Buying a sofa, advice please.
 

Hi
I need a new sofa, but have never bought one before. Leather preferred, but not essential. It must be comfortable though.

What do you look out for, are there different grades of leather.
What about ebay (although not sure if i want a used one)
Dont mind ex-display though.

Tips please.

Budget, not sure, but not more than £500.

Yes, there are a few different grades of leather. Ebay do sell new ones too, through various traders but you`re better off going to a shop so you can `try before you buy` :thumb: your bum will love you for it :lol1:

if its just a sofa you want i would go to DFS. the leather from them seems imo far superior than anyone else. i have bought 3 off them over the years and all have lasted very well. go in and ask for ex display as well, you may be lucky!, but usually you can get intrest free credit and nothing to pay for a year as well, so you should get a great one for your money if you dont mind paying a little extra each month. dont buy off the internet, you will get some eastern block plastic/leatherish crap land on your doorstep, and you will have to get it in your house most probably if there is a problem with sofa size V doors

To be honest with you, £500 won't get you anything decent.

DFS and the like are not where you should be buying from ... anywhere who can offer 10 years free credit, no deposit, not a penny to pay until 2015, and half price means that the sofa cost DFS £2:50!

Far better to buy G-Plan at £2500. Yes, I know it's a lot of money - but you will never have to buy one again, ever! The added benefit is that you sit in great comfort every single day of your life.

Borrow £2000 and do it .... it's an investment. The DFS Sofa will last 5 years and need replacing ... it's cheaper to do it right in the first place.

If there is a woman involved, buy it from DFS on 4 years credit for 20 quid a month. By the time it is paid for, she will have changed her mind. (To be honest, by the time it is delivered, she will have changed her mind, but you can justify keeping it until it is paid for.) If it is just for your own comfort, fork out a bit more for something quality that you like. 500 quid will get you a middle of the range footstool, so it might be time to adjust your cost plan or your aspirations

You would be lucky to get faux leather for 500 notes!

Make sure you test it in the shop for all possible activities, ignore what the spectators think!

Les ;)

Don't buy from dfs as their prices are inflated by 20% to allow for their five years interest free if your paying cash you won't get a discount from them as they work on high margins but want you on interest free only deals

Best to go ex display
I've been in furniture trade for 27 years and the floor modles are always built the best with best leather grain and quality control inspections higher

Shop displays are normally 20-30% cheaper
Aim for a £700-£899 one as a showroom modle
For the best deal
Recliners are nice but cheap ones wear at the joints

Look for pocket springs last longer then foam too

Don't buy cream colour they show dye transfer from jeans

Give this guy a call, Ed China

So much more that just a sofa :D

http://smallswordsmagazine.com/images/life/sofacar.jpg

Are there any ex-display places or show home warehouses etc. near you? There is an ex-Next place in Wellingborough and a show home place in Rushden. My friend bought a lovely set of leather sofas from the latter and they are gorgeous. I don't know how much they were though. The Next place is good for furniture, but it will be random and they don't know what's coming in if you know what I mean.....

Harveys are selling off lots of displays with new ranges due in mid august

Gotta agree with Pete on this one - spent three months looking at sofas in every furniture outlet I could find. Typically the high street stuff is fashion furniture. It is very lightweight and in my opinion the structural strength of the sofa framework is not there, it seems the working life of this stuff is around 5 years. I ended up having a small local company design and make two hard wood framed leather sofas for me. It was not cheap, but there is a 25 year warranty on all aspects of them. Have a look for local sofa repair outfits near you and ask them about the faults that they deal with. It was themselves who told me just how poor this mass market stuff is.

Make sure you sit down in it as though you're at home. As Les says, do what you would do at home .... :norty: Take plenty of time on this as you said you want5 it to be comfortable. I went for one (many years ago) from IKEA as it was the most comfortable one I'd tried. Only trouble was 2 years later and I wanted a chair ( a second chair) in the same colour but they said they had never done that style in that colour .... :Suspiciou

And if getting something that isn't that expensive ensure it hasn't got a reinforcing plank behind the upright cushion just where the small of your back goes when you sit down. My sister-in-law bought on *looks* without *road testing* and it was a painful to sit down on it ....

Dave

Agreed, when i finally moved out my parents place and got my own little lurve pad, i went to Argos *shudders* and bought one for £500 cash (not keen on getting credit for stuff like this and it was in a half price sale)

Looked pretty good to be honest, but it has not worn very well, and i am one of these anal people who looks after his things.

