Leather furniture?

[glitzy07]

What can you tell me about leather furniture (couches specifically)?

H and I are looking for a couch for our family room, and a lot that we found and liked last night were leather. I've never owned leather furniture before. Is it tough to keep clean? How bad of an idea is it with dogs and cats in the house?

Also, do you think if we bought a brown leather couch that we could still decorate around it with cool colors (greys/whites/blues), or would we be stuck with warm tones? I'd prefer a charcoal color couch, but there don't seem to be many of those available.

[mcfelix]

We don't have leather in our family room now but we used to. I wouldn't recommend it with dogs and cats though - they can scratch it and it will be visible. I've had leather sectionals from natuzzi and broyhill. They both were durable and I loved how they looked.

I would think you could find a brown/taupe/grey neutral sectional that could work with any decorating scheme.

[ruthie7532]

My IL have a brown leather couch and chairs that still looks great after at least ten years with two cats and a 90 pound dog. They love it and claim it's easy to keep clean (I imagine because it's easy to get the fur off). I do know it was a very high quality leather, so maybe that makes a difference. We are seriously considering a leather sectional, and I think it will work well in our blue living room. I plan on treating it like a neutral and using pillows, etc, to bring in the color. Here are some pictures of dark leather couches with cool blueish decor:

[sent]

We have a leather sectional. It's been great with DD. Definitely easy to clean. I don't have pets so don't know about that. However, we never moisturized our couch and now the seats are cracked all over and looks like crap. We bought it at Macys so not super cheap. We were just young and stupid and had no idea leather couches need to be moisturized. This apartment may be this couch's last stop anyways because it is also a pain to move this sectional. The movers almost couldn't get it out of one of our apartments without making a crack noise.

Our couch is dark brown and so is our furniture.

[spankswife]

We have a leather sofa and love seat, and we purposely bought it bc we have a dog, and now kids. The dog hair brushes right off, and spills/drool whatever can be wiped up no problem. It's a thicker, more durable leather. We do have some scratch marks bc our dog likes to "dig" a little nest where she lays, but that's unique and would happen with fabric too. But we have had them for 8 yrs and they look great.

I think dark brown sofas look great with greys and cool colors. I wouldn't let that hold me back at all.

[luckyno7]

Love our leather couches. Don't have any pets so can't talk to that. Very easy to clean. Our sales guy told us to make sure you get a couch that has good support because otherwise the leather will outlast the comfort. We bought flex steel. It's heavy, but great quality. Here is the coloring of our couch which I love.

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[sent]

Apr 25, 2015 17:19:46 GMT -5 @cookiemonster03 said:

How often are you supposed to moisturize them? We have a leather chair and ottoman and I had no idea.

I don't know.  Check with the store that sold it to you or the manufacturer I guess.  I learned about it after I googled why ours was cracking.

My parents have leather couches that are going on 7 years and not cracked and look great.  But their couches were also not used as much as ours.  Ours are 5 years old and we sit on them every day.  I nap on them too.    

[Deleted]

We just ordered a top grain leather sectional. We spent $$$$ on it but I think it will be easier to clean with the kids. We don't have pets though. We got a brown color and have a blue color scheme.

We were told to moisturize it every 6 mos.

[Susie]

I'm shopping for a leather couch and recliner.  They are my preemptive push presents to myself, lol.  Our current sectional isn't very comfortable, and I want a place to relax with Hobbes that I love when the time comes.

I haven't decided on shade yet, but it will be brown leather.  It will go in this room:



We have dogs, but they don't have furniture privileges so scratching isn't a big worry.  I like that their fur won't stick to it where they rub up against it though.  (The microfiber isn't bad, but an upholstered sofa in another room is a mess with that.)  I also like being able to wipe when Hobbes inevitably makes some kind of mess on it.

[pamela]

We love our leather furniture with kids and dogs. The dogs aren't allowed up, but we know they do sometimes when we aren't there. We did scratch test the samples before choosing a leather because they do wear differently. This have not scratched and we've had the couch 3 years. No more dog hair or drool marks where they lay their heads for petting.

[MrsAggie]

I only buy leather *because* of our dogs and kid. All you have to do is wipe it clean. I'm honestly terrible about using a conditioner and my furniture still looks good. The old couches that I had were passed to me from my grandparents who got it from my parents. They were 11 years old and the leather still looked great. I actually sold those before I got my current couch so they're still out there!

[MrsAggie]

Also, our furniture is always 100% leather. Don't ever get fake leather because that does not hold up well. It's worth the extra cost.

[MrsAggie]

Susie La-Z Boy has some comfy recliners with clean lines.