Buying new sofa/sectional and need advice

[pumpkinfish]

Tomorrow I'm heading out to look at sofas/sectionals. I have a game plan of various stores I want to hit. I've looked online and priced out what is out there and what we can afford.
This is our first piece of NEW furniture we have bought since we got married (I don't count the POC futon we bought as a bed in the begining) 9 yrs ago. I have a few questions:
Should I buy the protective plan that might come with it? Like Bassett Furniture has the stain protection, ect for $120 (or depends on cost of piece).
Are there any legitimate brands I should look out for while shopping?

We have 2 dogs (one medium size and the other larger; one blonde haired and the other black). This will be in our livingroom where we pretty much live except for the kitchen so lots of wear n tear.

 

[DISdreamin']

Okay, suggestions...I wouldn't bother with the stain warranty. We bought it on a recliner and couldn't get them to cover anything - they basically wanted to come out and try cleaning it, and that was pretty much it.

For the dogs...we have German Shepherds, so I feel your pain with the black and tan thang goin' on! Personally, even though the light hair will show tremendously, I would go with a medium to dark hue of whatever color you decide on. That way stains don't show - hair you can vacuum and/or sticky-roller off. Stains - nope.

If I had it to do over again, I'd look seriously at a leather sectional in the hope that it would hold up better and stain less. We bought a Lane sectional and really like it, but it is showing its age a bit.

Oh, and a tip - if you have a Target nearby, check the aisle where they sell mops and cleaning gloves and stuff. They have these humongous lint roller things for furniture that work great! Yeah, they're a tad pricey, but I LOVE them. When company comes, we whip it out and can have all the hair off the sectional in less than 5 minutes. Of course we can't let the dogs in or it's all over, but hey.

 

[squirrlygirl]

We just bought new living room furniture and got the fabric protection. It isn't just coverage for if a stain should happen, it's treating the furniture so stains don't happen to begin with. Last night DD spilled her drink on the couch...it beaded up instead of soaking in, and after blotting it was like the spill had never happened

I don't know that it would help with dogs...regular soiling from everyday use are excluded in our plan.

 

[DISdreamin']

To note: the treatment I got was a ScotchGuard one, guaranteed not to stain. I did it because the recliner we bought at the time was a light cream brocade for the nursery.

The fabric stained anyways, although initially liquid would bead - truth be told, it wasn't the spills that made it look shabby - it was where you would put your hands to get up and sit down. It just got dingy looking, despite the treatment. I contacted the store and went through the process to get the stains "fixed" (the ones from spills, not the discoloration from use). It didn't help, and that was the extent of the coverage, at least the contract I purchased. It was totally wasted money.

So I guess the bottom line is to read the info REALLY carefully to see what happens if they don't clean/remove the stain to your satisfaction!

 

[kathie859]

This must be the season to replace worn out furniture. I pitched the old sofa in the living room (it was really worn, complete with holes!) and am moving the leather sofa and chairs from the family roon to the living room.
Then shopping tomorrow for some sort of sofa with a built in recliner or a sectional with a chaise lounge on one end. I plan on getting something in grey fabric but wouldn't pay extra for stain protection. We have a dog and a cat, so hair is always an issue--staining not so much. Perhaps if I were buying some sort of high end, designer, one of a kind, $5000 couch, I may buy the extra protection, but heck, that just isn't me.

Have fun shopping! I can't wait to make a decision so I can put my house back together

 

[squirrlygirl]

To note: the treatment I got was a ScotchGuard one, guaranteed not to stain. I did it because the recliner we bought at the time was a light cream brocade for the nursery.

The fabric stained anyways, although initially liquid would bead - truth be told, it wasn't the spills that made it look shabby - it was where you would put your hands to get up and sit down. It just got dingy looking, despite the treatment. I contacted the store and went through the process to get the stains "fixed" (the ones from spills, not the discoloration from use). It didn't help, and that was the extent of the coverage, at least the contract I purchased. It was totally wasted money.

So I guess the bottom line is to read the info REALLY carefully to see what happens if they don't clean/remove the stain to your satisfaction!

