buying new leather furniture?

[shannon006]

It looks like DH and I will be buying(paying cash, yeah!) for new living room furniture for Christmas. We pretty much know what we want. Brown leather, sofa, loveseat, chair. I wanted to hear from those who have previously bought this type. Our budget is $2000 or less. Yes we know we aren't getting the best quality for that price, but there are alot of sets out there in that price range. I don't know what leather blended really means. We are going with leather for reasons of having 5 children living at home. This will take more wear and tear then a microfiber or tweed type. We currently have microfiber in our living room, and tweed in our living. The stores in our area is Art Van, Gardner White, and Value City.

 

[Gr8t Fan]

We got our 100% leather set from Carson's for about $1,800 three years ago. It's held up very well with our 4 kids and still looks great.

 

[bamagirl@hrt]

Blended leather means that the areas of the chair/sofa where you sit are leather, while the sides and back will be a matched vinyl. Can't help you, though, with a recommendation in your price range.

 

[Karenj2]

If you're buying leather for wear & tear, make sure that the leather is Aniline dyed, and not just pigmented. (Aniline leather is dyed throughout the whole skin; pigmented leather is just dyed on the surface, and will show scratches.)

I just bought leather chairs from Calico Corners (I work there), and got a sectional in a faux suede that's VERY durable.

 

[Happiest mommy]

Have you heard of BOB'S Furniture store? they are popular by me and their leather is really nice/good leather all the way around and the prices are great.

 

[Swalphin]

I know this store is not in your area but, I looked and you can order furniture on line Macy's.
I purchased leather furniture from them one year ago, here is the link to the group I bought
.http://www1.macys.com/catalog/product/index.ognc?ID=251408&CategoryID=35419#fn=sp=1&spc=887

Might not be your taste, but it will give you an idea for price. We have been extremely pleased, it is very good quality and not a blend. We bought leather because we have pets. It has held up far better than fabric. Just thought I would make the suggestion for Macy's.

 

[Mouse House Mama]

I highly reccomend Bari Leather. They are online. I bought a whole set from them just from the photo on their website. I was nervous and prayed I didn't make a huge mistake. Well I have to tell you that this set is the best set I have ever owned. It does not even compare to the stores I have been to to look at furniture. They also ship for free. We bought the extended 5 year warrantee just in case. This furniture is so well made. We have a large family so it gets a lot of use and it looks brand new. I think we have it 2 years now. We got the sofa, loveseat, chair and ottoman on clearance from them for I think $2600. Beautiful leather with the nailheads. I can't say enough good things about them. They were also a pleasure to deal with. Good luck in your search!

ETA- They are in Florida and I am in NY. They shipped here for free!

 

[Pigeon]

Google leather buying guide and you'll pull up some useful information.

We're also looking to buy leather furniture. What I've come away with is that we want to steer clear of leather blend or leather match, and want top grain aniline dyed leather.

I've found some nice stuff at Overstock.com. The set I'm really interested in is out of stock at the moment, but should be back. I'm nervous about buying it without seeing it, but it is less than half the price that comparable pieces would be in our local furniture stores.

Also, be careful about "bonded" leather or anything that sounds proprietary or unusual. There are a variety of named types of leather that are actually leather scraps that are ground up and reformed into sheet fabric. They are cheaper, but don't have the wearability of hide leather.

 

[Jennabeth]

We bought our first furniture set through there and had a lot of problems, then bought a table from there and had problems (both things were damaged upon arrival). I will not buy anything else from there unless I can inspect it and take it with me. My family has bought from there too and had problems. Seems like everything that comes from the wearhouse arrived damaged in some way.

Is there a costco near you, they have very nice furniture.

 

[Mickeypooh99]

We bought our first furniture set through there and had a lot of problems, then bought a table from there and had problems (both things were damaged upon arrival). I will not buy anything else from there unless I can inspect it and take it with me. My family has bought from there too and had problems. Seems like everything that comes from the wearhouse arrived damaged in some way.

Is there a costco near you, they have very nice furniture.

I agree about Art Van. Our furniture was damaged when it arrived. We had the repair guy out about 4 times in the first 6 months because things kept going wrong. After that I started doing repairs myself because it was a pain to wait around all day for him to show up. Furniture did not hold up at all.

I don't know why we didn't return the set. I can only say that we bought it when my oldest DS was 11 months old, and I was 8 months pregnant with DS#2. So by the time I was dealing with a 1 year old, and a newborn I never got around to returning it.

 

[Jennabeth]

I agree about Art Van. Our furniture was damaged when it arrived. We had the repair guy out about 4 times in the first 6 months because things kept going wrong. After that I started doing repairs myself because it was a pain to wait around all day for him to show up. Furniture did not hold up at all.

I don't know why we didn't return the set. I can only say that we bought it when my oldest DS was 11 months old, and I was 8 months pregnant with DS#2. So by the time I was dealing with a 1 year old, and a newborn I never got around to returning it.

LOL, our furniture was finally delivered the day after my DD was born. I came home from the hospital to a "new" house. We had the repair people out about 3 times too. With our table we had to special order it and they said once we took it home we couldn't return it but wouldn't let us look at it in the store. Was a big pain! (luckily this was our starter table so I knew the kids would ruin it).

