If you had three boys & a Labrador …

[Nimblepimble]

And you needed a new sofa - where would you purchase from? My heart says laura Ashley my head says ikea.
help!

real leather only, easy to clean.

Best sofa we've ever had was from Laura Ashley.
It has outlived 1M&S snuggle sofa, 1Next snuggle sofa and 2 DFS sofas.
Cushions haven't sagged, covers are easily washed and seat pads are still plump.

However. We bought it many years ago from Laura Ashley. I don't know if the current Laura Ashley sofas are made in the same place and to the same specifications.

Sofa?? Maybe just a few old cushions on the floor?

Real leather and not one with a sprayed on finish either, one of the natural 'stained' types that look better with age.

I would not entertain anything else, even with washable covers, lab hair works its way in and will not come out, and it doesn't matter if you don't let the dog on the sofa, the hair will transfer anyway.

With a leather sofa you can use throws that go in teh wash and when they are too hairy to contemplate they become dog blankets and after that they go to live in the bin.

We have a dfs sofa and its been great. I would love fabric but not with a Lab or boys it would be wrecked in no time.

We got a sofa.com one with washable covers. Dog not allowed on it.

Really don’t like leather sofas, so cold and slippery

The charity shop or Facebook marketplace

Our boys are older teenagers now and the sofa still looks good. It’s 12 years old

although I didn’t let them eat anything messy on it when they were little. We have had the occasional melted chocolate but it’s washed out.

3 kids aged 9-14, 2 Labradors. We’ve just got cheap IKEA Ektorps in the snug where the kids/ Labradors spend their lots of their time. I don’t find hair a big problem, except a couple of times a year. It’s handy to have washable covers and they get done every 3 weeks. We are looking to get new sofas and apparently modern velvet (if you get the more expensive stuff) is very hard wearing and stain resistant . I’d get compost/peanut butter colour, just to be on the safe side though.

How do dogs not scratch leather sofas?

I’m afraid I’d be shopping secondhand for now until the boys are a bit older!

We were blessed with secondhand furniture when we got married; we’re still using it 10 years later and while my “sees posts on Instagram” side craves new/feels embarrassed, my “Mom” side loves that our boys can be carefree with it. (Not crazy, not abusing it, just able to snuggle up with popcorn and hot chocolate or drive their little cars all over it without fussing!)

We just splurged on new cloth covers for the furniture a couple of months ago and while I LOVE the look (properly fitted finally!!) I’ve honestly missed the old days of just pulling off poorly-fitted covers every couple weeks and tossing them into the laundry. I also keep worrying about their pencils (they love to snuggle up and draw/write/color) poking the new tight-fitting covers. I can’t imagine what I’d be like if we had actual new furniture!

But that’s just my perspective. Outside of the financial implications, I think I’d choose to wait until they’re out of the “building LEGO cars and driving them on the sofa” stage… as long as I’m thinking like a Mom of boys and not a trendy Mom, which I confess is a struggle!

We have two dogs one which is a lab, and we got ours at sofa.com made of smart velvet which is very easy to clean.

Leather sofa. Unless the dog has a habit of destroying furniture or the kids tend to scribble all over anything and everything, no reason to not go for a brand you like either instead of settling for a cheap one you are not fussed on.

^absolutely!
Ours lasted nearly 20 years.
Wipeable, durable, from M&S (not one with fixed seat and back cushions, I don’t think they wear as well). We only got rid of it because we fancied a change, there was loads of life left in it.

I hate the new fabric one. There’s chocolate ground into the fabric arm and it’s not one with removable covers 🙄

I have three feral DC under 6 and two labradors!!

I buy good quality second hand.

Tetrad make good quality sofas and do leather, tweed, fabric. I have a cheap cotton throw on mine which i wash regularly.

Second hand in a colour to match your dog.

Outdoor bean bags sound like the way to go.

IKEA with at least one spare set of covers, preferably two.