Dh and I are going furniture shopping tonight. We want a leather club chair and ottoman (we also plan to get a couple of wing back type chairs too, but not in leather) and then we want to buy a leather sofa in the future as the funds are available.

We have never owned leather furniture before and the chair and ottoman will be in the family room and with two young children it will get a bit of use, it will probably get jumped on a few times (before I catch them and make them stop) and it will need to have little fingerprints cleaned off of it on a regular basis. How easy is a leather chair to clean and will it hold up to the use and abuse better than cloth? We think it will, but we don't know first hand. TIA

By Yjja123 on Tuesday, January 4, 2005 - 10:27 am:

After going through 2 brand new sofa sets and having them not hold up to kids and animals we bought a leather set 3 years ago. It still looks brand new. They are easy to clean (leather cleaner only) and animal hair brushes right off. There are better leathers so look for soft leather to begin with. Our neighbors bought a cheaper leather set and it is not holding up the same. It just looks like vinyl.
After buying this leather set I cannot imagine having anything other than leather.
Yvonne

By Conni on Tuesday, January 4, 2005 - 10:53 am:

It really depends on the grade of leather you get doesnt it? We have a nice furniture store in our area that is very knowledgeable about leather. I was looking for leather wingback recliners a few yrs back and they let me sit down and go thru the leather samples they had. Some were really soft and just BEAUTIFUL --but the lady didnt recommend it with our 2 yr old in the house climbing in and out of furniture. They had some that was much better for kids/animals. She recommended custom ordering with a softer leather on the seat and back cushions and a tougher more durable leather on the outside and arms of the chair. Does that make sense? It can also make it cheaper. Because some of the nicer leather was pretty expensive if I remember right.

We never got the leather chairs btw. But are still using a wonderful fabric flexsteel sofa and chair/ottoman that we purchased from there that has held up amazingly well (5 yrs now and still looks great)! Considering we have 3 boys (plus all their friends)and 4 animals (that are not allowed on the furniture but still end up there at times)... So, I am in a different predicament where--I am ready to *update* colors/fabrics/furniture styles but my furniture has not worn out yet!!


Anyway, have fun shoppping!!!!! I hope you learn alot about the leather and then post what you pick out so we can see!! I'd love to have brown leather furn. My sister has it and its gorgeous.

By Tunnia on Tuesday, January 4, 2005 - 11:38 am:

Thanks! We are very picky about our furniture and we won't just buy the first thing we see. We believe that you get what you pay for so we know that we will have to pay a bit for a leather chair and ottoman. That's why I wanted to post for some BTDT advice before we went shopping. That's a good idea about having the arms and sides in a tougher leather to hold up to the cats, dog, and kids. I certainly do not want a leather that reminds me of vinyl though. I appreciate the advice!

I am sort of in the same predicament as you Conni. Our sectional sofa is 11 years old and is still in such good condition that we just can't justify buying a replacement even though the fabric on it doesn't match our decorating any longer. I'm starting to wonder if maybe we should just get it recovered.

By Cat on Tuesday, January 4, 2005 - 12:33 pm:

We just bought a leather duel reclining couch for our living room. We hadn't intended on leather, although we'd talked about it. We ended up getting it because the price was incredible (it was either a floor model or a return). This couch is in a room that I do daycare in, so there are 6-8 children climbing on it, plus the cats and dog every day. Now we've only had it in here a week, so I can't tell you how it'll stand up, but we're not having any problems so far. I do make the kids take their shoes off before sitting on it. When I asked the saleman how it would stand up against kids and pets he said, "Well, it's leather. It'll stand up against most anything." We'll see. Good luck on your furniture quest.

By Palmbchprincess on Tuesday, January 4, 2005 - 12:42 pm:

Mine has held up against much abuse. I wipe it regularly with a wet cloth, and use the conditioner and cleaner every few months. It's much easier to keep clean than cloth. My only problem?? My cushions are attached to the couch, and I have to vacuum crumbs and dirt out of them pretty regularly. Not too big a deal, but it is an extra little chore. Stacy and Conni, why not get slipcovers?? I used to be really against them, but I'm getting sick of my dark green leather, and thinking about sewing some slipcovers to update it.

By Breann on Tuesday, January 4, 2005 - 07:27 pm:

We've never owned leather either. I've always wondered how well it holds up.
Sometimes I see leather interior vehicles that have split, fraying leather. I've always shyed away from leather in vehicles.
I guess if it's quality leather and it's taken care of then it will probably hold up better?

By Truestori on Tuesday, January 4, 2005 - 08:10 pm:

I would check Overstock.com for the club chair with ottoman. They seem to have new selections everyday. I bought a long ottoman brown leather with button tuffs and it came to 198.00 shipped to my house. I to was shopping around and realized it was almost 500.00 cheaper at Overstock. Happy shopping and we love leather!

By Tunnia on Tuesday, January 4, 2005 - 10:04 pm:

Wow, Stori! What a great deal you got! We paid a bit more for ours. LOL Before we went shopping we had decided to only buy two fabric covered wing-back chairs and a leather club chair and ottoman. Well...we actually ended up buying a leather club chair and ottoman, the matching leather couch and two smaller leather club chairs. They had a great sale going and we were able to get our couch now instead of having to wait and we found two small club chairs in leather that we fell in love with. The couch and large club chair and ottoman are in a creamy light brown color and the leather is so soft and you just sink into the furniture, but it has some support to it as well. We sat on the furniture several times and dh even laid on the couch for a while and it is very comfortable. The sales people were laughing at us. They said that we really knew how to try out the furniture before we bought. Then the two smaller club chairs are in an aged darker brown leather. We opted to not get the ottomans with them because we are placing them on either side of our fireplace (our living room is good sized). I also found a coffee table and end table I really liked, but that will have to wait until we have the funds for them. They were on sale, but only marked down about $25 so they were not a good bargain.

I guess I won't have to recover or buy slip covers for my sectional sofa now. I called my brother on the way home and offered him and my sil the sectional. It would go good in their house and they could use it.

Thanks for all the advice. I think we are going to be very happy with our leather (it'll be delivered next Tuesday). The sales person said that because of the quality of the pieces we bought the furniture should last us 20-25. She actually said that we would probably get tired of it before it wore out.

By Truestori on Wednesday, January 5, 2005 - 12:52 am:

Stacey,

It sounds like your house is going to be just beautiful. You'll have to post some pictures when its all delivered.

By Feona on Wednesday, January 5, 2005 - 06:20 am:

The only thing... Kids ruin everything. I bought a little vinyl chair for ds. He put a pen through it or something. Anyway a hole. It was only 79 dollars and it is in his room so I am not too upset...

By Tunnia on Wednesday, January 5, 2005 - 08:49 am:

I'm not good about posting pics, but once we get the furniture here and set up, I'll try.

Our house has been a work in progress for 7 years now. We do it as we have the time and money to do so and our downstairs is almost done now. Yippee! In the living room I still need new end tables and a coffee table, but for now our puppy-chewed tables will have to do. LOL

Feona, you are right, kids do ruin everything, and our ds is nicknamed "The One Man Destruction Crew". Because of that, we opted to purchase their leather care system. For the next five years they supply all our cleaners, conditioners, and they repair (or replace if not repairable) punctures, tears, rips, stains, burns, etc. We figured that our ds will be almost 10 and our dd will be almost 14 before the coverage runs out and the kids should be less destructive by then.

By Feona on Thursday, January 6, 2005 - 06:45 am:

Ds writes on everything too. Lucky we have nothing nice.