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Original poster

Sofa's? Leather or fabric with kids and cats?

24 replies

lilibet · 09/10/2003 21:16

Been looking at new furniture, I quite fancy leather, stuff wipes off, looks good for ages etc. but OTH, what about the cats claws and dd keeps telling me about them being cold in winter and sticking to them in summer. What do you have/recommend? BTW I'm having very dark red!

OP posts:
PODGE5FB · 09/10/2003 21:21

we've had a cream leather setee fo 2 years now. With 2 small children it's been ideal. Any mess can easily wiped off. Our 2 year old decided to draw on it in biro - that came off with fairy liquid and a bit of scrubbing. In terms of cold in winter it is a bit when you first sit down but soon warms up. Not sure about cats, although we took out insurance which guarantees to mend any tears.

whymummy · 09/10/2003 21:22

hi lilibet,we have a sofa with leather arms and fabric seat,no cats tho,but i find the arms are the first thing to get dirty and you can just wipe them if they're leather,HTH

doormat · 09/10/2003 21:24

hi lillibet we have a cream leather suite. It just wipes clean. I dont know about cats as dont have any

CnR · 09/10/2003 21:48

We got a 'distresed' looking brown leather sofa when DD was a few months ol and have not looked back. Everything wipes up from it - baby wipes are great for that by the way - and even if her nails stratch it is doesn't matter as you can't tell as it already looks like that anyway. Ours is lovely and cosy and, as it is soft leather, always feels nice to sit on regardless of the hot or cold weather.

Not sure about cats though as I don't have any.

bunny2 · 09/10/2003 21:59

We have leather sofas and I love them. They are huge and comfortable and wipe-clean. Also they dont get dusty or harbour dust mite (good if anyone suffers allergies).

robinw · 10/10/2003 06:51

message withdrawn

hoxtonchick · 10/10/2003 07:21

Love 'em

Katherine · 10/10/2003 09:23

I'm in the same boat - would love leather, think it would be great for the kids but worry about the dogs claws.

However I kinda think cats would be a bit easier. The biggest problem with cats is when they choose to claw things. Our old cat destroyed our sofa with his claws. It was a fabric one and quickly looked awful on the sides where he used to attack it. He wouldn't have done it with leather though - nothing to dig his claws into.

I'm mre worried about when the dog jumps on and off and his claws scratching then. If you go for softer leather or distressed leather I would think it would be less of a problem.

Am just think how easy the cats hairs will be to deal with

Metrobaby · 10/10/2003 09:38

We have cream leather sofas and never found it a problem. We do try however to restrict eating and drinking in our lounge as far as possible. Spills are easily cleaned using special leather cleaner solutions. Our cat never sits on them but has clawed them a little, so beware. I don't find them too bad in the summer or winter either. TBH the ease of cleaning them outweighs anything else!

WSM · 10/10/2003 09:57

We ahve recently changed our sofas from fabric to pale leather and it has been SO much more practical. We are family of 5 (me, DH, DS1 - 11yrs, DS2 - almost 10yrs, DD - 14mo), we also have 2 housecats. Our fabric sofas were quite heavily patterned but still showed the dirt. The covers were removable and could be put in the machine but it was such a hassle drying them TBH. I had the same concerns about leather as you do lilibet but they have flown straight out of the window. As everyone else has said here, it is easy to clean and does look better with age (unlike most fabric sofas). If you get a nice buttery soft leather (like ours) you'll find that you won't feel the temp extremes that DD is worried about. If you were to buy one of those 'tight' chesterfield types you will be more likely to feel the cold !

WSM · 10/10/2003 09:58

P.S. Our cats love it too ! We have one 'scratchy' cat but after a couple of attempts at clawing and being caught he soon decided that perhaps it was a bad idea !

3GirlsMum · 10/10/2003 10:02

Ive just ordered a cream leather corner suite and cant wait for it to arrive. Ive wanted leather for ages but DH has been against it. Even he concedes that with young kids its a much better idea. The only problem I have now is deciding what colours to put with it as we have decided to completely redecorate the room at the same time! x

Girly · 10/10/2003 10:22

We are all at it, just ordered an bitter chocolate leather corner sofa at the weekend aswell. Also have to redo the lounge now!

wiltshire · 10/10/2003 16:09

Have 2 leather setees coming in 14 days. It's a cult

Girly · 10/10/2003 16:57

mine does not arrive till Dec

Posey · 10/10/2003 21:05

Used to have fabric sofa and chairs which were ruined by the cat (he used it as a scratching post). So replaced it with reddish brown leather suite. Easily wiped, can't be clawed at and any little scratches are easily polised out with special coloured leather polish. BTW I never found myself sticking all of this very hot summer, nor did I find it cold in winter. In my opinion, leather is definitely the choice!

Original poster
lilibet · 10/10/2003 23:13

ok, you've convinced me, so where should I look for a nice leather suite that doesn't mean that I have to pawn the children to pay for it?

OP posts:
Furball · 11/10/2003 22:40

If you want really cheap and cheerful Argos have the 'Figaro' (down the page abit) 3+2 for £595 - Bargain. We got ours from Courts , a 3 + 2 for £599, they don't seem to have it now but do have other similar offers.

Tom · 11/10/2003 22:44

Gotta say... I luuurrve my big leather sofa... wouldn't swap it for a thing

jampot · 11/10/2003 22:53

Since having kids we've had a cream fabric suite (too hard to keep clean), a dark green fabric suite (even harder to keep clean due to yoghurt addiction) and a dark green leather suite (excellent, need to nourish leather though and Auto Glym leather care is excellent for cleaning and then feeding). In the winter you can always use a throw.

RockingRosebud · 18/10/2003 22:08

I'd go for brown leather, we have cream leather and they're awful, why on earth we bought them I have no idea.

3GirlsMum · 18/10/2003 22:10

Lilibet do you have a DFS near you? They have loads of leather suites and loads of payment options such as 4 years interest free credit . Cant wait for mine to arrive, its shown on tv now as well...the Linda Barker range (but thats not why we choose it) shown in a light blue but we have the cream (corner suite). OMG can you tell I am excited over a suite I cant stop talking about it..sorry!!!!

3GirlsMum · 18/10/2003 22:11

Oh No Rosebud just read what you put..whats wrong with cream?

Rags · 19/10/2003 13:47

lilibet going by the comments I guess it's leather. I want a leather suite, we have a sort of velour suite and it is the crappiest thing you have ever seen, the velour has gone on the arms and the seat cushion, saying that it is 9 years old cause I said I wasn't replacing anything until the kids could aim at the mouths properly, now my excuse is just money but it really does look like I pulled it out of the gypsy skip

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