this is Ireland, how often do you get to wear shorts) but they would warm up within seconds anyway surely? The only thing is that leather sofas can be vulnerable to biro marks- mine are anyway, if you don't wipe off the biro mark straight away I find it stays. There are always loads of suites for sale on ebay/ buy and sell and local ads- some of them are really nice. I think if you're just about to have children I might go for a cheapish suite and when they are past the projectile vomiting stage, or at least when they stop doing it twice a day ( I kid you not) you could splash out?
 
You cant just say every leather sofa is uncomfortable and every material one is the most comfortable like some people are making out. I have just been sofa shopping the past few weeks and the most comfortable sofa I sat on was a leather one, yes it was prob one of the most expensive I seen but it was a good quality sofa. It depends on what you buy, at the end of the day you get what you pay for. If you buy a cheap sofa, then dont expect it to be the best sofa in the world.

It comes down to personal choice but I much prefer leather to material these days, it is more practial for me and will last a lot longer than a material one.

There are pros and cons for both but think long term for yourself and you'll make the right decision and wont be kicking yourself in the future.
 
Well just to update the situation we went for leather in the end and got a 3 2 1 for the sitting room and a 2 seater for the kitchen and have to say the best decision we ever made.........the couch is seriously comfortable and nice soft leather that never appears to be freezing cold. Any Mrs. racso is due that baby so maybe i'll update in another year:p
 
Thanks for the update Rasco, i always like to hear how things pan out. Gald you're enjoying your comfy leather sofas, and congrats to you and Mrs Rasco on the upcoming baby!
 
Buy a material couch from Ikea with removable cover. Wash it when necessary. Then replace the cover when it's too grubby or you fancy a change.
 
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