Leather or Velvet???

[butterfly 17]

Me and my husband are trying to decide on a couch for the family room.

I love Mara''s couch with the double chaise, but I have not been able to find one that has one on each side, except for PB, but it was too expensive, so I have to settle for something else.

I went to Macy''s and found a really really nice one, it has velvet cushions and back, but the other areas are leather. The color is chocolate brown and the couch has two seats and one chaise. I really love that one a lot!!!

But, my husband says it''s not practical to buy a velvet couch b/c the kids will spill things on it, throw up on it when they are sick, etc. so we should just get a leather couch instead. I told him that the couch is really dark, so things won''t show up, but he is saying what about the smell, etc.

The thing is that I have not found a leather couch that is small enough to actually fit in the room without being too long length and chaise-wise.

So, for those people with cloth/microfiber/velvet sofas, how do you keep it clean? And do you regret not getting a leather couch instead?

 

[Dee*Jay]

Butterfly, we have two velvet couches. One is from Room and Board and is actaully owned by The Demon at this point in it''s 8 year life. Honestly, I think the scotchguarding has saved it from a lot of things, but you can tell it''s been well used. The other couch is a very light colored designer sofa (of course I can''t remember who right now... ) and we had no opportunity to have it scotchguarded because we bought it as a floor sample. Honestly, the damn thing is the bane of my existance. The SLIGHTEST water drop and you have a permanent stain. Sit on it the wrong way and you have a permanent wrinkle. The happy hubby is afraid to even go near the damn thing--and with children, no way! I wouldn''t even consider it. When we were looking for chairs for the living room my only absolute requirement was NO VELVET because my experience with this couch is so bad. Not that leather is without it''s troubles I''m sure (scratches and whatnot depending on the finish) but I really have to assume it would be more durable and practical than velvet. (Just my 2 cents.)

 

[monarch64]

We have a beige upholstered couch, chair-and-a-half, and ottoman...we had the furniture store put a special scotchguard/teflon finish on the upholstery to prevent stains. Honestly all I do is wipe them with a damp towel when we spill something or the dogs jump on them with muddy feet or whatever. The first time I spilled red sauce on one of the cushions I was totally amazed that I was able to clean off the entire mess very easily and it left no trace of a stain.

 

[KristyDarling]

Velvet does seem like it'd be hard to clean in the event of barfing, spills, etc.

We have two pale taupe microfiber couches from Macy's and they are AWESOME. Every possible thing has been spilled/smeared on it and everything has come right off! They are soft against the skin, and look pretty sharp, too.

I highly recommend microfiber upholstery for anyone with kids!!! Or dogs!

Macy's also has this protection program that lasts for the lifetime of the couch...costs an extra $100 I believe. If something gets spilled on the couch that you absolutely cannot clean off, they will send a professional over to remove the stain.

 

[decodelighted]

I have a velvet couch and a leather ottomon. Honestly, the leather is more of a pain! Probably because my velvet is *distressed*, so it was already kind of broken in & hides imperfections etc ... whereas the leather is solid stretched plain old choc. brown & gets water stains & smudges & scratches from the pets paws etc etc & always seems dry no matter how often I rub those leather wipes on it. GROAN!

I''ve had the sofa 3x as long as the ottomon too!! The only prob I have with the sofa after 7-8 years is I''d love to restuff the bottom cushions.

Don''t know about kids though -- mine have just been subjected to a growing number of pets, including a tiny dog that likes to LICK the sofa & burrow into the ottomon.

 

[Sundial]

I vote for leather. We are on our second leather sofa in our family room (gave the old one to my daughter for her apartment) and we have had great luck with both through kids, pets, and spills. The first one was a distressed sueded leather that looked like denim and the current one is more of a smooth leather. We also have leather club chairs in our living room and a leather recliner in our bedroom. They take less abuse, but they have also held up well.

 

[butterfly 17]

Well, we went back to Macy''s and they do have a 7 yr. warranty against breaks, stains, spills, etc. for a one time fee of $180, so I may go with that.
I also did find one more couch at Fortunoff''s that looks very similar, is a tiny bit smaller lengthwise and is microfiber and half the price.

I showed it to my husband and he seemed to like it, pricewise of course!!!


KD,
what color is your microfiber couch? I want to go with something really dark so stains don''t show. I know myself and the kids and this will be the couch right by the kitchen, so you know we are all going to be sitting there eating and watching TV instead of at the table.

The thing is, if we go with a dark chocolate brown leather couch, I noticed that the ones we saw had the color worn off in the seat area and elbow area and worn off to the point they were lighter in color, we don''t want that either.

I have to go back and see if I can find a smaller leather sofa with a chaise in a medium caramel color. OOooh, if only they made a Balenciaga ''05 caramel colored leather couch, that would be the most perfect color IMO.

 

[butterfly 17]

Date: 1/31/2007 2:54:40 PM
Author: decodelighted
Don''t know about kids though -- mine have just been subjected to a growing number of pets, including a tiny dog that likes to LICK the sofa & burrow into the ottomon.

Well, I have a cat and a rabbit and I promised my daughter we would get her a small white chihuahua when she turns 7 years old, so I will soon have one of those LICKY things as well!!

 

[KristyDarling]

My microfiber couch is a pale taupe-y beigey thing. We''ve had it for 2 years and have spilled *everything* on it....and as pale as the color is, there still are no visible stains! We also have a pebbled leather couch from Macy''s. Our dog has scratched it up and now it looks awful. No amount of rubbing or polishing can take those whitish scratches out. Just something to keep in mind!

 

[butterfly 17]

Here is the one I saw at Fortunoff''s. The chaise is reversible so I can switch it to either side, and I can also order a matching ottoman that can double as an extra chaise/table if need be.
It comes in a whole bunch of colors and is only 90" long, so it will be a perfect fit for what I want.

