I have a dark brown leather loveseat. It’s very traditional. I have always found leather couches very comfy so I splurged on it and I adore it. It’s my number one nap spot and reading couch. I don’t stick to it, but then again, I am not much of a nudist. And I have air conditioning. And I live in Canada.
I have certainly seen some tacky leather things in my day but I love a traditional leather couch or armchair with a wool blanket or throw. That is seriously cozy.
Mine is that type of leather too, but I’m going to call it Action leather anyway. I think I might even start calling it the “action couch.” It’s the type of leather that you would have on a purse. Not shiny, but not noticably pebbled, and soft.
Both of the sofas at my parents are leather and I love them. In the living room they have the sort of amorphis type. Very dangerous to lie down on, though, as you may never want to get up again. In the family room there is the gentlemen’s smoking room type, equally nice, other than it’s a little short for sleeping on. I’ve never really had the sticking issue and they really are no more tacky than the average sofa.
We have a set of leather sofas and they are soooo comfy. We’ve never treated them in a special way and they look pretty much the same as when we bought them. They certainly don’t look tacky. We have a lot of old/antique furniture and they fit in fine.
As people have said, they’re great for spills - just wipe them off. And we’ve had ours probably 6 years and they haven’t even begun to look worn.
I definitely recommend leather sofas.
We have a black leather sofa/couch set and love them. Just a couple times a year I give them a good once over with a damp sponge and then leather conditioner. It’s been at least 9 years since we bought it and it’s looking good still.
Yeah, they can be hot in summer, but we just throw a blanket over the seat and frankly, the air is on anyways, so it is actually worse in my truck on those leather seats. Much, much worse.
I tell you whut, is this leather couch set has been a blessing for us after having kids. One of which was the human regurgitator for the first 2.5 years of his life. (He had a very light gag reflex.) The number of times he puked on me and it would get the couch I lost count, but all we had to to do was sponge everything off and no worries. No. Worries.At. All.
Barf is my beat, babe.
The dog never does not go on the couch upstairs, but knows her couch is the 1970’s brown velvet orgy couch in the basement. We are retro hip here at Chateau Ujest. The orgy couch is the most comfortable couch in the world that we’ve ever been on. It deserves to be in its own museum of fabulouslessness, but I digress.
When we get another couch/living set, it will only be leather. Unfortunately we are in the Broke Ho phase in life.
I think leather is far more sophisticated than people give it credit for. I love a good Ikea Leather couch. The nice lines and all. That is for me.
If I am tacky, and this is someone who wants a moose head on my wall. I’m ok with it.
If your head exploded trying to read that sentance, it should have read:
The dog never goes on the couch upstairs.
Please clean up brain fragments in Aisle 7!
Ive had a leather couch and chair for years. Here are points to consider:
Leather is also great for allergy sufferers because the fur can be wiped off before guests arrive, and wont end up all over their clothes. Some pet owners are thoughtful of us allergic types.
As for the cheeze factor, its all about design, not materials. Theres a lot of cheezy cloth furniture out there…harvest colored velveteen couches? Brown Tweed chairs? Hello!?
A good comparison would be Leather is to Cloth as Hardwood/tile is to Carpet. Carpet is a repository for miniscule organic material, and hardwood is a sanitary floor choice. You can always wear socks, but you cant throw your carpet into the wash.
I have a pair of burgundy leather wing back chairs. I love them. FWIW, I’ve never had the sticking problem. They’re very easy to care for, and have held up much better than the upholstered furniture of the same vintage. All they need is a quick dust-off, or a wipe with a damp cloth once in a while.
My sister has a pair of dark taupe leather sofas and they’re really nice. VERY comfy, and both have survived her extremely active dog beautifully as well. The sofas are softer and squishier than my chairs, but they’re great for flaking out to read, take a nap, etc.
It comes down to what suits your taste and life best. If nothing else, wear shorts to the furniture store and test-sit some leather furniture.
Veb
We have cream-colored Italian leather furniture - a sofa and a chair. They are not tacky in any way. They are 20 years old and look almost as good as the day they were purchased. In that same amount of time we’ve gone through 3 upholstered loveseats.
For about 12 of those 20 years, we’ve also had dogs. They love to curl up on the chair. Hair does not stick to them and they are very easy to keep clean.
I also have never had a sticking problem, but then again I don’t sit around naked on the furniture, so YMMV.
What’s tacky about it? I love my leather chair and sofa
This reminds me of the thread I read about a man getting his ear pierced and some woman told him he pierced the wrong ear. WTF? That’s straight from high school. If it’s so tacky, why do high end furniture stores sell them? OK, scratch that last question. But the point is I own a well made piece of furniture, that has a durable soft cover on it. How is that tacky? It goes well in room it’s in. It’s perfect in the surroundings in which it’s placed.
My sofa and chair are very comfortable. I don’t stick to them. They’re easy to clean.
e3
Tacky person checking in!
We have leather furniture in our living room. Now I have to say, I generally don’t care for the look of a lot of leather furniture. Not the puffy stuff. And while we didn’t get REAL puffy, at the time we were looking the real sleek stuff wasn’t in style. So ours is moderately puffy, and I’ve never loved its look.
Why did we get leather furniture? Because we were getting a slobbery breed of dog and I had two cats. The furniture has survived them and a child (which we acquired later) besides. It has been a good investment, impervious to dog drool, eye goobers (we have a basset), cat & dog hair, baby vomit, juice spills, food spills, potty accidents, sexual relations, and countless other things that may have compromised fabric-upholstered furniture. Anything that is spilled can be wiped off. Hair can’t get woven in. 8 years later they still look pretty good.
I have not noticed the phenomenon of freezing in the winter and sticking in the summer, but we do have central heat & air.
I’ve never heard any complaints over this ‘sticking phenomenon’ either. Maybe on pleather furniture - or vinyl slip covers, but never on my tacky sectional. Then again, if your thighs are the consistency of Jello pudding squeezed into Saran Wrap & you’re wearing short shorts, it might be an issue.
We are thinking about turning in our fabric sofa for a leather one. We do have a big leather chair and it doesn’t bother me in the winter or the summer, actually with the A/C always on, the leather chair is refreshing to sit in.
Anyway I was wondering and yes I really am wondering this: How is sex on a leather couch? I know that the clean up would be easier, but do you stick to it too much (my hubby does sweat a lot) and do you get leather burns? Currently our fabric sofa is just too “puffy” for good sex and fluids don’t clean up easily on it.
well, um, I suppose it varies with the users and the positions. I have never experienced “leather burns” or awful sticking but then I haven’t really used the couch or loveseat for positions where either of us are…
you know, someone else will have to chime in and help you here. Sorry. My inner prude is squirming and clawing.
What a timely thread. I spent many hours yesterday, wandering around a furniture store looking at sofas and trying to decide. I’ve also been worried about the cold in winter/hot in summer problem and it gets quite humid here in summer. I don’t want to end up a pool of jabiru; nor do I want to be covering my new, expensive sofa with an old sheet.
I switched out my nasty old sofa for a leather sofa recently, and I like it immensely. Durable, easy to clean, not at all “sticky” or cold etc… The leather is butter soft and totally curl-up-able.
As with many things the more you spend, the better the product.