If the stain cannot be removed, our plan will replace the furniture with the same if it's available or reupholster (I'm sure I just butchered that!) it if it's not.

 

[jennifer293]

I have a 3 piece leather sectional and I have 2 dogs. We have had it for over 6 years now and it still looks great and one of those dogs is an overweight 13 yr old dalmation who sleeps on it everynight because the floor is too hard for her. I would get leather if you can afford it!!! It is much easier to clean

 

[P.I. Squirrel]

We bought a 2 piece Ashley microfiber sectional from, of all places, Big Lots. We got a really good deal buying from Big Lots rather than from Ashley Furniture store. It was damage/stain free and came pretreated with Scotchguard. Any stain treatment wears and has to be re-applied. You can buy Scotchguard (3M) or Teflon (Dupont) spray at any grocery or big box store. Both work if you follow the instructions.

 

[pumpkinfish]

I just read the replies and thank everyone for their tips.

The nail was hit on the head...I really am more worried about pet hair and not stains. But I'd like to get the sofa pre-treated if possible.

Funny, we are also looking for a sofa/chaise lounge attached . Must be the in thing right now. lol

I'd love to get leather but have never owned a piece nor did my parents growing up. I'm concerned about the dogs nails poking holes through the leather...is that ever an issue? what about sticking to it (silly but I love my sofas to be comfortable and don't want to feel hot and sticky on it, kwim?).

We went out last night after dinner looking around and didn't see much out there. Then again we just hit 2 local stores so didn't have high expectations as far as selection. Today I have another local store I already emailed and then Havertys, Bassett, ect. I'll check out Big Lots too (thanks for the suggestion PP).

 

[khomer504]

We have a Bassett leather sectional and I love it. We also have the leather protection plan and have already used it once (when the seams started showing some wear) and they came out and made it look brand new again.

Another tip for sectional shopping if you haven't had one before: Try to make sure the sectional pieces in some way attach to each other. I had a sectional once that didn't have any point of attachment and I was constantly realigning the pieces... it was a drag!

Good luck, furniture shopping is such fun.

 

[mjhd]

A few tips (we just bought our furniture 2 years ago)...

consider slipcovers - with all the pet hair and kid spills, slipcovers are very nice to have. I bought mine on ebay for about $20 each. TMI - the cat coughed up a hairball a few months ago and made a mess. I was VERY thankful I could just pull off the cover and throw it in the wash! Also easy to remove quickly if company is coming over.

make sure the construction is SOLID. Several years ago, we bought a sectional from Art Van - a couple years later and it was falling apart.

make sure it is comfortable. If your couch is going to be used for sleeping, make sure to lay down on it - one of our new couches is great, the other is awful!

get the fabric protection - but at a discount. La-Z-Boy was willing to give us a very large discount on the fabric protection (about 75% of the cost of it) after some negotiation. Our contract says they will come out and try to remove the stain if you call them right away. If they can't remove it, they will replace with a similar piece of furniture. I think it may also cover tears.

If you are getting a recliner and it is going to be on carpet, make sure it isn't going to rub. The bottoms of our recliners are worn already from them constantly rubbing the carpet.

See if there are arm covers that fit well to reduce wear on the arms. The fabric we have is already starting to pill on the arms because we couldn't keep the arm covers on easily (another reason to use the slipcovers!)

Hope you can use some of these! Good luck and congratulations!!!

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

I just read the replies and thank everyone for their tips.

The nail was hit on the head...I really am more worried about pet hair and not stains. But I'd like to get the sofa pre-treated if possible.

Funny, we are also looking for a sofa/chaise lounge attached . Must be the in thing right now. lol

I'd love to get leather but have never owned a piece nor did my parents growing up. I'm concerned about the dogs nails poking holes through the leather...is that ever an issue? what about sticking to it (silly but I love my sofas to be comfortable and don't want to feel hot and sticky on it, kwim?).

We went out last night after dinner looking around and didn't see much out there. Then again we just hit 2 local stores so didn't have high expectations as far as selection. Today I have another local store I already emailed and then Havertys, Bassett, ect. I'll check out Big Lots too (thanks for the suggestion PP).

