Sofa help please. LOSING MY MIND

[SlightlyJaded]

Hello

Been trying to find a sofa for our kitchen extension and literally can't see wood for trees any more.

Is made.com as awful as i think it is? I went to the showroom in Charing Cross and found it uninspiring but there is one option online....
Similar style seems to be available and somewhere callled City Sofa at half the price (Scott sofa). No idea?
Have looked at Barker and Stonehouse
Sofa.com
Swoon
Loaf (bit pricey for us)
John Lewis.

Any other suggestions?

Need:
Either 4 seater or sofa with chaise section (max width 250 give or take)
Want to see feet of sofa not skirt
Mid-century style or clean lines - nothing flouncy or too poufy
Comfy
Under £2K

Probably velvet - colour also making me lose my mind (kitchen is mostly F&B Dimpse with one wall in Pink Ground. Light oak floor/cabinets are dimpse with gold handles). Lots of plants. Was thinking green but not sure...

Any wise suggestions very VERY gratefully received.

Sofology? We got ours there and we have also ordered a couple of smaller sofas for the snug and the kitchen from Made and have found them good quality and comfortable.

Radical but ....
M&S!

The sofas we've had from M&S have been the most comfy and durable we have had, and reasonably (not cheap but not Wesley Barrell ) priced

Swyft? Probably a similar aesthetic to some of the ones you have lifted. We scotchguarded the life out of ours and it's held up well with 2 messy kids and 1 clumsy parent

I have used M & S in the past so bought two sofa's through them in 2020. The clean lines of the design were important to us. Within a matter of weeks the cushion filling went very flat and left the sofas looking like they were about 10 years old. We're not heavy and they don't get loads of use so it was really a case of poor design or materials. We complained to M & S who denied there was anything wrong. Even on appeal they didn't want to know so we have had to spend quite a bit to get an upholsterer to put them right. Something to bear in mind when choosing where to buy them from.

Have a look at BoConcept, their prices is not as bad as you might think and it’s really really well made. Also second M&S. My BIL’s M&S sofas has travelled to the US and back and has taken A LOT of kids wear and it still looks great 6 years on. And WestElm also great. I haven’t bought a sofa from there but everything else i have is great wuality for the price. Sign up to the newsletter for a discount code. They have a showroom on TotCrt Road not far from Made.
Ages ago when I was sofa shopping I found a thread on MSE or somesuch that all these sofas are made in the same factory up North somewhere, they also sell directly from the factory. I don’t think the quality is worth the price.

We went for the Alluria sofa from dfs in green velvet, the pictures on the website don't do it justice but in person it is stunning and really comfy too! We got the footstool with it too which when left in the right position gives the sofa the feel of an L-shaped sofa. Would highly recommend!

longeatonsofas.com/

Found it. I believe they make sofas for all the major retailers.

Thanks everyone. M&S is a radical thought - hadn't even occurred to me.

I walked round BoConcept the other day but they were too.... something - I can't put my finger on it. Deliberately contemporary maybe?

Going to have a look at M&S and Long Eaton now - thank you. Deffo leaning towards mid-century vibe.

We've previously had sofas from Tetrad, Multiyork (no longer trading), DFS and John Lewis. All were good, although the DFS (leather, chesterfield style) didn't hold up quite as well overall. The Tetrad (Alicia which had washable covers) needed constant plumping but that was the look we chose 🙄 and the MY and JL were similar in quality/durability, although the MY had removable covers.

Currently - as well as a couple of vintage/antique sofas - we have one from Sweetpea and Willow (firm seating, but looks good, lol!) and an M&S velvet one (I think it's the Dante - originally retailed at 2k, no longer available) for the kitchen we bought second hand on eBay for £500. The latter is extremely comfortable and looks like new considering it was 4 years old when we bought it from a family with young DC...

We looked at Made and Scott sofas, but didn't feel the quality was as good.

In the next few months we'll be looking for a chaise end sofa for our garden room and are considering Sofa.com or Loaf/Arlo and Jacob (although if either of the latter two, will probably go for second hand again due to price!)....

Wouldn't recommend M&S. We had a small sofa from them which was £££ in comparison to similar elsewhere but we assumed better quality.
Cushions quickly went out of shape and the support material underneath, on which cushions sit, tore within two years. This was pre DC with both DH and I out at work all day so very disappointing.