Give me a break though, it was the first time i had ventured out into the big bad world from under my parents wings :lol1:

I'd go with Lordharding............ It's what he used to do for a living :D

Shaun

As others have said, if you pay more, your sofa will last, but if you want cheap, try Nabru online. They sell modular self assembly sofas, delivered flat packed and made from laser cut MDF, so the frame ends up very solid. Only foam cushions though. Lots of shape size and fabric options and they will fit in awkward spaces cos they're flat packed. Recently bought a 6 seater L-shape from them for around £650 and I think it's well worth the money.

I couldn`t live with any piece of furniture for that long, I`d get bored. Nice to have a change me thinks :thumb:

rubbish

you're telling me in this world you will have the same sofa for ever and yet buy the latest phone cos it has to be done

buy what you like

I`ll have this same problem in a couple of weeks when i have to furnish a room that i`m doing up,

What do you reckon to this, is this the sort of cheaper build that your on about on this thread ?

http://www.csl-sofas.co.uk/checkout/index/Quebec

Biggest problem with sofas is the foam on most is crap. Its probably intentional, as it makes the sofa uncomfortable after a few years making you want to buy another.

One key thing I'd look for in a sofa is a zip on the base and backrest to allow access and replace the foam. And also removeable and interchangeable so they can be swapped and turned over to reduce the wear. Even teh best quality stuff loses its springyness, our 3pc has had its foam replaced about 3 times now (My Mum's partner used make 3pc suites).

Showroom models don't always show up how poor they are made as they don't keep them on display long enough to get any significant wear and tear.

Another thing is the frame, how much does it flex when you lift one corner, do the side arms creak or move if leaned on; these are indicators of the quality of wood/carpentry.

Thanks for the advice so far. £2500........EEK

I have been looking round in the Essex/Herts border and wonder where you can find a decent leather sofa as DFS, SCS etc seem to dominate the market with the not so cheap rubbish.

Any suggestions?

Paulr did you buy one in the end?

I have dogs hence trying leather as it will not get covered in fur etc although they aren't allowed to sit on the furniture any body had problems with animals accidentally scratching the finish on leather?

A few bite marks in our cushions but I've now stopped the wife doing that.

She has a wooden spoon instead.

:)

I bought a leather sofa from Argos about 3 years ago in cream (wifes choice of colour) was our first sofa and best we could afford at the time.
The sofas now look filthy, very difficult to clean, the foam in one half of the sofa of kackered and cannot be opened to replace.
Our dog jumped on the sofa one day and has put a small hole in the top with her claw looking out of the window.
Over all the thing is knackered and I would not recommend Argos at all, think ours cost about £350.
Will be replacing this year I hope

If you accept that the interest free is covered in the cost of the sofa (and why shouldn't it be - it's business ateotd) then DFS are good sofa's. My first one lasted 15 years, and we donated it to a home, the problem with that was that the down cushions, whilst comfy, became a pain to fluff up so we replaced thm with foam ones after about 12 years. The replacement is now 4 years old and still like new despite having 2 growing kids and a dog:thumb:

Yes, you'll pay a bit more, but you won't even notice the payments (our current one which is a 2 and 3 seater pair was about £25 month) but you can't fault DFS sofa's for their quality.

there are three types of leather or layers from soft leather etc to slightly thicker and harder leather. we just bought to different sofa sets one from dfs the other from furniture village. with furniture village if you register with them or go in to there stores you should be able to pick up a magazine and get some kind of disount code. dfs are ok too but not much discount there but they do have a clearance section which you will be band to pick up some bargains there:)

dfs I believe get there sofas made in china a lot of them get chea labour abroad ghats why you have to wait between 4- 12 weeks for a sofa.

one last thing make sure they right on the agreement that of the price drops before delivery they will match it.

http://www.dansk.co.uk/index.asp

Yes, i have a DFS sofa, it's a few years old now, we had an antique looking brown leather to hide any dog scrtches, scratches do show up, but disappear with leather wipes, on the other hand, the sun has completely ruined the finish on the chair nearest the window, the coating has worn away and been bleached by the sun, this chair looks like a proper antique,.........i guess you get what you pay for.

Telboy thanks for the link i will look through there and see what designs they have

gallois i think from the research you should keep leather furniture in a windowless room to stop the sun light damaging it, my parents have the same problem with an armchair which is near a window :(

Just for info, I worked in the trade for 5 years and I bought from dfs this time even though I have contacts in the trade.

If you want a fashionable piece for 3-5 years buy from dfs sca csl and take the finance for free. In 3-5 years you'll be bored or the missis wants to change and you never feel the outlay at circa £20 a month!

If you want your sofa to last many many years, you need to get a craftsmen build suite. I did this in 1998 and It's still going strong in my mates house but I hated it by 2001!