It's vinyl that you stick to not leather. It's natural and breathes if you kwim.
A sales person in a furniture store told me that and at the time I thought it was BS; we ended up getting fabric. Since then I got a minivan w/leather seats and don't stick to it. If we eat at a diner/rest. in shorts and sit in a booth with vinyl seats I stick like glue, sometimes painfully. Sounds corny but since that lady told me, I've paid attention to what I stick to and it's always vinyl not leather.
hth and have fun shopping!

 

[katierae81]

If you do end up wanting to get a stain protection plan make sure the company IS NOT Stainsafe!!! We purchased a new sofa/loveseat a year ago with a Stainsafe protection plan. We bought it for the sole reason that we have two young boys, and foolishly picked out beige items. Well, 3 months into our purchase my DS(3) knocked over a coffee cup and it got all over the front of the couch...didn't even bead up. It took 4 months to have someone come out to 'take a look'. When someone FINALLY came out and determined that they couldn't get the stain out, they took pictures and said someone would be contacting me in 3 days with a decision. THREE WEEKS later, I finally get a letter telling me to call the store we purchased the sofa from to schedule delivery of a new one. I called, they wanted to charge me a new delivery/removal charge...Stainsafe ended up paying for this. On top of that, this replacement would no longer be under warranty...even though we paid for a 15 year warranty. We would have to repurchase the warranty. So whatever you do, if you are offered a plan from Stainsafe...RUN!!!

 

[Karenj2]

ok, I'll tell you right off the bat - I'm biased, 'cause I work at Calico Corners - they sell furniture, window treatments, etc... (I don't work in a store, I work at the HQ in their training department)

Yes, their prices are certainly higher than Big Lots, maybe a bit higher than Bassett, and are on par with places like Pottery Barn, but the quality is MUCH better. Don't get so bogged down on stain resistance that you forget to check out the quality of the frame, etc. (Here is a link to our furniture page - about a quarter of the way down is a link to a checklist (a PDF file) of things to look for - again, obviously it's geared toward OUR furniture, but it's still useful.)

I could be wrong on what other stores sell, but I think a lot of the upholstery weight fabrics that we sell are already pre-treated with a stain resistant.
My favorite is a fabric called Sensuede, which looks like suede, and is stain resistant and doesn't seem to let dog hair get imbedded. That brand is the top of the line, but there are also less expensive versions as well. There's one I'm looking at for when we redo our living room called "Antique Suede/Camel" which has a teflon finish and looks and feels like an old worn out suede bomber jacket, with variegated browns. (They also sell real leather... Did you know that "top grain" leather doesn't refer to the quality? It really means that its a split hide, where they split the thickness of it - one part is the "top grain", the other is suede. I didn't know that 'til I started working there...)

Anyway - sorry for the book - I just really feel that Calico's quality surpasses the rest, but we're often overlooked as being "just a fabric store".

 

[chabs]

I wouldn't buy the warranty either. It's very difficult to get the furniture companies to honor them when something goes wrong. The warranty companies sell out to each other all the time (at least in my area) and it is a big run around trying to get anyone to even LOOK at your problem. Big waste of money!

 

[2manypets]

I would definitely go with leather. I have a 88# dog, a 79# dog and cats and never had problems with nails going through the leather. It's easier to keep clean, more comfy, doesn't wear as fast and looks new much longer. The pet hair just blows or brushes off. I used to get warranties but when never had to use them so didn't bother again.

Right now we have a microfiber sofa and we all hate it (well except for the dogs!) It always looks filthy and it seems to hold the animal odors in it.

 

[chabs]

By the way-I second not getting microfiber. It looked nice at first, but now (after 2 kids, 2 dogs and 3 cats), it looks disgusting! We might try leather next time too-I was afraid that the animals would put their nails through it though.

 

[yoopermom]

My parents are divorced, and both have leather couches/sectionals with multiple dogs in their homes and NONE of the dogs go on the leather, they don't seem to like the slipperiness. I have a leather recliner, and only one of our eight dogs EVER go on it (and she's a little "odd"). The only exception is if I leave a lap blanket on the seat, then they'll jump on it. So I wouldn't discount the possibility of leather (that's what our next couch will be).

Terri