DFS or Next Sofa

[HelloSunshine2]

After trawling through a lot of sofa shops we have narrowed our search down to a few sofas in both next and dfs.

As the owner of three small children and a dog I am concerned that the dfs sofas are not cleanable and they only recommend professional cleaning, however I do prefer the sofa from there. Next advertises their fabrics as being easy clean, which is a big plus, but I don't like the styles as much!

Anyone own sofas from either and are able to comment on how easy they are to keep clean? I also note that a lot of the fabric choices are boucle, but worried about how easily the fabric pulls and frays?

Thank you

The reality is that sofas all only have limited cleanability! I've had dfs ones and cleaned myself, not had Next but currently have IKEA which you can remove the covers but they are not easy to get back on.

My advice is to buy a colour that won't show up stains badly!

three small children and a dog

= lots and lots of throws!

Honestly OP, save the stress of trying to keep your new sofa clean while your children are still little, just cover the sofa with washable throws.

I've had a DFS sofa and Next armchairs. My problem wasn't my children or pets, it was my parents. When I chose the sofa I made sure it had zips. My mum used to make sofa cushion covers in a factory and would say just chuck them on a wool wash.
It was my dad who managed to spill a full plate of spaghetti bolognese on the sofa. It came out after three washes. As for the armchairs, only the seat covers came off. My mum made the mistake of pulling the lid off a bingo dabber when it was a twist lid. The whole thing split and blue ink went everywhere. The seat cover went in the wash and I cleaned the arms with soapy water. It all came out. What I will say with armrests that can't be removed, they do end up looking grubby in a lighter colour, but every now and again I'd clean them with soapy water.

After much research and rejecting a delivery from Sofology we opted for Next. Great price and super quick delivery. They look great and whilst they aren't as comfortable as others (as much about design / style as brand) with a small child we figured it was best to buy something cheaper for now and then spend more next time around.

I have a next Wilson firm sofa in a pale sage green velvet. It's 18 months old and it still looks immaculate. We have 3 kids, 3 cats and a Labrador who sits on it more than I do . We cover the seat with a throw and it all comes apart to vacuum it, and I wipe the fixed parts with a very dry damp cloth.

All this is great except it's THE most uncomfortable thing I've ever sat on, it's like sitting on a camel. The legs seem to turn themselves and periodically the whole incredibly heavy thing needs flipped over and the legs tightened. I had nice retro legs with gold tips but I've had to buy rubber caps to stop it denting my floor so I don't see those. I turn the sofa cushions and back cushions daily because they get so lumpy just from sitting on them for one evening.

So all in all- next Wilson- looks beautiful. Uncomfortable AF.

Thanks for the feedback. Hoping it will be OK to sponge clean the dfs model and also will chuck throws over it! Might have to keep the dog off the sofa going forwards due to his nesting scratching!

I'd go for the most comfort! We have a sofa from DFS which still looks great, Joules design, four years old, navy sofa and grey cuddle chair, but we do tend to throw covers on them, due to DDog and DC...albeit DH worst offender for spillages (works record holder I swear! .... a pint of beer and glass of wine the first day of our new beige carpet fitting... plus a few months later he spilt car bumper blackener on same colour carpet different room 😵‍💫)
The other did was from Arighi Bianchi in Macclesfield - love that sofa but again tend to go for the throws as above

I've got a Next one and it's the comfiest sofa I've ever had! Looks very stylish too

Haven't had it that long so no accidents we've had to clean up yet.

We got a Next sofa and a DFS chair about 14 years ago and they’ve both been really good - really comfortable and have stood up to pets and toddlers! Both had removable covers for washing though. We recently bought an new sofa and chairs from DFS and got the cleaning insurance at the same time - it wasn’t very expensive and it means they’ll come out and repair/clean any rips/spills or whatever. The fabric we chose seems really stain repellent too. The Next sofa is still going strong in our family room…

We have a next sofa in chunky boucle fabric, with a toddler and scratchy cat. I absolutely love the fabric. The weave and the different colours in it means that smaller marks don't really show much. It does seem to clean well, we haven't had any stains that didn't come out as far as I can tell, although again the material would hide it quite well. It also doesn't attract dust or pet hair like our old velvet sofas did. I ended up vacuuming the velvet ones daily, whereas the boucle fabric doesn't need doing often at all. The sofa is also incredibly comfortable, I’d buy it again in a heartbeat.

It doesn't pull or fray at all. Our cat loves sinking her claws into things and when she walks along the back of the sofa you can often hear her claws going in and out of the fabric. Yet the fabric still looks perfect so she's not actually causing any damage. But again, even if she were then the material texture would mean it wasn’t visible really.