To be scared by DFS reviews? Or am I just hormonal....

[twiglet]

We are in the middle of massive renovation project and I'm 24 wks pregnant which I think is making me more anxious!

We spent ages looking at sofas this afternoon (oak furniture land, Harvey's, scs and dfs) found one a corner one we liked in DFS the abigail range but didn't order due to no carpets, walls etc currently.🙈 But trying to get everything lined up before baby arrives last thing I want is delivery men with a newborn!

So came home and did a bit more research and now completely confused and overwhelmed. Some recent reviews are horror stories and quite concerned about the whole cleaning aspect/weird insurance thing especially with a baby.

I've said to DH that we need to rethink, he doesn't want to buy a sofa that he can't try (which I get) but I'm worried about spending so much money and then having loads of issues!

I won't have the energy to sort it out if it goes wrong but not sure if I'm being hormonal!

Help!!!!!

I've had my Ikea ektorp sofa 8 years with two boys. I can wash and change covers. Pretty cheap and Ikea delivers quickly. This Ikea sofa replaced a dsf one which was over double the price.

I've had a DFS sofa set & while the leather lasted well, the cushioning was awful & within 3 years felt like we were sat on the floor. I bought a Lazy Boy sofa set from a warehouse of overmakes & end of lines, got a 3 + 2 set that originally was £1600 for £900, I've had it 8 years now & it's just as comfortable as when I got it but the leather is starting to look worn & due to being cream it's starting to look it's age. I'm waiting until I get a new house to replace as I want something that fits, I'm going to an independent manufacturer that as well as their own ranges, I can take a picture of anything from the big manufacturers & they will make it up, plus as I'm disabled they are happy to make any sofa to a height that is right for me, they guarantee to undercut any prices & use top quality covers & foam for seat cushions.

I had a leather dfs sofa that got very saggy very quickly.
Our new sofas are from Next and they're ace! Would recommend 100% and your DP can go see them in person in one of the bigger stores

In all honesty if you're willing to spend £1300 on a sofa I would go somewhere more upmarket than DfS. John Lewis and M&S both have lovely sofas in at the moment, so do Next.

IKEA Grönlid here - machine washable covers.

And to answer your question no one is really sure whether it's really worth it. There are some health benefits at a population level but you never really know how much difference it's going to make to your child at an individual level. If your kid has poor health it may have made a big difference. Your kid may be blessed with a great immune system and fantastic diet and upbringing and ebf wouldn't really matter. You also don't know before you start how easy you or the baby are going to find it. So the cost to the mother and benefit to the child are both variable. There is still a lot of research going on into the benefits. It's all very interesting (to me!) but raises as many questions as answers! Even after 30 months of breastfeeding I am amazed and freaked out by it in equal measure. Which is a bit sad as I wish I just thought of it as a normal everyday thing and shows how society has conditioned me to view it

So sorry wrong thread!

We've just got a lovely sofa from next. Worth a look at. Also Id wait until renovations completed. Our new sofa was for extension amd we had to change size and fabric as ordered before complete. Next were very helpful.

10 yr old sofabed here, looks pretty good after 2 kids and counting as I am a childminder.

I would get another one from them, no problem.

I just had a new corner sofa delivered about a month ago from DFS. I really like it so far. I didn't bother with the stain guard. I was also home alone with my newborn when it was delivered- wasn't an issue at all, they were straight in and out :0)

We got ours from Ikea ,the Ektorps. Covers can be taken off to he washed ,and IKEA update their range regularly so can always buy a new set of covers later on down the line. Cost is £650 for a 2 seater and 3 seater ,was with us within a week and a year and a half on still good as new (and that's with 3 boisterous kids who insist on messing about on them ).

Our dfs sofas are years old and still look good. As recommended I turn the cushions and hoover weekly. No sag at all. Didn't bother with stain protection as we use throws to protect them when kids are around. There was a choice of seat cushion, I think different types of foam? We went with the more expensive option.

Before that we had Ikea sofas which were more expensive and rubbish.

People are more likely to leave bad reviews than good ones.

