Buying a couch can be a major investment, and therefore worthy of careful consideration. It can also involve a number of subjective factors, such as comfort and style. This is why we’d love to hear about your experiences buying couches, when you have anything you love about your couch or any regrets.
A couple of tips for buying a couch to keep in mind:
Don’t forget to measure the couch for the room AND getting into the house/building. You wouldn’t want to have to return the new item because you can’t get it inside.
Material and temperature - it might look and feel great in the store, but if your couch is going to be in the sun a lot, make sure you pick the right material that will increase your comfort
If you’re considering paying extra for stain proofing, you might be able to save by buying some cans of stain remover and performing this task yourself. Try to avoid products using PFAS.
I bought a couch from Nick Scali {edit: I wrote Harvey Norman before, which is quite wrong, total brain failure} that wasn’t the same as the one in the showroom. The details are in the thread about NS
service. The root cause of the problem is that the factory where they are made on demand overseas (there are only samples in Oz) has lousy quality control, made much worse by NS who know this and don’t care. It was replaced (eventually after much argument) at their expense.
The lesson to be learned is, what you see is not necessarily what you get unless the maker is solid and stands by their product. Under consumer law the product sold must be the same as the sample provided but do you want to have to argue and wait months for a replacement? Until this happened I never considered the possibility that a large product, such as a couch made on a production line, could vary substantially in structure. Having to wait months for delivery - twice - was the icing on the cake.
The first couch I ever bought was one with a fold-up-and-out bed mechanism. That part of the couch was made of steel and very good quality. The fabric covering was nice and sturdy and could take a lot of wear and tear.
Unfortunately, the frame of the couch was timber. The timber looked like the cheapest of offcuts poorly attached to one another. The couch collapsed when two separate segments of the frame broke.
I learnt my lesson, and the couches I have purchased since have been inspected under-the-hood, so to speak.
We managed 25 years out of our first average priced couch, although by 15 years the salmon pink had dated, the stitching on the patchwork leather was failing and the elastic base strapping was starting to fail. The solid timber frame was still great at the end.
For the back room, 2 seater fabric and basic foam padded with fold out bed purchased a few years later survived 20 years of kids, occasional guests and 6 removals. It was not perfect with a timber back brace covered by the fabric failing after 12 months at a wood knot. Not good. The retailer had it collected and taken for repair under warranty. A 300km pick up as we lived out of town. I can’t be sure after all these years who the retailer was. Service! The product was Aussie made and the fold out bed frame solid with little flex in use.
Our current 3 seater fabric covered dates from 1997. Our only real complaint might be the fabric on the arms of one of the matching single seaters had worn through after a lifetime of use by a growing family of boys, now adults. There is a brand name (premium price) on a tag somewhere, and an Aussie made claim. The retailer Harvey Norman.
Possibly some good fortune, our experience with other items of furniture including bar stools, office chairs and furniture the products are less enduring. Another in the family on a budget purchased a modern styled foam padded lounge in leather. The under cover for the base has disintegrated after 5 years and the lounge far from comfortable without many cushions and a foot rest. At least it was light enough and compact to enable access up the twisting stairs of the townhouse.
We bought a ‘leather’ lounge suite about 18 years ago from a furniture store whose name escapes me. It departed years ago, as did flakes of ‘leather’ after 5 years or so. We got fed up with cleaning up the debris from the ‘leather’ 3-seater couch and 2 armchairs and eventually covered them with cheap elasticated covers. I can’t recall if the lounge suite came from the store or warehouse. The good news is that they are still comfortable.
We bought a beautiful (and expensive by our standards) couch that we had been eyeing off for a while. We first saw/tested it in the UK while living there, but it was too big for our small living room. After relocating to Melbourne we were delighted to see the same couch in a furniture store here, and having tested it briefly in store we bought it for our new larger living room.
It looks lovely, but sitting on it for any length of time is not comfortable for me - the seat depth is too long for my legs and I feel like a 3 year old sitting on a grown-up’s sofa! We have tried numerous combinations of cushions including custom upholstery to reduce the seat depth but it still isn’t very comfortable for me (my taller partner is fine with it).
Fortunately it’s one of two sofas in our living room and we use the other (more comfortable) one most often - the bigger one is just an expensive ‘guest’ couch.
The lesson learned was make sure you sit in it in store for more than a few minutes to gauge comfort and support.
We bought two couches from Natuzzi - they weren’t leather but they were cloth. As soon as they came home we had problems with them. They were super uncomfortable - not like the ones in the showroom. They came and got them and put more padding in. They were still super uncomfortable so they did it again and it fixed that problem. Then one of the middle legs broke on a straight couch. They came and got the couch and fixed it. It broke again. They fixed it again. It broke again and they came and fixed it. It’s still broken and I’m not bothering again. I thought Natuzzi was a reasonably luxury brand and they would be quality but alas, no.
An additional recommentation for checking is to measure the doorways the sofa is to go through, and also any stairsways, lifts, halls, and bends the sofa needs to traverse.
Finally, when buying, consider who will be moving it. Sometimes the couriers are good, sometimes they are atrocious. When good, it’s great, but when bad - oh my, damaged sofa, damaged walls, scraped paint, etc.
We are on our 3rd lounge suite. The first was the cheap pine and cushion style. 2 singles and a double.
