Today at the furniture store

[Jolly]

@Doctor-Phibes said in Today at the furniture store:

Two young "adults" + two dogs = IKEA

Dammit.

After my kids managed to tear up a couple of decent Broyhill bedroom sets, a wise lady told me to never buy a piece of new furniture for any human less than 21 years old.

Buy decent, middle-class furniture, but buy used.

[George K]

Maggie has one spot on my leather chair that's attracted her. This seems to have stopped it. She doesn't even come near it now.

[Doctor Phibes]

I wonder if you can buy Young "adult" Training Tape.

[Jolly]

@Doctor-Phibes said in Today at the furniture store:

I wonder if you can buy Young "adult" Training Tape.

You can, but you have to cut them out of it for them to use the loo.

[blondie]

@Horace It’s real good you’re researching these things. Many don’t & many sales people haven’t a clue what they’re selling.
Perhaps TMI (but in a past life I schooled with a master Brit seamstress learning of upholstery covers) ..
Rub resistance and stain resistance are 2 important things. You yourself can apply (& re-apply) stain protectors to upholstery & also manufactured “stain-resistant” fabrics. Think 3M Scotchguard. Rub resistance though has to do with the fibre components & the warp-weft weave of the fabric. It’s rated as a Wyzenbeck score (for fabrics sold in N. America). I’d have to re-look this up, but I believe every fabric gets tested for a set #thousand abrasive rubs then given a score for durability of the fabric (be it polyester, nylon, polypropylene, cotton, linen, mohair, whatever the fabric is made of). I look for this rub data (printed on the back of the fabric swatch) first before I look at stain resistance. Your salesperson should be knowledgeable of this. If you’re a big guy, if you live in Denim, if you’ve bouncy kids, if you’ve big dogs, if you sleep on your sofa lots, you want a durable fabric that won’t overly pill, fray, wear thin, stretch, etc. Do know the vast majority of fabrics are made overseas and are cross distributed to use by different sofa manufacturers in N. America. Some furniture manufacturers (E.g. Stickley) only have fabric manufactured just for themselves overseas & some manufacturers (like E.g. Stickley) do not put anything on their sofas with low rub resistance. I only use Stickley as an example. There are a number of reputable N. Carolina, Eastern & N. Eastern U.S. furniture makers who do the same. There are some stores who drop-ship sofas, see in store, buy online, in set choose your color fabrics but do research of the manufacturing process & read customer reviews of that particular fabric’s abrasion data before you buy.
I believe the family sofa is the most important piece of furniture in our homes, but $23K USD for a leather sectional is obscene. Even if you’re aiming for 12 yrs from it. My tufted leather hob nail 98” Stickley was $9K CAD. It’s leather couch #2 & will give me 12 yrs. Think of a sectional price x 2 approx. You can do as well for less than $23K. I do know of one Canadian manufacturer (using maple hardwood frames, a good hand tied spring system, top quality cushioning, leather, workmanship and detailing) that sells a good leather couch. I purchased 2 (albeit fabric) sofas of the same model for a condo last year (‘Prentice’ by Brentwood Classics) but saw & did research of their leather.
Stickley authorizes some stores to sell their stuff. It may be similar to pianos & Steinway, their “Stickley Gallery”, but they have to agree to Stickley’s standards & terms to be a dealer. Stickley also has “entry level” lines and they too offer some models of sofas at lower than their usual prices when they are introducing new “lines”. I’m too verbose, but I like furniture, I sew, have learned lots of fabric.

[blondie]

@Doctor-Phibes

@Doctor-Phibes said in Today at the furniture store:

Two young "adults" + two dogs = IKEA

Dammit.

There’s so much truth in this statement. I know many who avoid good furniture, be it leather or fabric, due to pets & family members. This is where IKEA shines. In my earlier years I made 2 rounds of slip covers for a worn down Canadian made sofa & loveseat set. That set lasted 10 years. In retrospect, given the price of fabric & my labor, I should’ve gone to IKEA.

[Horace]

@blondie said in Today at the furniture store:

@Horace It’s real good you’re researching these things. Many don’t & many sales people haven’t a clue what they’re selling.
Perhaps TMI (but in a past life I schooled with a master Brit seamstress learning of upholstery covers) ..
Rub resistance and stain resistance are 2 important things. You yourself can apply (& re-apply) stain protectors to upholstery & also manufactured “stain-resistant” fabrics. Think 3M Scotchguard. Rub resistance though has to do with the fibre components & the warp-weft weave of the fabric. It’s rated as a Wyzenbeck score (for fabrics sold in N. America). I’d have to re-look this up, but I believe every fabric gets tested for a set #thousand abrasive rubs then given a score for durability of the fabric (be it polyester, nylon, polypropylene, cotton, linen, mohair, whatever the fabric is made of). I look for this rub data (printed on the back of the fabric swatch) first before I look at stain resistance. Your salesperson should be knowledgeable of this. If you’re a big guy, if you live in Denim, if you’ve bouncy kids, if you’ve big dogs, if you sleep on your sofa lots, you want a durable fabric that won’t overly pill, fray, wear thin, stretch, etc. Do know the vast majority of fabrics are made overseas and are cross distributed to use by different sofa manufacturers in N. America. Some furniture manufacturers (E.g. Stickley) only have fabric manufactured just for themselves overseas & some manufacturers (like E.g. Stickley) do not put anything on their sofas with low rub resistance. I only use Stickley as an example. There are a number of reputable N. Carolina, Eastern & N. Eastern U.S. furniture makers who do the same. There are some stores who drop-ship sofas, see in store, buy online, in set choose your color fabrics but do research of the manufacturing process & read customer reviews of that particular fabric’s abrasion data before you buy.
I believe the family sofa is the most important piece of furniture in our homes, but $23K USD for a leather sectional is obscene. Even if you’re aiming for 12 yrs from it. My tufted leather hob nail 98” Stickley was $9K CAD. It’s leather couch #2 & will give me 12 yrs. Think of a sectional price x 2 approx. You can do as well for less than $23K. I do know of one Canadian manufacturer (using maple hardwood frames, a good hand tied spring system, top quality cushioning, leather, workmanship and detailing) that sells a good leather couch. I purchased 2 (albeit fabric) sofas of the same model for a condo last year (‘Prentice’ by Brentwood Classics) but saw & did research of their leather.
Stickley authorizes some stores to sell their stuff. It may be similar to pianos & Steinway, their “Stickley Gallery”, but they have to agree to Stickley’s standards & terms to be a dealer. Stickley also has “entry level” lines and they too offer some models of sofas at lower than their usual prices when they are introducing new “lines”. I’m too verbose, but I like furniture, I sew, have learned lots of fabric.

