I’ve always wanted to buy a big, comfortable leather couch. A few years ago, I saw one I liked in a high-end furniture store in Colorado, but it was too expensive for me at the time and I was getting ready to move, so I didn’t buy it.
Now I live in California and I have a bit more money, but I can’t find anything like it available from what I consider a reputable manufacturer. Here’s a picture of it from a few years ago - anyone have any recommendations on where I could find something similar? I am looking for full grain leather and robust construction, etc.
I called the store - all they could tell me is they don’t sell that model anymore.
I should add that I can’t stand shopping for furniture - the entire industry seems structured around hiding who is actually manufacturing the multi-thousand-dollar item you’re buying and this makes me very suspicious. I don’t know how to make buying decisions in this environment. The only company in the space I really trust is Ikea - every time I’ve gone somewhere other than Ikea I’ve felt like I’ve paid more for lesser quality.
Dunno about whether they carry something that resembles the model in your picture, but I think of West Elm for higher end furniture. I have no idea if that makes me a snob, or a plebian, but I do know you won’t know a damn thing about your manufacturer’s identity. It’s basically how their contact is structured. The retailer gets exclusive access to that guy’s services in return for handling all the middleman stuff like customer service (e.g. dealing with, well, people like you!) and the vendor is free to concentrate on their craft without having to answer the damn phone all the time for questions from, well, people like you!
I would vote for Haverty’s but the OP is in California and there are no stores there. When I lived in LA I bought most of my furniture from Plummers, but it’s pretty modern in design and it sounds to me like that’s not what the OP is after. If you were in Texas I’d send you to Texas Leather Furniture which we have and it’s great (and made in San Antonio from leather from Kings’ Ranch, so local). If you can find something not made in China that would be the best choice but it’s hard and the sellers will lie to you.
Also, be aware of what is leather.
There are the tanned skins of cattle-cowhide.
There are also leathers from water buffalo, etc that are generally inferior.
Generally, there is cowhide, leather from some other animal, and specialty leathers like kangaroo or snake. For furniture, there is a strong incentive to make people assume that the leather is cowhide. Unless it is so labeled, it probably isn’t.
And of course there are leather grades-top grain is what I think of as the best leather. It is very expensive.
If the furniture is >$3-4K, it might be cowhide. If it is from Rooms to Go or some such, some water buffalo in India got too old and was recycled. Usually not very well.
Start your search by looking for stores that sell actual cowhide leather. They won’t bother putting such expensive material on cheap frames.
We visited the Arizona Leather showroom I mentioned above. The prices where “ouchy.”
The salesman sat down with is, and opened his little sales book. We weren’t discussing anything definitive yet, just talking about being retired and loving leather and leather care.
I mentioned in an offhand way that I had a cat.
"You have cats?
He closed his little sales book and walked away.
~VOW
Second Costco, they have really nice furniture and leather is their specialty. Might still have stuff in stores at the moment, fall and winter is when they get furniture out on the floor but it’s always available online.
That salesman is an idiot. I buy leather furniture precisely because I have cats. The scratches make the leather look aged, not a big deal; fabric covered furniture shreds and looks like hell.
You might look at Scan Design (Ekorness Stressless) furniture. The Oslo line is what we bought, and it’s still doing great after 10 years. It’s all top grain leather and solid wood framing. Good stuff.
Have you checked any of the office supply places? I seem to recall either Staples or OfficeDepot having some things like that; one of the two.
And being in Cali and possibly a Prime member – you are aware that Amazon is selling and delivering large things in some areas? Furniture, huge wall sized televisions, carpets and more. You may want to give customer service a call and see depending on various things.
We bought a big leather sectional at Ethan Allen about 15 years ago. It is still as beautiful as ever. I have bought a lot from them and always been happy, might be worth a look.
Can’t tell you much about where to buy or anything like that, but here is a movers perspective and experience derived frim moving them and talking with the owners of said pieces.
These days, the more expensive (therefore presumably better quality) leather sofas weigh a great deal less than older leather furniture. I’m assuming we’re talking about an actually couch and not one of those things called “couch” or “sofa” which is really a couple of modified recliners and a chair attached to each other btw.
The leather sofas of old, those things that are really heavy, seem to be relegated to the low end to lower middle quality levels (for the most part, not entirely) these days. As though manufacturers have realized that mass does not equate to quality, but not all buyers have.
Find a real upholstery shop and see if they can offer any guidance. They’ll know who’s making good furniture that will last longer than two years. Some shops may even have sofa frames that just need someone to select a fabric or leather to be turned into the furniture of your dreams. The more advanced shops can even build something to your exact specs. Just be aware that furniture is either “cheap” or “good” - there is no good and cheap furniture.
We worked with a shop in Concord (northeast of San Francisco) that had a wing chair frame that we bought - some other customer abandoned a project. Picked the fabric and two weeks later had a new chair.
I was going to suggest Scan Design also. That’s where we got our couches about twelve years ago, and they were beautiful and holding up well (until the most recent dog acquisition).
