WIBU to buy sofas you can't clean (with kids and pet)?

[FlappicusSmith]

I have been looking for new sofas for aaaages - but I can't find any I like or can afford that come in 'aquaclean' stain-resistant type fabric.

I've seen 2 I like in DFS, but from what I can tell from their website their fabric isn't stain-protected and you can't remove the covers. One (Patterdale) comes in velvet or 'plain'. The other (New Camden) comes in chenille. I've read that velvet and chenille are both quite good fabrics for 'busy households'. Would I be mad to get them with two (older, but messy) children and a cat who loves nothing more than walking straight in from a muddy gardent straight onto the sofa, plus a DH that has an amazing ability to drop chocolate on the sofa and then sit on it. Leather sofas aren't an option (DH hates them) and neither is not letting people eat on them nor somehow stopping the cat from getting on them!

We have a 10-year old Ikea sofa that has done us well, but is digustingly filthy because you can't clean it - even spot cleaning it just seems to make it worse and dry cleaning did nothing.

You need throws! I know they can give off a student flat vibe but at least they can be removed to reveal your pristine sofa if you have visitors.

Velvet is not a material I would ever have as a sofa covering. They are a nightmare to clean (really are dry clean only) and as they age the material looks awful and matted and/or threadbare.
Sorry but I'm remembering my mums Velvet sofa from the 70s/80s

YWBU.
They will look awful in no time.

Ugh. I know you're probably right. Is 'aquaclean' really the only way forward then? Does that actually keep them looking decent. I really don't want to pay £££££ for a sofa in acquaclean for it to still look shit within months.

Throws - I guess, but I think they'd look a bit rubbish (I don't really care about visitors, it's about us/me enjoying our home and the way it looks) and presumably would slip off all the time anyway? And knowing my cat he'd find the one square-mm of sofa not covered and manage to bury his way underneath it (he likes sleeping under covers!)

They do a protection package don’t they, where you can have a protective coating put on?

We have a shark spot cleaner and honestly it’s 10/10 for keeping cream sofas spotless and it’s saved my hide a few times 😂

We bought a velvet sofa on recommendation from a fellow cat owner. The cat has never tried to claw it and hair brushes off really easily. Chocolate definitely wipes off, not had any other spillages yet. We've only had it a couple of years, but so far it still looks pristine.

Just get the same sofa again from Ikea.

It possibly isn’t your style, but we have a Transport for London moquette sofa - it’s really durable and stain resistant and I like that it comes with a side order of people wondering why the pattern seems so familiar 🚊 I just steam clean it every so often (I wish I could say the same for TFL themselves.)

We also have a velvet sofa and it’s held up really well, I think it’s fine if you’re pretty good at noticing stains as they happen and spot cleaning - if you have to rub at them once they’ve dried in it will affect the pile long term. If you’re reasonably house proud then go for it, and apply a fabric protector spray.

IKEA sofa with removable covers!

Scotchgard and spot clean

I bought two sofas from DFS. I paid extra for the stain proofed, bought the cleaning kit and paid extra for the firmer cushions.

Two years later they are stained. The cleaning kit won't touch the stains. The cushions are saggy and flat in the middle, I have to turn them every day to make it barely comfortable enough.

I would genuinely really recommend not buying from DFS. I would never do it again.

My previous sofa was a hand me down and never stopped being cleanable and comfortable. I replace it because I thought it was old fashioned and regret it every time I sit on the DFS rubbish.

It doesn't work in the space (we've moved), my parents hate it as it's low and hard for them to get up from, it's become really uncomfortable. Plus the quality has gone massively downhill (according to reviews) - so while it was a good buy 10 years ago, it won't be now I don't think

Also, there is something about the fabric of the DFS sofas that attracts and 'snags' dog hair. It is the very devil to get fur off it.

That's good to know @CandlelitKitchen - sofas are such a minefield! It seems that all of them get poor reviews, unless you spend ££££££ (which we can't, unfortunately)

The TFL one sounds great! Is it comfortable? From the website it looks very firm!

When I replace my DFS sofas I'm going to buy good quality second hand ones and if I need to spend the money on recovering them with good cleanable fabric and perhaps a spare set of covers.

But where from? I need quite specific sizes to work in the rooms they're going in and I do keep an eye on FB marketplace, but they're either poor quality or really ugly or the wrong size!

We have a local British Heart Foundation store that does furniture. I'm in there every week looking.

Definitely get ones that you can clean or ideally removable covers. You have no idea what life will throw at you during the lifetime of the sofa.

Being unashamedly grim here, but this will be your family sofa through potential tummy bugs, girls starting their periods, teenagers experimenting with alcohol.

Your cat will get older and may struggle with continence. Cat may bring dead things covered with blood onto the sofa or vomit on it. Who knows.

Even if your sofa hasn't had to contend with these sorts of grim things for a while, doesn't mean it might not in the next decade or whatever.

I don't think you'll look back and go 'I wish we hadn't bought a sofa we can clean' but it's entirely possible you may look back and wish you had bought a washable one.

For anyone who didn’t know, ordinary hairspray will get rid of biro marks on fabric. I’ve used it successfully on a pale yellow sofa.

Yes. I would love a fabric sofa but not until the dog dies. 😉

Ok, yes. I agree with you all. Ideally I'd get a cleanable one. Does acquaclean actually work?

And where to get comfortable, cleanable sofas from that actually look nice? I sat on every sofa in JL last month and they all felt uncomfortable! I found one I liked in a different shop, but it was really expensive...

It’s more comfortable and less firm than it looks, though it depends how you prefer to sit. It’s not really a “curl up with your legs tucked in” sofa - which is why we have the velvet one, but DH doesn’t do that and so finds it too deep and squishy. Sofa choosing is a minefield generally, which is why I’m hoping ours outlive us.

We bought sofas from courts, now thankfully all closed down..we bought 2 in a very traditional cream/blue stripe, this was in the 90s. Paid a lot of money for some fancy coating.. after a month they were filthy and cushions coming apart at the seams. Animals weren't allowed on them, and meals were strictly on the dining table. Some young kid came out, inspected, said it was our lifestyle and the house smelt of dogs. Had someone else round later,he said we had sat on them watching TV!!! I was a size 8, we aren't big, the cushions were sagging by now,4 months old, and there was metal bars showing through the fabric on the corners.I got just one new scatter cushion off them. I binned one,ds had one. Next was IKEA, removable washable covers. Then DFS,had no problems with them happy for 10 years. I added extra stuffing to the cushions myself. Wanted something with a high back last time, went to a little local independent shop, sadly now closed down. I use throws, you can get nice ones,dogs are allowed on them. Got a little Bissell carpet upholstery shampooer, they are cleaned in the warmer weather,they have separate arm covers which are regularly washed.

We had leather for a while but I agree they are not particularly comfortable.

as a three cat household we now have throws. Cat vomit is a grade A pain to clean off a sofa and one of our old cats now Sadly demised had ibs and loved nothing more than to diarrhoae on the sofa. We were glad for washable covers then.