Bought the last one from DFS, and I swear the sofa we sat on in the store is completely different to the one that was delivered. The one in store was really comfy etc, this one just isn’t!

Anyway, any recommendations of places to go? Are Harveys or Sofaworks any good or are they all the same as DFS?

Same as bikes I think, IKEA ones are exactly the same as in store…..so that’s where I buy ours from!

We used this place where I used to work for accommodation units: http://www.sofasofa.co.uk/
it is mail order but they are good, I bought my home ones from here too. Or if you are loaded, go to Heals, their sofas are great, but at a price

Not Next, £2k and it’s hanging after two and a half years.

DFS sells utter crap, my SIL bought one, it’s just appalling.

I’m going to grin and bare this Next one for a bit, the frame and fabric is fine, but it’s lost all its plump – I can have it re-filled, but at £80 a cousin it’s a grand to get the lot done and that seems like good money after bad if the frame turns out to be just as crap as the filling.

I’ve been pretty impressed with the IKEA ones, but the plan is to go to one of the fancy department stores in the sales in a year or so and try to grab a bargain – my mum bought 3 XL 3 seaters for £1500 5 years ago and they’re beautifully made and still look like new.

We got ours from Furniture Village almost 5 years ago and they look almost new (apart from where the cats have scratched them).)

They were great, to be honest; salesman wasn’t pushy, delivery was prompt and they are really good quality.

Just waiting for the two we ordered from Sofa Workshop. Very nice sofas and quite customisable if you want, but you do pay for the privilege. Wait for an offer but they don’t do them that often.

Took a massive risk years ago and bought two traditional leather sofas from a company that said they manufactured for Laura Ashley (no way to tell though). They still look great and are very solid.

Avoid Debenhams – the sofas are ok, especially as they were mega cheap, but when one started to sag it took six months to even persuade them we had bought the sofas from them – even though we had receipt. It then also took a second, independent person to visit to get it repaired. Just a daft company.

I will buy from John Lewis next time.

Depends where you are, but if in the NW then Lawtons furniture in Birkenhead (also Deeside I believe) is worth a whirl.

Sells factory seconds for lots of the companies mentioned. Our “M&S” 2nd is 10 years old, been through 4 house moves and 3 kids and still good structure. Cover is shagged so we just chucked a throw on it.

MIL has a DFS one and it’s lost its foam structure after only 2 years.

I bought mine from a guy on ebay who had had it custom made by a craftsman near him. It’s bl**dy brilliant, and whereas it would have cost a mint when new, it cost us about £250. After five years and ALOT of use as both a sofa and a trampoline, it has proven a superb purchase.

Depending on what you are hoping of course, but it might be worth you looking for something exclusive on ebay.

Finally, I also found a Polish manufacturer whose stuff was being imported by a London-based guy, so we bought a sofa-bed from him. It too has been very good.

In other words, no particular seller; just fortunate quality finds in unexpected quarters.

We have recently bought from Sofaworks also.

Very impressed with the shop staff and the process through to delivery.

Sofas are so comfy!!

Too early to comment on longevity but they feel solid and durable.

John Lewis.

Gumtree. With 4 cats and two kids no way was I spending £2k plus on a new suite. And true to form we got our last one 6 months ago and the cats have been doing their best to claw the shit out of it.

I’ve been looking around too

Ikea ones seem to have a fibreboard frame, which puts me right off

I’ll probably end up with something from an M&S outlet

If you live near Leeds, Pratts are excellent. They are part of a chain of shops across Northern England

Delcor have been raelly good.
Multiyork pretty decent too.
Buy in sales, we are probably in the 28 days out of every 6 months where they have to charge “full” price.

I think I must have been that lucky DFS customer who gets the special sofa. My two leather ones are still brilliant after ten years!

Rachel

I’ve had 2 from Sofa.com that were very decent. They provide good measurements and fabric swatches, you order them, and they show up shortly afterwards, accompanied by strong Polish men. If you don’t like ’em, you can just send them back within 4 weeks.

I’m not terrifically excited by furniture, so all this worked very well.

🙂

Previous experience has taught me that me that you get what you pay for with sofas.
Multiyork are expensive but last well and they will sell you new covers when the originals wear out.

I also have a Laura Ashley sofa that I bought from a BHF shop for £180 and that’s been great too.

Naw atg i got a good one too ll.l both our basic leather sofas – arrived and were as comfy as in the shop and have held up well for the last 5 years with no dscernable wear.

I would buy from dfs again .

I was once told that when checking out a sofa, if you want to know how decent the frame is (thickness/strength) and how decent all the other bits are just lift a corner of the sofa – if you struggle to lift it easily with one hand it’s decent quality!
Not a bad measure I suppose, good to weed out the lightweight crap anyway.

