Is this an insane price for a leather sofa bench

[onlychildhamster]

I am fantasy shopping a little, I only own cheap furniture (ikea/muji/made- maybe not mega cheap but definitely not ££££) so I probably could not bring myself to spend this!

www.curiosityinteriors.co.uk/dining-furniture-c3/dining-chairs-benches-c23/bianco-leather-harris-tweed-dining-bench-p3769

My set up in my reception room is that we never had a sofa, we have a sofa dining bench and a Muji Dining table and chairs. We currently have this. My DH likes leather sofas but not the really bulky ones (which is why we opted for sofa benches which are slimmer). We think we have space for the 160cm 3 seater and the existing sofa bench would just be on the other side. We only have two extra chairs and those are usually tucked in on the left and right side of the table.

www.made.com/ppc/flynn-dining-bench-graphite-grey?utm_content=shopping-prospecting&madelp=gshopping&gclid=Cj0KCQiAieWOBhCYARIsANcOw0wG4wnUuFcYPYDqlGbaHPIrdxK3xIyBX6YIdtzr1s3h4uxqHglj75kaAhZVEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

It seems crazy expensive to me, but then it is full leather... I hate PU leather! I don't need everything to be matchy matchy so it doesn't bother me having two different benches.

I've never seen the attraction of tv in bed funnily enough. Have to rearrange pillows and duvet to lean back, anti social to traipse upstairs alone for the evening, risk of spilt tea and biscuit crumbs! An early night to read a book I do understand though.

I guess you must spend hours eating each evening then? Fridays I get, but every other evening as well?

@titchy Its just me and DH so no, maybe 20 minutes for dinner, another 20 minutes for lunch.After the meal, we would watch whatever is remaining and then generally stop watching. I am currently at my sofa dining bench. DH is watching succession on the projector (he is addicted to this series but there aren't that many shows he is interested in) and I am mumsnetting on my laptop.

I watch at most an hour per day. At my MIL's house, we spend hours eating not because there is a lot of food; my MIL's daughters are extremely skinny, i swear all of them have BMI of below 20 (one of my SIL is 44 kg and 166cm tall!) and my MIL is size 10 after 4 children. I am quite petite myself. So we are not big eaters. my MIL is a big advocate of enjoying her food, we nibble the food, chat and appreciate her food. She is a very good cook. This is just how they are. Thats why it takes hours. Food is like a ritual. Maybe thats why they are so thin, i read that if you eat slower, the food is digested more slowly.

@titchy btw just curious, would you consider this a sofa you would buy? Cos I am sure some people have them as their main couch but its really similar in dimensions to my sofa dining bench in terms of seat width? So all I did was move my dining table in front of it instead of a coffee table. I mean, i have looked at the dimensions of this sofa, i could probably use it as a dining bench (similar height to my dining bench).

loaf.com/products/berlin-sofa?size=small&colour=pale-pink-clever-woolly&gclid=Cj0KCQiA8vSOBhCkARIsAGdp6RSIOljW95FJleGhio2mB8oyRoaNMYX6GCvJZPUlvmwjTUnd4l6RewkaAu54EALw_wcB

I'm still stuck on the no sofa bit...it's just so comfy....for sitting and pondering, sitting and reading, sitting and chatting, reclining and having a catnap.

I don't see the attraction to a dining bench at all.

But to answer your question, I don't think either option you've posted is overly expensive.

Each to their own I guess but after spending a day sitting at a desk for work, why would you then spend your evening sat over a dining table? Do you ever sot away from tables? How’s your posture?

It’s not the sofa you have that I find odd it’s the constantly sitting in front of tables and the only alternative is lying in bed.

I should add I’m very familiar with Jewish practices and customs and have never met a family who didn’t have a sofa/chair/sitting area away from dining. Yes the dining table is very important but so is getting away from it.

Obviously you are totally free to do you, but I have free time that I quite often spend sitting on the sofa: sewing, reading etc even if not watching TV. I just can't imagine actively choosing to spend my time sitting at a desk or a dining table instead of somewhere comfortable and relaxing.

I'd also totally reject the sofa you link as an adequate sofa because it looks like you would have to sit on it prim and proper instead of slouching with your feet up.

Do you spend a lot of time out on walks or otherwise not sitting down? Obviously that will be a lot healthier than my sedentary lifestyle and if your seating encourages you to move about more that sounds very positive really.

I think the price for the bench seems fairly normal but I would definitely want to sit on it before I bought it.

We have a bench like that, for the dining table. The 180cm.

