Colour for sofas - any regrets?

[Desperado40]

It's time to say goodbye to our beige sofa. It served us well for years but it is now her time for retirement. I want to change and get a sofa with some colour this time. Maybe a nice dark blue/navy one and a smaller one in mustard/ochre or dark orange.
Have you bought a colourful sofa and then regretted it?
YABU - go for neutral and accessorize with cushions. More scope for a change.

YANBU - go for colour, it will be fun and you won't regret it.

Mine is bright yellow. Possibly a mistake with small kids but it looks wicked.

We have a gorgeous navy blue ..how about dark orange or mustard cushions? Sounds fab

We have a classic brown brushed leather sofa so I can't comment from personal experience (although we have accessorised with burnt orange cushions). Growing up, DM always insisted on white sofas. People would comment on how she's insane to have white sofas with four children and two spaniels but, if they got dirty, she'd bleach the covers and put them out in the sun and they'd always be brilliantly white. Consider the colour you're getting and the fabric - how easily would stains and marks show up and how easy would they be to remove? We used to have a blue/grey sofa that we thought wouldn't show marks easily but the way the fabric was meant every single tiny mark was really obvious.

We recently ditched our shabby grey sofa for a dark green one. It's gorgeous.

I had romanticised my auburn hair matching it, reading books in my tartan pyjamas. 🤣 Well my dream has come true!! Every single night.

I just feel so wow about it all the time. And whenever people see it they love it too! We've had it for 2 weeks.

No regrets yet!

We have several sofas & they're all coloured & we love them. We have teal velvet, grey velvet, cream, pink & green floral fabric, Stone fabric & Royal blue velvet sofa bed. Not all in the same room!
I've never ever regretted them & am considering reupholstering one to chartreuse velvet.
We love colour

A friend has a bright red sofa, in a blue room with zebra accessories. It sounds hideous, but it actually works. They have one of those sofas from Ikea that you can buy replacement covers for though.

We have teal velvet (not crushed!) and chalky pink linen sofas - love them, no regrets. We also have a battered brown leather Chesterfield, which I love too, but it does feel a bit drab in comparison to the others. I really want to add a colourful armchair but running out of space.

We ditched the sensibly dark coloured sofa for a beautiful bright colour. We ❤ it, but the floor, curtains and walls are neutral. Our pictures are as "loud" as our sofa and we think this is a nice balance.

Oh, and i would definitely say we have no regrets, but it did take me a while to stop worrying that i might have regrets later!

@littlepeas sounds gorgeous!
None of ours are crushed velvet either. I love proper heavy velvet & don't like three crushed velvet look at all
I love the sound of chalky pink linen though 😍

In a world where I could afford to change my sofas are every few years, I didn't have grandchildren,and I didn't have cats I would have jewel coloured velvet sofas. However, I can't afford to change my sofas, I do have grandchildren and I have two cats so I make do with donkey grey, mostly covered with quilted thows, because my cats throw up on them regularly and shed so much hair they look like they are covered in felt! When I win the lottery I will have the jewel coloured sofas I so want in the guest bedrooms and the drawing room, where the cats won't be allowed in. But in the sitting room where we are all the time I fear it will still have to be something practical and as cat proof as possible.

@DilemmaDelilah of course it's entirely your decision but just wanted to say that we have a cat & manage fine.
We don't change sofas regularly. In fact our oldest are now 17 years old & still in perfect nick.
We hoover v regularly & the cat has a soft fleecy blanket she loves sleeping on whivj is on 1 velvet chair

It's no mote work to keep the colored sofas clean than any other
I've never had leather & can't imagine I ever will
This was just to reassure you that having cats hasn't stopped us

Sounds fab! Thanks for all the replies. I am taking a braver move into colourful sofas. You only live once!

Thanks @UniBallEye for reassurance that you managed velvet sofas with a cat. This is what I am dreaming of buying, but I am a bit worried about scratching. I am hoping that the velvet texture will be less appealing than the boucle type weave we have at the moment!

I have a velvet sofa. The cat has no interest as there's nothing she can get her claws into. Unlike the wool covered armchair....

We got reddish-purple sofas a few months ago and I love them. Nearly went for the boring grey option and I'm so glad we didn't, they really lift the room and make it feel warm and interesting. We have cats and a toddler but so far so good in terms of staining. I think the purple will probably actually hide stains better than the light / mid grey we would probably have got otherwise.

I have two lounges and both have blue sofas. I have a Joules sofa and cuddle chair, blue sofa and the chair is grey with patterned back/sides in grey and navy hares - love it!
Also have a mid blue sofa, chenille material. My brother has a peacock blue one, also beautiful

We have a velvet teal sofa which we’ve had for quite a few years and still looks good.

Word of warning : think about the fabric type and how much sunlight might fade it. We have a sofa bed in a French navy cotton/linen fabric. It looks dreadful - all the colour faded within a year or two to dirty grey/brown - and that’s in a room with average levels of sunlight. I’d be cautious of buying a sofa in that fabric again.

We have 3 huge teal velvet sofas and 2 cats and the Cathy's haven't scratched them at all- I think they would be more likely to scratch a textured fabric that they can get their claws into

I'm in love with our navy sofa from Snug. It's a few years old and still looks brand new despite being used as a kids climbing frame and a dog bed.

We have a light blue wooly fabric sofa and I love it but it does show marks quite easily. If we were buying again I would go a bit darker I think!

@Desperado40 very similar to other subsequent posters, our cat has not shown much interest in scratching the velvet sofas. She loves to lie on them, one has chesterfield wide arm rests and she is frequently found snoozing on that one.

We just hoover them frequently and she has a very very soft fleece style blanket on one velvet armchair and she sleeps on this at night.

We always have a good scratching post for her and she uses that a lot, I think this helps too.

She has scatched the Stone coloured cotton / linen fabric sofas though and they would definitely give more traction to her nails!

Lots of teal velvet sofas here - love ours!

Our settee is the better part of 15 years old. It's red... I'd describe is as a speckly "over-ripe strawberry-red." Tbh, I don't like the colour at all any more, although I must have done at the time. Unfortunately, I feel like it's still got years of life left in it yet!