We’ve got one from Sofa.com that we’re very happy with.

We decided we were going to get a decent one to last us a long time and not be shy of spending a decent sum on it. Looked at a whole bunch of places, ended up as a tossup between John Lewis and Sofa.com. sofa.com won. Then there was choosing fabric… 😐 Martindale rub test anyone?

Another DFS sofa here. Leather, bought 15 years ago and has survived moves and kids. Bit saggy now as you’d expect (not too bad thought) but couldn’t fault it. It wasn’t one of their cheap ones though.

Will replace in the next couple of years as the kids are older etc but will still keep the old one and use in other rooms.

I bought one from John Lewis about 6 years ago now, still looks good after a plump up of the cushions, still insanely comfy, only problem being staying awake on it.

I also happened to have chosen the sofa then one day walked in and they had a cancelled customer order in store for sale, the customer had paid a £500 deposit and then cancelled so it came to me £500 cheaper. One of my favourite purchases ever!

In honestly I’d not have thought it a bad buy at the original price given how good it is.

It was a ‘Valencia’ with chaise, I thinkl these days you can just spec them as you want though.

Something you may not have considered, but you can get a sofa handmade & bespoke for not a huge amount of money more than some of the rubbish being sold in the big stores. We looked for ages to find one to fit the space in our living room. All the usual suspect places had sofas that were either too long or too short! Had a look at a local craftsman showroom, and he had some lovely designs, made with local hard wood frames inside and with any fabric/leather cover you could think off in any size configuration. We basically ended up with something the fits exactly, has the colours and textures we like (mix of fabric and leather), looks better and better as it ages (now almost 10 years old), and gets more comfortable with use as it wear in (not out!). Worth a look and a quote if you have somewhere local that makes that sort of thing.

Sofasofa.com gets my vote, easy to buy from, will send samples, very helpful customer service and delivery. returns policy that’s sensible. Makes the Ikea one it sits next to look a bit shabby.

Don’t know when you live, but, maybe the Westbridge furniture outlet shop at Meir, Stoke onTrent.
They make sofas for at least two of the major high st. retailers and from there they sell stuff which wasn’t delivered properly, Customer returns and slight seconds, most of which are in perfect condition, it’s just a case of what they have.
I agree on the DFS thing. We bought two leather sofas from them about 6 years back, they are bloody awful. They weren’t low rent ones either.

sofasofa here too, got ours with a set of replacement covers which we periodically swap and stick in the wash.

We bought our large sofa from sofa workshop just before our 15 yr old daughter was born.
Still as comfy as it was although the cover is showing signs of wear. We are just about to replace it with another from the same place, and they offer a discount if the sofa is given to charity…

It cost a lot of money when we bought it but has turned out to be a cheap purchase.

If you change sofa’s every few years (not because of wear) then I think it’s best to get the best quality you can afford. Ends up lasting a lot monger and you get the benefit of a very nice sofa in the process. Or buy cheap and often.

Barker & Stonehouse, ours is 13 years old and looks like new! Shame its a bit old fashioned. Just bought from them again this weekend.

Indego, not a massive collection but if you find something you like it will be well built. Ours coming upto 10 years and still looking good.

Local tip

10 year old DFS and its still going strong with two kids using it as a trampoline

I got a sofa from eBay for 99p once for my first non student digs. It was decent too, and not just in a 99p decent way.

A friend of mine also just spent about £500 on a £3000+ sofa also from eBay. As new condition – couple of weeks of saved searches – total bargain. Amazing premium leather corner effort. I was very jealous because we’d actually spent £2k on a similar thing….

We picked up a freshly re-upholstered sofa & chairs from ebay for a couple of hundred quid – on picking it up (from a house which woudn’t have looked out of place in Vogue interiors) the folk selling it told us she just needed rid of it as they’d changed their colour scheme after spending £1200 having it re-upholstered to match the old one… it was only a few years old & originally cost about £4k 😯

There are bargains to be had out there s/h if you have a bit of patience – we knew the dog would be all over it like a literal bad smell so didn’t want to spend a fortune on a new one

John Lewis.

also John Lewis here

Mine is 13 years old and still lovely.

I’ve just bought a Sofa Workshop Leather 3 seater for £122 😀 (eBay, 5yrs old, good condition)

Our old Sofa was from John Lewis and I’ve hated it from the day we had it.

Laura Ashley.
Look out for the sales.
Ours is over 13 years old ans still comfortable and looks good.
Btw – its not all pretty flowers and pastel colours nowadays.