 

[maggiew]

This is the set we have (in black) and we love it! We also have the matching chair that is a recliner and rocker.

http://www.theroomplace.com/common/...4322&xs=6c44bfc11-38c7-4fb3-9809-10d8ade495fa

It is "eco-leather" ???? Don't know what that is but it feels very nice and is VERY comfortable. Everyone who comes over loves it. The sofa has 2 recliners and the love seat has 2 recliners.

We have had it a little over a year and it looks brand new like the day we bought it. (But our kids are older now and my nephew only comes over once in a while)

Maggie

 

[KristinU]

We have Natuzzi brand sofa, loveseat, and ottomans that we bought from Raymour and Flanigan about 8 or 9 years ago and they're still in great shape and very comfy. I'm pretty sure we were in the $1200 - $1500 neighborhood. And BTW, since you're paying cash feel free to negotiate for your price!

 

[lovesmurfs]

We bought a leather sofa and chair (along with matching tables and entertainment center) at LazyBoy about 4 years ago and I'm very disappointed with the quality and the way all of the furniture is wearing -- showing scratches and one of the cushions is permanently flattened (it's the corner most used). I didn't do my homework well and didn't get aniline.

 

[firsttimer03]

I would avoid Value City at all costs! I've had a friend that got thier furniture from there and it is pure garbage. It may look good but the quality is crap.
Hope this helps!
Good luck and please let us know what you got and the price....even a pic?

 

[rbork]

leather with several kid's?
hmmm. not my first choice. Be prepared for scratches and maybe a rip or two from belt buckles, zippers on jean legs, pencils in pockets etc... Don't put it in the sun because of fading. We have a 3k sofa/sectional in the family room (used the most) and a 1k sofa/standard in the formal living room (used rarely) The difference is big! I won't even let the maltese dog hop of the cheaper sofa it can scratch in a second and the frame is way weaker than the more expensive sofa.
Now having leather seated dining chairs in the formal dining room has been great. They are great for spills etc.
Value City - agree with the pp. looks nice from a distance but terrible quality. Try looking around and some of the other stores or even smaller shops for a sale.
Good luck and hope you find something that works for you and your family.

 

[KristinU]

leather with several kid's?
hmmm. not my first choice. Be prepared for scratches and maybe a rip or two from belt buckles, zippers on jean legs, pencils in pockets etc... Don't put it in the sun because of fading. We have a 3k sofa/sectional in the family room (used the most) and a 1k sofa/standard in the formal living room (used rarely) The difference is big! I won't even let the maltese dog hop of the cheaper sofa it can scratch in a second and the frame is way weaker than the more expensive sofa.
Now having leather seated dining chairs in the formal dining room has been great. They are great for spills etc.
Value City - agree with the pp. looks nice from a distance but terrible quality. Try looking around and some of the other stores or even smaller shops for a sale.
Good luck and hope you find something that works for you and your family.

That was our initial reaction to the thought of leather, but tt depends on the grain of leather - I don't remember which one...but hopefully somebody will chime in.

We bought ours when we were child free but had our dog, a 65 lb. lab that is allowed on furniture. When we went in search of a new living room set we told the sales guy that we were looking for something comfy for watching TV and something that the dog would be allowed on. He was the one who recommended leather - and we said "are you kidding? we said we have a 65 lb DOG that will be allowed on it...maybe you mis-heard us..." and he showed us the leather we ended up buying. If it gets scratches in it, they just kind of rub right out with our hands. The guy had us scratch the floor model with his keys and had us rub the scratches out - we were sold.

Also nice with dogs is that you can just whisk away the hair, and with kids you can wipe off whatever mess they make. About a year after we got ours we had a friend's son over and he had a nasty diaper blowout...had that been on a cloth sofa we would have been having it cleaned and would have been hoping for the best, but with our leather we just wiped it well with paper towels then with some antibacterial wipes and presto, good as new!

 

[quagmire0]

Flexsteel is probably a good brand for that price range. You'll want to do a local search for stores that sell it, and of course get a couple dealers to price match/beat each other. We got a Flexsteel sofa and I am pretty happy with how it looks and has held up so far with two kids and two (albeit smaller) dogs.

http://www.flexsteel.com/

 

[lakelandgal70]

We got our leather furniture from Ashley. Has held up pretty well with 2 adults and 4dogs. Only thing I didn't realize was how cold leather is. Everyone told me it would be hot and yucky but I find it to be freezing. And I have noticed that in some spots the leather is coming up. The color. Not sure why.

 

[vicki_c]

We have leather furniture and it has been fantastic. We bought a chair about 10 years ago, but it cost almost as much as your whole budget, but it still looks fantastic. That came from a local furniture store.

A few years ago, we added a leather couch from somewhere else and then last year, we picked up a great leather storage ottoman (long like a coffee table) at - of all places - Sam's Club. We probably paid $900 for the couch from a local place, on sale. The ottoman was around $200 or so.

The leather has held up great - no tears, scratches, easy to clean. They are in our family room so get heavy use every day from my family of 4.

I agree to stay away from Value City - that is junk. Even our local TV station did an expose type piece on them a few years ago about how terrible the furniture is and how bad they are to work with if you have a problem. I would try to find a more reputable company, even if you have to save up more money to pay for it. You really get what you pay for when it comes to furniture (or maybe you don't - all the good stuff is so expensive - but you definitely have to spend to get acceptable quality that won't fall apart).