Hi @SlightlyJaded. We bought one of the Scott copy sofas and a footstool from City Sofas just before Christmas. It's incredibly comfy and seems well made. It was also pretty quick, around 3 weeks from order to delivery. I didn't quite have the space for the corner chaise one but the footstool is very comfy and well made.

I've obviously only had it for a couple of months but so far so good!

we have an ikea sofa in the kitchen, the stocksund. it's lovely, comfortable and very hard wearing. footstool to make the 'chaise' bit and that's £700 ish all in. I wouldn't have anything expensive or pale in a kitchen especially not with children / teens.

Sofas and stuff.

They have a 'design your own' range which is super flouncy and spenny, but they also do a 'ready to sit' range which is much more clean lines.

I agonised over sofas and eventually found them in Natuzzi. Definitely was not what I had thought I wanted but after going and trying out loads in person, I LOVE what we went for

@SollaSollew

Hi *@SlightlyJaded*. We bought one of the Scott copy sofas and a footstool from City Sofas just before Christmas. It's incredibly comfy and seems well made. It was also pretty quick, around 3 weeks from order to delivery. I didn't quite have the space for the corner chaise one but the footstool is very comfy and well made.

I've obviously only had it for a couple of months but so far so good!

@SollaSollew Oh that's interesting to me! Can you tell me, is the back high enough? Seats firm enough? What colour did you go for? Looking at the petrol and the grass green at the moment...

Going to look at all the other options posters have shared now. Thank you.

I wouldn’t bother with M and S either. Our leather sofa ,very expensive and was worn through in three years. Tried to get a refund as it was guaranteed, but they were very unhelpful, finally went to the ombudsman in the end but they said it was normal wear and tear ! Only three adults using it. No way. Ended up in the bin 🙄

I'm not super tall but I think the back is tall enough to sit comfortably. I'm a bit of a sloucher on the sofa and it's definitely deep and soft enough to curl up into but without looking really unstructured. My dh is 6 foot and he is comfy on it too.

Boringly we went with the grey which is a really nice dark colour because I already have a grass green coloured velvet chair from Swoon so needed something more neutral.

The seat cushion is all in one piece which I like the look of and makes it easier to have multiple people sitting on it.

I can recommend cocoon. We needed a sofa bed - but it's a perfectly comfy sofa even if you don't need the sofa bed function! We have one of the corner sofas.

They were very quick - made to order in 5 weeks with excellent communication through the whole process. They do not have show rooms but you can go and view the sofas and materials in various virtual showrooms. The one I went to was in a storage type place - a bright room with different styles in and a screen so you can talk to the sales team. They had material books so you could compare materials and colours.

I recommend sofa.com. I have two big Bluebell sofas which are very comfortable and supportive and they look great, probably not the look you are after but presumably they are representative of the quality of the brand.

Trade Secret usually have massively discounted Loaf sofas. You have to create an account (just a username, not a credit account) to be able to browse, but it’s worth it.

Try furniture village

We've got 2 isla's from sofa.com. We're very pleased with them, they're over six years old now, used a lot and still look good.
I particularly like that they have loose covers and they sell spare sets at a not unreasonable price.

@DorothyBinns

I recommend sofa.com. I have two big Bluebell sofas which are very comfortable and supportive and they look great, probably not the look you are after but presumably they are representative of the quality of the brand.

Trade Secret usually have massively discounted Loaf sofas. You have to create an account (just a username, not a credit account) to be able to browse, but it’s worth it.

I have Bluebell in the living room. It's lovely

Just a word of warning, my sister has a sofa and an armchair from Sofas and Stuff , she got them just over two years ago, they cost a fortune and they look absolutely terrible. I wouldn't touch with a bargepole. I wonder if, like everything else, M and S quality has gone downhill. I have 2 armchairs from there which are 20 years old. Still comfy and structurally sound, and the foam is the original, just the beige covers now looking rather tired.

I'm very fussy about sofas and quality and I recommend Alstons.

www.alstons.co.uk/sofas.html

Willow & Hall are very good. We bought from them ten years ago and still going strong. Ours is actually a sofa bed and guests always comment on how comfortable it is and can't believe it isn't a real bed.

But they do lots of varied designs in normal sofas so should be something to suit -

www.willowandhall.co.uk/