to find shiny black leather sofas deeply depressing?

[teaandthorazine]

I'm half-heartedly househunting atm. I've lost count of the number of houses I've seen (online, I mean) with two whacking great black puffy leather sofas crammed into a weeny front room.

Why?

Do people genuinely think they look expensive and classy? They just make rooms look cold and dark and unwelcoming and naff, imo. They don't even look comfy.

I can't be that much of a snob - the reason I'm looking at weeny front rooms is cos weeny front rooms are all I can afford. But honestly, I just don't understand the popularity of these great hulking lumps of black leather.

(Are they even real leather?)

[TroublesomeEx]

I've no idea why, but I agree with you.

That's all I have to say.

[squeakytoy]

But they dont leave the sofa's behind.. and people dont change sofas every year or so either unless you are my DIL

I would prefer a lighter coloured sofa to the navy ones we have at the moment, but lots of bright cushions and throws brighten them up.. we cant afford a nice new one. Come to think of it, we have never had a brand new sofa, ours have always been hand-me downs..

[notmemymate]

YABU to care what other people have in their front rooms

(no, no...i dont have big black leather sofas! )

[MrSunshine]

Mine is real leather. It's easy to clean and looks almost new, though its several years old, and thats with 4 children bouncing on it, eating on it, all kinds, so no mean feat.
The nice cream fabric one that I would prefer would have been destroyed twice over by now. And what's it to you anyway, the sofas aren't included in the house, are they

[lolaflores]

They are obnoxious and look very uncomfortable. and agree they seem to squished into tiny rooms where they have no buisness being. I feel the same way about those leather high back dining room tables with the glass tops. Fucking awful. Oh and leather beds...why?

[Technoviking]

Depressing? Really?

Who cares what sofas other people have, if you don't like them then you don't have to have them.

I do hate all this judging other people for their purchases. I'm sure lots of people wouldn't like yours.

[lolaflores]

I think if you want your house to look spacious, a dirty great sofa over whelming a room is not going to help

[onemorebite]

YANBU - not keen on them in big front rooms either. In fact, don't understand why leather sofas are so popular at all. Uncomfortable and squeaky. Would make exception for a very old Chesterfield mind.

[teaandthorazine]

lola, yy to the high-backed leather chairs - they may, on reflection, be even worse.

It's the popularity of them I don't get. They're everywhere and I'm assuming they can't be cheap. But they look frickin' awful.

And yes, I am aware they don't generally come with the house. But after hours and hours of yet more pictures of yet more bloody shiny leather sofas, my brain hurts.

[Feminine]

YANBU

I get you.

I love light coloured things, pastels....

My sister and best friend are the same way. I find dark colours really depressing too.

I managed to track down an old pink Chesterfield on ebay, it will be beautiful with my shabby chic bits!

[MrSunshine]

Perhaps its less about making a room look spacious and more about having enough room for everyone to sit?
Its for living in, not a design competition. Also, obnoxious is for people, not soft furnishings. Neither are they all squeaky and uncomfortable, mine is neither.

[lolaflores]

those dining chairs are the divil to stay sat on if squiffy!

[EnglishGirlApproximately]

Who knew that Sofas could be depressing and obnoxious?

[teaandthorazine]

I don't have any space in my sitting room - if there's more than 2 of us in there someone has to sit on the floor .

[lolaflores]

Well, oscar wildes last words were "this wallpaper is killing me". What is around me matters to me. Try seeing how you feel livng on orange boxes
If there are things we like and enhance our life, then naturally there are things we don't like and we find them unpleasant.

[squeakytoy]

I would imagine that because they were so popular brand new a few years ago when in fashion, they are now very easily available secondhand when people replace them. The thing is though, they are hard wearing, they dont show marks, they are comfy, and you can wipe them clean easily.

[lolaflores]

Why has mankind since time out of mind decorated where they have lived?

[AnastasiaSteele]

Are any sofas aesthethically pleasing? I'm with the masses with my brown leather sofas. Comfy, inoffensive. But they are comfy and serve their purpose I guess. I don't like to look at them. I couldn't get a hard on for anything DFS, SCS etc offered - maybe I just find them ugly. So picked something I enjoyed sitting on.

The thing with sofas is you buy them as a long term thing IMO (although BIL's mum gets a new one annually....) want them to 'go' with different colours and not show stains - I suppose black/brown meets that criteria.

Also, when did I start calling them sofas? SETTEE!!!

[MrSunshine]

Oscar Wilde was rather more poetic than that. His last words were "This wallpaper and I are fighting a duel to the death. One or the other of us must go"

Or, depending on what you read, "I am dying beyond my means".

Decorating your home is one things. Sneering at others for their choice of sofa is just pathetic something else entirely.

[ErrorError]

for me it's not about the colour as a black sofa wouldn't bother me... but i hate leather sofas... too cold in winter, in summer you stick to them... can't seem to get comfy on some and legs keep sliding off the edge. DPs dad has one in the conservatory and it's all dry, faded & cracked. and yes, some are just too big & domineering for the room they're in. Not bothered about what other people have but personally wouldn't choose for myself. had the leather v fabric debate with DP many times (he likes them.) I once saw a ferrari red leather sofa at a friend's dad's house (recently divorced) it just reeked of a mid-life crisis.

[MarysBeard]

I have black leather sofas but I don't think they are massive. I always wanted black leather sofas in my house from being about 13, kind of a reaction to my mum's chintz I think.

To me they are not a fashion item but practical, minimalist, slightly masculine look which I like and go with everything. They wipe clean and don't show half the crap the girls get down them. I don't like fuss, I like a nice Turkish rug, wood floor (have a stone floor but would prefer wood) lots of books on nice shelves or bookcases, a plant, an open real fire, a decent music system, speakers and TV. Cosy and functional.

[porcamiseria]

i agree

my neighbours had this in their house sale pics, and 2 massive framed photos of Rocky. needless to say they did not sell for ages

[cheekybarsteward]

They are usually bonded leather or pu. It took me months to find new fining room chairs that weren't leatherish real or otherwise.

[teaandthorazine]

Brown leather, not so bad I reckon. Just about

Not sure I'm sold on the wipe-clean argument tbh. We might just as well keep the plastic covers on non-leather sofas in that case!

Maybe I just need to give the househunting a break before I tear my own eyes out.

[MarysBeard]

The thing with sofas is you buy them as a long term thing IMO

Exactly. For most people, home decor is a long term item and not something to be changed at the whim of "fashion".