Plus, the price is good fo $999.

What do you think?

http://www.fortunoff.com/product.asp?pf_id=056993

 

[Dee*Jay]

I love the clean lines and it seems like a great price!

(How do you reverse the chase though if it has an arm on it? Or do you mean that you could order it to go on either side, not just move it from side to side?)

 

[butterfly 17]

Date: 1/31/2007 8:44:05 PM
Author: Dee*Jay
I love the clean lines and it seems like a great price!

(How do you reverse the chase though if it has an arm on it? Or do you mean that you could order it to go on either side, not just move it from side to side?)

Oh, you remove the cushions, not the whole side with the arm. It''s actually a removable and reversible chaise cushion and underneath it is an ottoman. So, if you want it on the opposite side, just switch the cushions and push the ottoman over. It also comes with an extra cushion, so if you just want to use the couch with no chaise and use the ottoman as a table, you can do it as well.


This one in no way compares to the chocolate velvet one that I saw at Macy''s. That one is pure cozy, comfortable heaven to me.

It''s so soft and warm and everytime I go to Macy''s my daughter jumps on the chaise and pretends she is sleeping.

It also goes with the color scheme I want. Have you ever been to Nordstrom''s and notice they decorate with blues and chocolates.
I want to do the family room with the same colors. I am thinking blue walls and chocolate curtains, etc.

 

[Cehrabehra]

we have microfiber and it is AWESOME! best couch I ever had.... it cleans like you wouldn''t believe.... blood, chocolate... my son stuck toothpicks in it and the holes closed up you can''t even see where it was.... it cleans with a washcloth and *water* and I''ve heard rumor that it claw resistant to cats but I''ve not seen this. It isn''t as sumptuous as either that you mentioned but wow, it''s the bomb!! Feels similar to suede.

 

[Cehrabehra]

Date: 1/31/2007 6:41:10 PM
Author: butterfly 17

KD,
what color is your microfiber couch? I want to go with something really dark so stains don''t show. I know myself and the kids and this will be the couch right by the kitchen, so you know we are all going to be sitting there eating and watching TV instead of at the table.

this is my couch and this is our main room and I have 3 kids and a lab.... the color isn''t dark at all but really - I have yet to find a "stain" that didn''t come out with WATER and barely some scrubbing. Even the mud on the sides that the kids kick on that gets ignored for ::cough:: months comes off in 2 seconds with water and a washcloth.

 

[Cehrabehra]

woah - okay forgot to resize LOL here...

ETA we've had this couch almost 2 years as our one and only in our main room with 3 kids and a dog and we eat in here.... I just cleaned it a few days ago and you can't find a stain on it! But if you really want to be sure a carmel color would probably hide hoffa LOL

 

[Tacori E-ring]

I vote for leather as well. I feel like velvet would attact animal hair and be *very* hard to clean. Someone posted a couch on here like Mara''s but much cheaper maybe a year ago. I think it only came in red but it was a good price. Maybe she would remember where it was from.

 

[Mara]

okay well i am not a leather couch person or a velvet couch person in a year round sense...so i'd probably get neither. i'd get microfiber (which isn't velvet) or regular upholstery slipcovers for easy cleaning. our microfiber is great to clean, it's super easy, easier than upholstered. also it's a brown which makes it easy to hide dirt...i clean it once a month with a wet rag and then go over it with a dry one and that takes care of it. the microfiber seems to more easily 'give up' dirt than hold onto it like upholstery or slipcovers do. but my old couch had slipcovers and i loved being able to wash it. also microfiber shows more patterns of brushing your hand back and forth on it too it seems to more easily hide imperfections on it than a regular solid looking couch.

i do like velvet slipcovers for the couch for xmas time and winter, my girlfriend has a set from PB for her charleston couch and they are awesome around the holidays, totally ties the whole house in with everything...but i wouldn't do them year round. she has another set of regular cream ones for summer. that is what i like about doing slipcovers like that, you can totally switch them out and change the look of the room.

and leather couch for me is so mentally bachelor....i have seen some really nice leather couches recently but i just don't think they are for us. now a leather club chair with an ottoman, oh i'd definitely do that !!

butterfly, macys doesnt have the couch anymore? also did you check C&B, they had one too a few years ago.

 

[diamondfan]

I totally agree with microfiber and I would get it treated with some protectant if necessary. I love the one I have in my kids playroom, it is comfy and easy to keep clean. I would opt for a medium to darker tone, you can throw some toss pillows on in fun patterns and colors to jazz it up, and it might be more user friendly and safer to have it in a more forgiving shade. Leather is tough, it cracks and shows wear with scratches, and velvet unless it is crushed, will look smushed and funky it it gets used a lot. I have two gorgeous pale cream velvet sofas in my living room, they are a very high quality velvet, the nap is very flat and almost has a suede like texture without being heavy, but my kids and dog do not go in there (heck, I almost never go in there!) so I was not too worried. I did ultrasuede which is a lot like microfiber in my family room where we all hang, Maya does not go on the sofa but the kids do, and it is soft and nice, I did a deeper sage color which looks great in the room and is more able to hide marks...

 

[butterfly 17]

Well, I just came from the new house and I have to say, the family room is looking kind of small, so I may have to just get the one from Fortunoff''s.


Cehrabehra,
I really like the color of your couch. I just realized that if I do go with some taupe-neutral color, I will have to repaint the family room, it''s some weird dark pink color. I was trying to get away with not painting for a while, but it will totally not look good in the room the way it is now.

Mara,
No, Macy''s stopped selling that style a while back. I don''t know why they stopped selling, but now they only sell the one chaise style. I will check to see what C& B has though.



It seems like velvet is out and microfiber is the way to go. I will still look into leather though!!