Our current couch was a hand-me-down from my grandparents, and after 10 years of us owning it, it has about had it! I'm considering buying a new couch in the not so distant future. My aunt had a beautiful leather couch, and I loved it, so I'd be interested in buying one. But, I do have a 2 year old son.
Leather sofas and 2 year olds are a veeeery bad combination.
Get a sofa with cloth upholstery that is very patterned and rugged. Or vinyl if you don't mind sticking to it in the summer.
After the child moves out of the house and before you have grandchildren is the time for leather.
Suggest you pop into a furniture store and check out all the lovely patterns they have.
Lazy-Boy is where we got our sofa set. You select the style of furniture and the cloth and it's delivered in 6 weeks. This way you have a lot of options.
I disagreee wth the post that it's a bad idea. I have a five year old and also 2 indoor dogs (both since they were puppies). I wouldn't have anything other than a leather sofa. As long as you can take care of it, i.e. wiping it down if there are any spills on it, cleaning it with leather cleaner/preserver once in a while, it will last for YEARS.Leather is the only thing that will withstand my very lively dogs and daughter. Cloth would have ripped and stained by now. I would highly recommend leather!
I would definately clean it and preserve it more often. We have two kids and two dogs and had to get rid of our leather couch. It was too stained and too expensive to have it re-taned.
As long as you take care of it, it will last. Couches with fabric tend to rip ~ especially with dogs' sharp claws and kids' shoes.
We have three children (the oldest 5) and have had our leather couches since the first was born. We love them and would definately recommend them to you. They are expensive. However they do withstand alot! They do require a little extra maintenance but they are worth it. Spills are easily wiped up and with spit-up etc.. they don't retain the smell after the clean up like material covered couches.