Thanks Blondie. We are definitely not getting the RH leather option. But the stain resistance testing we did are leaning us towards their fabric option.

[Mik]

@George-K said in Today at the furniture store:

Maggie has one spot on my leather chair that's attracted her. This seems to have stopped it. She doesn't even come near it now.

Did not know they had such a thing. Winging its way to me now.

[George K]

@Mik said in Today at the furniture store:

Did not know they had such a thing. Winging its way to me now.

The kids are really good about furniture, other than this chair, which Maggie attacks when it's bed time. Boris doesn't touch any furniture. Otherwise they're good at using scratching posts and occasionally the (cheap) carpets we have.

I applied this tape about 2 weeks ago, and she hasn't touched the chair since. It's double-sticky and some of the "outside" has lost its stickiness. Now that she's not touching it, I'm tempted to remove it.

[Friday]

@Horace

Would faux leather be an option? I don't know furniture like Blondie, but it seems to me faux leather would be more durable than fabric and more reasonably priced than real leather.

[George K]

@Friday said in Today at the furniture store:

faux leather

I've been wondering about that as well.

However, avoid "bonded leather." This stuff, usually found in cheaper office chairs and the like, is nothing more than a slurry of leather hides mixed with cardboard. It doesn't wear, and eventually cracks and peels.

It is shiite.

[Horace]

I’ve seen vegan leather as an option. I wonder if it’s rebranded faux leather. I bet it is. I didn’t even inquire about the price difference because I have a basic assumption that products marketed to appeal to virtuous sensibilities are more expensive.

[Rainman]

Horace, with everything else you're going through, I hope furniture shopping is something you enjoy.

George, is that Cat Training Tape super sticky? Would it work on a flat surface, or would it be cruel as the cat's fur would stick to the tape like one of those mouse traps?

[George K]

@Rainman it’s not super sticky at all. It’s just sticky enough to dissuade the cat from touching it, but not so sticky that it’ll Not release if you touch it. It’s really more annoying than anything else, and it’s easy to remove. I think that after being there for a week or so, the cat just loses interest. I’ll take it off my chair this evening and see what happens.

[Klaus]

@George-K said in Today at the furniture store:

it’s not super sticky at all. It’s just sticky enough to dissuade the cat from touching it, but not so sticky that it’ll Not release if you touch it. It’s really more annoying than anything else, and it’s easy to remove.

That's what she said?

[blondie]

@Friday said in Today at the furniture store:

@Horace

Would faux leather be an option? I don't know furniture like Blondie, but it seems to me faux leather would be more durable than fabric and more reasonably priced than real leather.

Faux leather is great for clean-up with kitchen & dining chairs, for a kid’s room too, but I’d twice about getting it for a recliner or sofa. It doesn’t breathe. You sweat & stick to it. My condo neighbor had to sell off a new LazyBoy sofa & loveseat set for this reason & regrets buying a recliner massage chair. I “stick” to my faux leather kitchen chairs in the summer wearing shorts. But I deal with it for those.

[blondie]

@George-K said in Today at the furniture store:

@Friday said in Today at the furniture store:

faux leather

I've been wondering about that as well.

However, avoid "bonded leather." This stuff, usually found in cheaper office chairs and the like, is nothing more than a slurry of leather hides mixed with cardboard. It doesn't wear, and eventually cracks and peels.

It is shiite.

Truth. Exactly.

[blondie]

@George-K said in Today at the furniture store:

@Rainman it’s not super sticky at all. It’s just sticky enough to dissuade the cat from touching it, but not so sticky that it’ll Not release if you touch it. It’s really more annoying than anything else, and it’s easy to remove. I think that after being there for a week or so, the cat just loses interest. I’ll take it off my chair this evening and see what happens.

I wonder if this would work for 2 family members who roll around & sleep on my nice new couch wearing crusty riveted denim & metal zipped hoodies?

[Rainman]

Blondie, it would work, but it would be smarter to apply the tape to their clothes when they're not looking.

[blondie]

Lol. I could try that @Rainman
Drool is often an issue too with the older one.