The next was after children came along and we needed to expand. It was an upholstered style with 2 recliners and a 3 seater. It saw years of use but when we decided to move house and towns we decided it was time to leave it behind.
We lived in our current house for about 2 years with a couple of $20 tv chairs we bought that had likely seen many past lives before we found our current suite. We looked at many, many stores in Brisbane and had settled on a lovely piece of furniture at a Nick Scali store… only the delivery didn’t go as far as we lived. Apparently 3 hours is an hour too far. Fortunately we’d looked at some other options. We now have 2 La-z-boy recliners and a 2 seater couch (with recliners) in lovely black leather. Its about 5 years old now. My spouse and I are not tall so the depth of the seat was an important factor. We had tested many Lazboy chairs to get the right model and had our local furniture store order it in and deliver it for us.
We also have a very comfortable Australian made sofa bed with all metal mechanism and bed frame. Again putchased at local furniture store. Very happy with it.
We bought a Natuzzi leather set consisting of a love seat, chair, and hassock circa 1992. Other than minor fading that we had recoloured the leather and frame remain in excellent condition with only an annual DIY clean and preservative. They certainly were ‘high end quality’ back then but 30 years is a long time and things change so recent reviews from more recent purchases, such as yours, are the ones that matter.
We’ve been through 4 lounge suites in our 49 year marriage. Our first was an expensive Danish Deluxe. The frame and cushioning remained in tact for many years but the fabric was worn through which was no surprise after 2 kids and a dog. The second was a light coloured leather, I don’t remember where from. This one served us well until I got sick of trying to keep it clean and the cushions had started to sag. The third one was an expensive recliner from Demir. What an absolute disaster that was, the leather cracked and peeled just out of warranty. Our current one is from Nick Scali, it cost much the same as the one from Demir. We had a few minor problems with it at first which were fixed in a timely manner. The electrics on one of the recliners failed which cost us nearly $ 500 to have fixed. Then the electrics on another recliner failed which my husband fixed for nothing. The lounge we sit on all the time has sagged some what. The leather is in pristine condition even though it rarely gets cleaned and conditioned. This lounge is a very practical charcoal colour and cops a caning from ourselves, grandchildren and dogs.
Purchased leather sofa from Plush online during the pandemic. Took 10 weeks to arrive from overseas, (although their adverts lead you to believe their furniture is made here in Australia) and had several faults. Had a battle royal with Plush to return it and get a refund. Then I visited a Berkowitz showroom in Sydney and purchased a couch I saw and sat on there, but when it was delivered, I noticed it was different to the one on display and not as comfortable. I just couldn’t go through more hassels to complain or return it so now I suffer from ‘buyer’s remorse’.
I’ve never bought a lounge suite, always had hand-me-downs, and then passed them on to someone else.
I’ve looked many times and tried them. I find that maybe 1 in 100 is comfortable for me–the seat depth is always too large. I’m slightly above average height for a woman, so I don’t know who these lounges are made for?!
When visiting I always have to use 2+ cushions so my feet can reach the floor and I’m not slouching.
I also find most modern lounges way too hot due to the foam inserts.
Two bad experiences here. One was my fault, the second is not.
The first couch was selected in a great big barn of a place where I could choose fabric, and design the look (arm rest styles, backrest profile). The thing arrived and took hours to get into my teeny house. I had assumed there were standard sizes. I know, rookie mistake. After the front door and lounge room doors plus architraves were removed we got it into the lounge room. When I replaced it, I had a guy with a chainsaw take it to bits.
Second was perfectly comfy in the store, but when mine was delivered, I found that the backrest cushions are so deep it feels like it is trying to push you off. Probably minor issue in the scheme of things, but there you go.
I remember working in a furniture wholesale business nearly 6 years ago and price didn’t matter because when looking at the frames most were cheap chipboard not solid pine for example or steel frame. Majority were china made. They were selling thousands per set im glad i never purchased anything. I guess it is hard to tell on quality. I definitely would not buy from larger companies like Nick scarlie or King. The couch set i purchase was locally made as i didn’t want a mass produced seem sid enough. Getting them out of my apartment i would not look forward to as, the, size is large maybe my regret now. Im not sure what choice thinks about best place to buy couches
We bought a Moran modular couch 28 years ago…and we still have it in the spare room and everyone still loves it. It has washable covers and I don’t think I would ever get rid of it. Even the original foam is still good. The kids love it and so many people end up sleeping on it…they seem to prefer it over the bed?? I would love new covers for it, but it’s just a shame that would cost $2000-$3000.
A couple of times…
Not all leather is leather as we know it. Learnt about bonded leather the hard way - peeling! Next time checked it wasn’t bonded leather but found it was still not quite the real deal as it began to discolour in less than 12 months - dealer came and repaired said it was caused by perspiration and then the couch began to lose support.
Next leather couch - quality checked and verified, guarantee for support. Still going strong!
We too learnt about bonded leather the hard way. So disappointing as the two piece sofa was perfect in every other way and it was sold to us from Freedom as ‘leather’. Now we buy pre-loved.
I’ve got an IKEA Beddinge sofa bed bought 2008 and I’m very happy with it. It’s only been used as a bed on rare occasions but I’m told it makes a good bed. It’s now on its second loose cover, bought from ComfortWorks who offer a range of 60+ materials, so if at some point the existing cover wears out or I need a new look, there’s no reason to start again.
