Cream leather sofas - bad idea?

EHL123

Following on from my post about Homebase yesterday, my husband has now decided that he doesn’t want to wait and see whether they’re going to send the sofas we’ve ordered or not, he’d rather just cancel them now and go elsewhere ‘on principle’ :rolleyes:.

Thing is, I’m starting to think it’s a good thing they’ve messed us around, because I’m not sure the chocolate brown sofas we ordered were the best choice (can’t admit that to him though ). We rushed into them because they were on sale, and in theory they should have looked great with our new carpet and wallpaper (all coffee and cream shades). But now the decorating is actually finished, the room is a lot lighter and brighter than I imagined – more cream and white than coffee browns. So I think two dark sofas in the room could look a bit out of place.

I’ve found some lovely cream ones, but I’m wondering how practical they would be. I know cream will show the dirt more easily, but we have two mucky dogs so they’ll end up being wiped down quite often anyway (our old suite was black leather and still showed up all the marks). But I’ve heard that dark clothing can stain cream leather, is this correct? I don’t want to end up with blue stains if someone sits on it in their jeans. And is there anything else I should consider? Is cream more likely to show scratches? Our old suite managed to escape unscathed despite two dogs and two cats (luckily they don't use the furniture as a scratching post), and the new one I'm looking at has the same sort of protective coating, but sod’s law it’ll happen!

I'd appreciate any advice. Thanks!


Edited to add: Two minutes after I posted this Homebase called me (talk of the devils!) to tell me that my order is now going to be delayed until at least the end of October and still there's no guarantee I'll get them - needless to say I cancelled! So now I DEFINITELY need to get new sofas lol

TomsMom

I haven't had a cream leather sofa myself but can tell you of the experiences my two grown up kids have had with them.

1) Son, d-i-l, three children 14, 10, 6, and a nutty mutt. Their cream suite is filthy. D-i-l doesn't clean it as often as she should (but she is mega busy rather than lazy). They paid good £££ for it but even though it's not particularly old it's very worn in parts. Their opininion is "never again".

2) Daughter, s-i-l, two children 14, 6. The children are mainly in the conservatory where they have their own TV, toys, etc., very rarely in the "adult" room. I've not seen their suite (they live a long way away) but she tells me she wishes she'd had brown rather than cream.

I've heard jeans can stain light leather but can't say for sure.

If your room is light, as you say, you could get away with brown sofas if you put other complementary accents in their too, e.g. vase, candles, a bit of brown in your curtains????? With cream sofas in a light room you might run the risk of it being a bit wishy-washy with no points of colour interest.

Have you got any cream sheets you could place over your existing suite to see the effect?

But at the end of the day it's all personal choice and opinion, go with what you feel comfortable with but as it's a considered purchase £-wise give it plenty of thought.

helping_hubby

I've inherited my parents 2 cream leather sofas and I like them. They are probably 20 years old now and quite a bit worn. We had a dog when I grew up, but she wasn't allowed on the sofa. My mum looked after them and probably cleaned them every 6 - 8 months.

You can see them in this picture taken last Christmas:
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_mHRvA87Ysuo/SU9cMazH8nI/AAAAAAAAALs/pJfPJDXhJlU/s1600-h/155-5547_IMG.JPG

I think they look alright considering how old they are.

The top 2 pictures here might give you an idea of what they'd look like in a neutral room:
http://thehouserenovationinsurrey.blogspot.com/2009/08/carpet.html

I think maybe when we buy our first sofa we might go darker to contrast with the carpet.

helping_hubby

Also wanted to add - never had it stained by clothes. Had biro marks, but managed to get those off no problems.

EHL123

Thanks you both for replying

Helping_hubby, you have excellent taste - our new carpet is the same colour as yours, and our new wallpaper is very similar too! Your sofas do look great, I always think cream sofas look so nice and luxurious. But I do worry about the staining issue and the dogs. Although we like to think we'll keep them off the new sofas, it probably won't happen - those big brown eyes are very persuasive! We've tried to make sure the room is as labrador proof as possible - our carpet is scotchguarded and bleachable, and our wallpaper is scrubbable, and we're getting leather because it's wipeable. So I guess it would make sense to go for the darker colour and not have to worry so much about it getting marked, or constantly cleaning paw prints off it.