I'd never buy DFS again. They didn't deliver on the day they were supposed to, I'd taken a day off, and when I rang they could not have given 2 shits. "I've checked and it's at our depot in Newcastle"  "Well it's meant to be in my living room. Can you do anything to get it here sooner I'm 8 months pregnant and have just freecycled our sofa"
"Nope. It comes when it comes".

2 weeks later it arrived. No one cared, or said sorry, or offered anything as a goodwill gesture. One bloke practically laughed at me for making a fuss and saying I have a baby due any day. Wankers.

But if you do buy them they're talking crap about the cleaning products. You don't need a magical product that only DFS make to wash sofa cushions!

My DFS sofas lasted 17 years, and were only ditched this year. The cushions died after the removal men put heavy boxes on them in 2013. I would buy another set of sofas from then without hesitation, but equally, love my IKEA sofas.

We used to have a lovely next one that lasted ages. Deep seats so very comfy and the fabric was very forgiving with two young kids plus you could remove the seat and back cushion covers to wash. Currently have m&s ones that are also lovely and are lasting well.

I was trying to buy sofas heavily pregnant too, it was very stressful, so stressful in fact I went into labour whilst we were out shopping! Had to return a few months later (I think the woman thought we were mental) we did buy a dfs one. Only thing that annoyed me was that the price listed and the price paid were very different. We had to pay more for hard cushions and they love to push the stain guard thing. I said no to it. I was also miffed at the delivery charge too. We hired a van and collected it ourselves from the store as it isn't far from where we live, I think they wanted £55 or something for delivery. Sofa ended up as a conservatory sofa so I can't really comment on it, it still looks good but it's covered with a throw and never sat on!

Look at aqua clean sofas from John Lewis, they are literally impossible to stain - it's magic! Otherwise ikea sofas are great, I had one that lasted 5 years and i passed it on to my friend. Washable covers were a godsend with two young DC.

The stain protection stuff is where they probably get their commission from, we never get that, its a bit like the insurance they try to sell you, if you want I would probably buy some stuff yourself to protect it, you can get Guardsman protector off eBay or get another make. Get a nice washable throw to use with the baby.

We have had DFS sofas and they have been OK though.

@twiglet - my sofa, believe it or not, came from Matalan, when they went through a short period of selling larger items. I had only gone in for some jeggings! This is no help to you as the stopped doing them quite quickly, however, it is similar to the Ikea ektorp, which is what I will replace it with eventually.
I alwas have loose covers (pets) and wih Ikea you can buy extra sets when needed.

Buy a second hand one and don't bother replacing it until DC has left home! It will have milk and biscuits spilled over it, be used for climbing practice, as s trampoline, as a sick bed. ....

We're just about to replace our 13 year old DFS sofa which has been well and truly punished by bouncing, messy, vomiting children and sharp clawed, muddy kittens and cats. I'll be very happy to buy another DFS sofa.

Sitting on my dfs sofa which we've had nearly 7 years. Been fine. My only gripe was that it took ages to get delivered. We've moved twice so the recliners don't always decline as quick as they used to but I'm
Not sure if we've put them together properly. But that's our fault.

I've got a DFS sofa with the stain repellent coating and all that jazz. My DS had wicked reflux, literally every feed he would vom, and caught a bug so many times there were projectile voms covering most of the sofa. He even pooped on it once.
I couldn't be bothered with insurance so I just bought some 1001 and my sofa still looks new. It's all cushions so I need to plump them regularly which is a pain but everyone loves my sofa, my friends come round here for coffees so they can lounge on it. I've slept in it a whole bunch of time. Like I say, still looks new!

Our cushions are rubbish but the guardsman policy has been amazing. We've had them out 5 or 6 times, been covered every time (tea, coffee, toddler wee x 2, pen!) and always cleaned perfectly.

Our three dfs ones are fine, about 10 years old. Didn’t buy stain insurance or whatever (but in a rare sensible moment they are all medium dark colours so don’t look grubby ever)(unlike the cream carpet MIL told us we would regret).