We also have no tv in the living room. But I really wouldnt want to have no comfy chair or sofa in there. Do you have a child you said? My son is 1, and we spend a lot of time in our living room. He sits on the sofa reading with us and it’s comfy to relax whilst he plays. When people visit we eat at the table, then move to sofa and arm chairs afterwards to chat. Side tables for drinks.

In our old 1 bed flat, we had a small multi use room that has small dining ‘nook’ aka dining bench like you have, round table and chair. Another chair was kept in bedroom to add when guests. Then a 2 seater sofa, little armchair and dh desk in corner.

Could you get a smaller dining table, thats extendable and opens out to larger just when guests?

It's not that expensive but it looks like upmarket pub seating. It also looks really uncomfortable. I much prefer the one you've got now.

@PoshWatchShitShoes I have the second option! Second pic is my reception! And yes made also styles it as a sofa (same bench but in grey) so I guess it can be used both ways!

@Caspianberg how does your 2 seater sofa actually look like? All the sofas I like are actually similar in dimension to the dining bench. So in a way it's semantics and if you were going to get another sofa that just looked like a dining bench, you might as well get the dining bench because at least it can be multi use. As I posted earlier, the made bench is also styled as a sofa in the advertising. Actually I don't really care what it's called, all I measure is the height and width to see if you can use it at the dining table banquette style...

@Caspianberg I am very happy with my setup actually. The only reason why I posted about having no sofa is not to report a deficiency but to say that this is my main piece of furniture in the reception, to avoid people assuming that this is just an occasional use piece of furniture. It is used in a lot of breakfast nooks and I guess only when people eat breakfast!

Leather bench is a good price.

Feels very austere not to have a sofa/zone for relaxing. The benches are too high/formal. And sitting at table for an extended period of time (/discounting dinner parties or celebrations) would be uncomfortable for me. Also the table feels like a barrier and not conducive to intimacy. I wouldn’t feel comfortable in your home as a guest. Not because I wanted to to watch TV but because it looks cold and hard.

I don’t watch TV in bed as I think that’s bad sleep hygiene.

Horses for courses though.

@Gladioli23 my DH and I are mostly at our desks working...

I really don't identify with the many hours spent watching tv or sewing or reading. Maybe when I retire but I am only 29!

@TheGoldenWolfFleece DH really wanted a leather bench. Maybe its one of those things that we want but isn't really sensible. I was looking for things he liked. If it was completely up to me, i might get something like this, not everyone's taste I am sure, but I like it.
www.angelandboho.com/aubusson-floral-upholstered-dining-sofa-bench---6-lengths-32392-p.asp

@Bunce1 my MIL walks one hour to come to us, she refuses to take the bus even though its £1.60 and we have a direct bus. She is 2 years older than Boris Johnson.i am not sure comfort is one of her priorities in life! This is a woman who raised 4 kids with no car. I sometimes feel like she thinks if she is too comfortable, she has failed in life or something. Maybe DH has that mindset too lol. I don't generally have many guests other than her, probably due to the pandemic but also because we tend to meet in central london... I mean it is london after all, more than half the people in our age group (late 20s, early 30s) are still renting.

@Caspianberg I don't know, I quite like having a big dining table even for 2. We can do steamboat for two with all the dishes! Plus we put the projector on the dining table when there are no guests. We should really buy a small stand for the projector...

@Schlerp Jewish people tend to have quite traditional set-ups, thats true. A lot of the flats in the frum parts of my area (i live in a jewish area as its within the eruv but its more mixed on my road) are characterized by double reception rooms (despite not being esp large flats) probably in reflection of the fact that Jewish people prefer a double reception as they need a formal dining room that is used mainly on shabbat and lined with books, with a white formal tablecloth. I am not sure about my posture. Honestly, I never expected so much negative feedback on mumsnet about my setup. It has worked for me for the past 2 years and i guess it would probably work for me if i had a child (DH grew up in a house without a sofa; there was truly no space as the reception room was the mum's office-needed somewhere away from 4 children and the second reception had to be converted into a bedroom for the eldest daughter so family ate and socialized in the dining extension, my DH got the box room as the only boy and the last two children had to share a room; such is having 6 people in a 2 up 2 down victorian terrace with third box room).

my MIL and her friend who doesn't have a sofa are probably in the hippie camp! I was explaining the Jewish practices to explain why we spend so many hours around the table.

I don’t have the sofa any more, but the sofa was a comfy sofa bed and deeper and softer than the dining bench.
We very rarely had time off then, and no tv still. But still liked a comfy place to relax when needed.

Buy what suits your lifestyle, but you just know from others homes that most people have a comfy chair of some sort.

@Caspianberg i linked the loaf berlin sofa upthread. It just looks like my dining bench in all honesty in terms of dimensions/height (its 10 cm longer). I wonder if you would consider that a sofa!

