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Original poster

Was your sofa good value?

33 replies

AccidentalMum · 03/01/2009 22:50

I am buying my first sofa and am so confused. Everyone I know is a bit further up th sofa ladder and seems to have bought one about every 3 years from Ikea for 2 or 3 sofas then spent what seems like a fortune (er, £1500+ for a 3 seater) on one.

I fear the false economy! Also would like something UK made and non composite
board.

OP posts:

ib · 03/01/2009 22:52

I spent quite a lot on our sofas but 10+ years on, with new covers, I still love them. They are good quality.

Tinker · 03/01/2009 22:54

We bought one about 3.5 years ago half-price from Sofa Workshop which still looks like new. But that's probably because it's leather and too bloody cold to sit on.

Hulababy · 03/01/2009 22:56

We paid about £1000 on our leather sofa. that was about 6 years ago. Still going stong and won;t need replacing for a while.

Prior to that we had a sofa and sifabed from Sofa Workshop Direct which were much cheaper. After a couple of years they looked very old and shabby (but not in a chic way).

lljkk · 03/01/2009 22:56

omg, we are getting 'new' sofas from friends of a friend who are giving us their cast-offs. So yes, very good value.
Our current sofas were also castoffs from relatives.
I cannot imagine buying truly "new" sofas until youngest DC is at least 10yo.

pooka · 03/01/2009 22:57

www.sofa.com have good sofas and excellent service. We recently bought one and it is fantastic. Very comfortable.

Previously had sofa workshop sofas but they were too long for our new house and also were feather cushioned and an absolute pain having to be remade every time anyone sat on them.

The new one has feathers but around a foam middle so the cushions hold their shape.

blithedance · 03/01/2009 22:57

It does depend on your budget. Our first sofabed was not cheap but it was poorly made and fell to bits after being dismantled for the 5th house move, the fabric also wore through. When we took it apart, the flimsy frame and cheap foam inside was an eye-opener.

We got our next suite from a sale at sofasofa here, Portland IIRC, and they are excellent. But at that time they had a showroom in Birmingham so we were able to try it out. You do get what you pay for but I would go for a classic style, the DFS type ones seem a bit faddy to me.

evaangel · 03/01/2009 23:00

dh insisted we get an arctic white leather sofa which we did

ffs he regrets it now!!

newgirl · 03/01/2009 23:02

can i recommend m and s? we got one in a sale and it is fab quality - classic style in a dark grey - very good price - under 400

tip though - measure them because they are always much bigger than you think when you get them home!

pigsickonwhitewine · 03/01/2009 23:05

mine came from Divani...now part of sofa sofa...I bought it over 10 years ago and I am still sitting on it now...although we do need a new one now but not bad going after so long looking good and being comfy!
It had washable covers and only cost a couple of hundred...

I would buy another only I dont like the new styles....

Tinker · 03/01/2009 23:06

We have a 2nd hand M&S one as well (2 years old) and it looks shabby, I think. Have no doubt it's well-made but the fabric and teh cushions (presume feather-filled as well, since always have to be re-plumped) means it just looks messy as soon as it has been sat on.

MaryMotherOfCheeses · 03/01/2009 23:07

I'd be confused too tbh.

The first time we bought a sofa and matching arm chair, we had to get them to replace some of the upholstery on the chair because it was so badly done. But the sofa has lasted 11 years brilliantly. It's now sat in the back room and doing fine.