Tomsmom I think you're right, once the room has a few chocolate brown bits in, it should tie it all together a bit better. I've already bought brown curtains, and they do go really well with the carpet (I remember trying the cream ones against the carpet sample when I bought them and they didn't look right at all, so maybe the same would apply to the sofas). I think the biggest thing that's throwing me off is the woodwork - there's quiet a lot of it because we've got two big radiator cabinets in the room, the biggest of which has a built-in bookcase above it, so it's quite imposing (it's floor to ceiling, about 6 feet wide, and right ahead of you when you walk in the room). We've painted the cabinets to match the rest of the woodwork, and purposefully picked a cream colour to tone in with the browns in the room. But now it's done, it just looks like we used bright white! I think Dulux are conning us all - they just fill all the tins with the same stuff and stick different labels on them So because there's so much white in the room, this has made everything else take on a lighter tone and I'm finding it hard to see how the brown will go. Saying that, I suppose once the bookcases are filled up, they won't seem like such a huge expanse of white.

The main concern now is just to get something to sit on asap! We've waited ages to get the room finished, and now we can't even use it (old sofas went in the bin weeks ago). We're going to a place on Sunday who hold some of their sofas in stock, and can get the rest in within 2 weeks. They seem to have a decent range, and they've got a few 'buy one get one free' offers on at the moment with a 3 seater and 2 seater for £499 in a few different styles, so I'll just have to see what the quality is like. I actually found them when I was looking on ebay, and realised their warehouse / showroom is only 30 miles away from us, so that was a stroke of luck. Might get the room finished this year afterall!

topbargainhunter

Hi, we had a cream sofa that cost £1200 for a 2 seater, so good quality leather. I found that it did stain, we bought some brown cushions from Next which stained the arms of the sofa and I couldn't get it out. I had no idea that this could happen.

Also after a couple of years, although I cleaned it regularly with the cleaner supplied, we started to get dirt ingrained into the natural "cracks" in the leather which made it look dirty. We only kept it for 4 years and now have a chocolate brown one which looks spotless after 2 years of use. I have a white living room and it looks fine.

topbargainhunter

I forgot to say also, that I would not buy any furniture from Homebase again, it looks nice in the catalogues, but the quality is worse than MFI in my opinion. Homebase and Argos have the same furniture which I didn't realise until I bought a bedroom suite last year, it's pretty poor quality and rickety to say the least.

edgex

EHL123 wrote: »

The main concern now is just to get something to sit on asap! We've waited ages to get the room finished, and now we can't even use it (old sofas went in the bin weeks ago). We're going to a place on Sunday who hold some of their sofas in stock, and can get the rest in within 2 weeks. They seem to have a decent range, and they've got a few 'buy one get one free' offers on at the moment with a 3 seater and 2 seater for £499 in a few different styles, so I'll just have to see what the quality is like. I actually found them when I was looking on ebay, and realised their warehouse / showroom is only 30 miles away from us, so that was a stroke of luck. Might get the room finished this year afterall!

a 3 seater & a 2 seater for £499? :eek:

youd expect to pay that much just for a 2 seater
unless its some end of line or clearance stock, im thinking the build quality is going to be very poor, & the leather will not be quality leather



also, leather does wear
that wear is much more noticeable on cream leather, as the worn areas are a darker shade
it dosnt show up so much on the dark reds, browns & blacks, & looks more normal/natural

the other thing you can do with leather, if your looking for 2 sofas, is you can have different colours in a similar style
eg. we have a red & a brown chesterfield, & they go well with each other.

zzzLazyDaisy

I had a cream suite and one christmas my DS visited in his new blue jeans, and fell asleep sprawled out on the sofa. And yes, I can confirm that you can get dye transfer, and in my experience no, it does not come out

Having said that, I've now replaced the suite with an even paler one, so I'm a glutton for punishment! But I'm really pleased with it, and I keep a throw draped over the back so if anyone walks in with suspect clothes, I cover the sofa before they sit down. But to be fair, for the most part, there is only me and the cat, and the odd muddy paw print wipes off just fine.

One thing about cream though - do make sure you take a swatch or colour sample with you, as some creams can look quite yellowy against coffee and stone type colours.

ladyV

Hi, I have a cream leather sofa from DFS that I bought secondhand off Ebay.

Denim colour transfer:
Yes, if someone sits on your sofa in dark denim the colour will stain.

Cleaning: I use a bowl of hot soapy water and a light coloured scourer.

Biro/Sharpie permanent marker: Hairspray on a cotton wool ball and plenty of elbow grease should remove it.

I have also found nail varnish remover useful for spot stains/ felt tip pen marks.

With the benefit of hindsight I may well go for a darker colour next time!!