In the past when people said sofa, I just thought it was anything marketed as a sofa from petite sofa bench to large squashy couch. But thanks to this thread, I realized when people say a sofa is essential, it means the big squashy type. I mean I could buy something marketed as a sofa with the correct dimensions needed; but the dining bench looks the same and you don't need to worry it wouldn't fit/be the right height if you searched for a dining sofa bench. Then in a sense, i couldn't say that I don't have a sofa, its just propped up next to the dining table. Even now, I am not entirely sure I don't technically have a 'sofa' given how Made is now styling it as a sofa. my MIL tells me I have a sofa

I think they all have various names. So if your happy with just a more upright still then go for it

Our ‘sofa’ was more like this.
www.made.com/orson-3-seater-sofa-bed-seafoam-blue-velvet-52

Our ‘bench’ more like this.
www.made.com/asare-dining-bench-whitewash-boucle-with-black-legs

@Caspianberg when I go to people's houses in the UK, i always sit at the dining table/breakfast nook. My DH's v English grandparents never invited us to go into their sitting room (its like their special don't touch room).And of course for shabbat dinners, its dining room only.

when you say comfy chair, you probably mean something like this:
loaf.com/products/flump-occasional-chair
loaf.com/products/easy-peasy-sofa?size=medium&colour=blushed-pink-vintage-velvet

rather than loaf.com/products/berlin-sofa?size=small&colour=whisk-house-fabric&gclid=CjwKCAiAlfqOBhAeEiwAYi43F0PVH7VAtYRpSvExht-ZZZpdvCB06W0OmAKNz4HFjqua29Ib27whHhoCBU8QAvD_BwE

Sorry if I sound obtuse. I mean, i can't use my parents as examples. Their house has 8 bathrooms, cinema room, 2 kitchens (dry and wet), family room, guest room, toy room, laundry room, bomb shelter and yes they have more furniture for me including sofas. I also don't think I should use them as a guide to whats normal, i have yet to see a house with 8 bathrooms in London outside of Bishops Avenue (and no my parents live in a very normal suburb in Singapore, my dad just tested the extent of planning law in singapore and so built high and wide and long).But my parents' house still looks quite empty which might be why I favour the empty look!

*more furniture than me.

@Caspianberg wow I wouldn't consider that a 'small sofa'! I thought you said you just had a small sofa in the corner with an armchair. I guess when you said small sofa, i thought you meant love seat. and while they look nice, they aren't very functional

I mean it’s fine. It’s how you like to live and that’s what matters and within your community others live similarly. So who cares really!

www.zoopla.co.uk/to-rent/details/60493556/?search_identifier=a4806b5d9273100cc6b9ac1121a91511

Our flat and most peoples in London looked fairly similar to the above flat. A general open plan kitchen/ living space. With kitchen, space for dining table, and sofa or chair.
( ours was just way older and crappier that the link above).

Our sofa was a bit smaller than the link as was a 2 seater not 3, but that’s the general gist. Was bigger than a loveseat.

@Caspianberg ahh that explains it. I don't have an open plan flat. I have a 1930s flat. We have a separate kitchen. I bought my flat with school catchment in mind as I thought that maybe I may be in the flat for v long (MIL had to stay in her 1 bed flat for 8 years in the 1990s, and she never thought of school catchment so my DH had to go to an unsuitable ultra orthodox jewish school even though they aren't ultra-orthodox/subsequent siblings went to a poorly performing local primary school). And idk about other areas, but almost all the flats and houses are old where I am. Like late 1880s to 1930s.

Its why I never used HTB or bought a flat with cladding, because those developments hardly exist where I am...

I wouldn't choose that loaf one no, unless it was for a room where the sofa was only used occasionally.

A sofa to me, and I guess most of MN, is where you can lie horizontal if you're feeling a bit under the weather (but not I'll enough to want to stay in bed), where you can stretch and put your feet literally up (my sciatica would be dreadful with your sort of set up!), generally laze I guess. I can't see why you would choose to stay at a dining table height unless eating or on laptop for work.

But - if it works for you then it works for you!

@titchy Really interesting, thanks for explaining. I guess as someone whose mum had 6 siblings and a close knit extended family of over 50 members who congregated on a bi-weekly basis, i thought a sofa was for squeezing/sitting lots of people. I usually ended up on the floor and the older people usually sat at the dinner table (priority seats as they got to eat before us), but occasionally I got a place on the sofa usually squeezed up against someone else (quite hard when you have 13 cousins plus they always bring their boyfriends/girlfriends and now most have 2 kids at least)...

I thankfully don't have 50 people descending on my home on a bi-weekly basis!