We've got the current sofas from DFS (Disgusting Fecking Sofas). They're not as resilient as I'd hope for the price. And the salesman kept going on about how you need to plump the seats every day. Every day???? Can you really imagine taking the seats off and beating them back into shape every day? Sadly, they probably need it.

wendythepositivethinker · 04/01/2009 13:31

Our are from SCS - cost £800 for a 2 seater and a 3 seater. Had them two years now and they get a lot of stick but are still very comfy indeed and still look good. I think it's a lottery really, probably another sofa from the same shop would be a mess by now. I'm not surprised you're confused!

puppydetox · 04/01/2009 13:47

our £400 (at the time) 2-seater, loose cover habitat sofa lasted 8 years and one small child, although now it's utterly broken. same model starts at around £700 now i think.

have been looking for a leather replacement and closest we found was www.sofasofa.com - they're uk made, appear to be decent quality. but in the end turned out the ones that would fit in our room we didn't like enough, the ones we liked were too big

after weeks and weeks of searching finally found a vintage 60's leather suite that a) meets my exacting aesthetic standards b) fit in our room - modern sofas are much deeper for some reason c) we could just about afford (thick end of a grand for 3 seater plus 2 armchairs). it's lasted over 40 years so i reckon it's pretty good quality, although how long it'll last with us is anyone's guess. so my suggestion is try local second hand dealers or ebay.

puppydetox · 04/01/2009 13:48

oops www.sofasofa.co.uk

OrmIrian · 04/01/2009 13:50

Yep.

£692 leather form DFS and it's 8 yrs old, still in good nick and when I get round to give it a good clean looks as good as new.

We've bought cheaper fabric covered ones before and they didn't last.

herbietea · 04/01/2009 13:52

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

LoveMyLapTop · 04/01/2009 13:52

WE got ours from SofaSofa, their showroom is just down the road.
I think it is good value, we had a 3 seater, 2 seater and arm chair for less than a thousand pounds, delivered when they said they would.
Do not really want it to lst for more than about 5 yrs as I get bored.
Have had one from DFS before, was about 3 times as much!

mumwhereareyou · 04/01/2009 13:54

We have the erktop 2 and 3 sofas from ikea brought in 1999 and still going strong and that is with 3 devils children jumpimg on them and making dens with them. We have 2 sets of covers so change them every so often, still look brand new and v comfy to sit on I find.

LoveMyLapTop · 04/01/2009 13:55

I have got the sienna from sofa sofa in tan.

ohdearwhatamess · 04/01/2009 14:00

We've had 2 from sofasofa - very cheap and quick delivery, but they haven't lasted long (2/3 years). Do have a dog (2 dogs during life of the first sofa).

I'm currently on a quest to find a fabulous sofa that will last years and years.

ChasingSquirrels · 04/01/2009 14:01

We spent £1,400 on a 3-seater, 2-seater and a chair. That was, umm, 14 years ago. They are past their best now, but my friend wants one of them for her playroom when I get new ones.
I would say they were worth the money.

Have you looked at the warehouse sales places? They sell off customer returns etc from the bigger names. EG Homebrands is mainly M&S, also Trade Secret and others. There is a homebrands near us and they are 50% of the M&S catalogue price. But is it what's in stock only, you can't order things.

theinsider · 04/01/2009 14:06

We bought ex-display (from a local, I think independent, furniture shop). Paid just under £900 for a three-seater, two-seater, armchair and footstool. Full price should have been about £4,500. They are a paleish peachy coulour and had a small amount of scuffy dusty dirty marks round the bottom on the skirt on the sofa, that was all. We figured we'd make equivilent marks within a few weeks.

Never had such (supposedly) expensive chairs, they are very comfortable, keep their shape, the covers wash very well.

Try keeping an eye for ex-display. I knew we wanted a new sofa and had been looking for a good deal on something I liked for probably about a year until I spotted these, took Dh back the next day and we bought them.

theinsider · 04/01/2009 14:07

BTW that was about 4/5 years ago

CharleeinChains · 04/01/2009 14:08

I went to our local St WIlfreds furniture shop on Friday and brought the most gorgeous leather, sage green sofa that is 100% perfect for my decor and it was only £90 with delivery.

Original poster

AccidentalMum · 04/01/2009 20:19

That is all really useful!

Can't do leather, which is a problem in the durability stakes...undecided on feathers .

I think I will go the ex display route although that just seems to make me look at shops way of my budget for that elusive bargain and now I think everything else is crap .

OP posts:

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