Buying a Couch

Also consider Room and Board and they do have a great outlet in Golden Valley in addition to their regular store in Edina.

I would go with Room and Board. They are expensive, although not outrageous, and the quality is very high. Our microfiber couches from R&B are in great shape 7 years later. I wouldn't go with Hom or Slumberland; quality will not be as high.

We have purchased many a great piece of furniture from HOM. Wide variety with reasonable prices. With PB and Crate & Barrel, you are paying for name brand.

I don't know of any stores in your area, just wanted to suggest you consider leather, I bought a housefull of leather furtinure and it's fantastic. Every little spill rolls right off, it never stains and three years old now it's wearing beautifully, like your favorite old leather jacket. To us with three kids and two golden retrievers it was well worth the price! Good luck!

I am not familiar with Hom Furniture and Slumberland, but I will say in my excitement, I purchased a couch for my new house before I moved into it. Well, no where in the hunt for a new house did it ever occur to me to measure the couch and the front room. I have an oversized couch in my front room now which makes the room look a bit odd.

Further, most couches are only rated to last 5 years, since you mention living in the house for a long time.

My opinion is a three cushion couch lasts longer and holds its shape better. A patterned couch hides the dirt, and a non sleeper is the most comfortable. As well, your couch will hold its shape longer if no one sleeps on it.

When I lived alone, I never allowed anyone to sleep on my couch and it lasted forever, as well I still have chairs that are nearly 20 years old. They held their shape and firmness except one of them my BIL used to plop into it and it weakened the springs. I politely brought it to his attention and he started sitting someplace else and when he did sit in it he made an effort to bend his knees and lower himself into the chair the way the rest of us do.

http://www.ehow.com/how_###-###-####_buy-quality-couch.html

We got our first sofa and love seat set from JCPenney about 5 1/2 years ago And besides being dirty from our dog and our 18 month old daughter, they are in great shape. We paid around $800 for the set. Also, we got a set from the Room Store for around $1100 about 2 years ago, and they look brand new. Both sets we use everyday.

We bought a couch three years ago and loved it...for three days. It was our first try with microfiber. And it was awful!! We wanted to get rid of it almost immediately. I swore off microfiber forever and insisted we'd only get upholstery. We put up with the couch for a year and then started looking. We started writing down designer names and models. A simple google search got us all kinds of reviews. I was a little surprised. Of course you can run in to a bad review on anything, but it really helped us sort through what we were considering (the couch we bought had awful, horrible reviews). We bought the new couch and it's microsuede (even after swearing never again...this one got great reviews) and we love it!!! It acts just like I thought microfiber should. It looks great and it's comfortable.I will never shop for furniture again without reading some reviews.

wherever you decide to get a couch from make sure you get the protection plan (scotchgaurding or whatever) it is worth the extra $$. For Christmas last year my in laws bought us new couches (we got to pick them) and we were very excited. We ended up getting microfiber dark brown couch and loveseat from American Signature. They don't do scotchgaurding, but they put their own thing on them and gaurentee the couches for 7 years (2 years longer than most other places) if these couches ever get stained or torn for any reason they will be replaced for no charge to us at all, if they can't fix them. We have a 19 month old and a pomerian dog, and the couches still look brand new. If anything spills on them we take a dry paper towel, push it on, and the spot is gone instantly.

Good luck!!

Keep in mind that you get what you pay for.

That said..........we have a leather set we purchased from Dillards (Natuzzi I believe) that has been a fantastic set for a living area. We have a second Natuzzi sofa in the game room.

For our formal living area, we went higher grade with Leather Sofa Company and they make the pieces per your specifications. We are happy with all our purchases.

Shop well, know what you are looking for before you shop and you can find something you like. Always remember.... you get what you pay for.. go cheap...get cheap

If you have time & the ability to pick up the furniture, you should seriously consider looking on Craigslist. I bought a huge sofa sectional for 1/3 the price & it was almost brandnew (tags still on) & we love it! The seller bought the sofa at HOM & even gave us the cleaning supplies. In fact, he showed us his receipt, proving it was only a year old. A lot of people have great furniture they need to sell b/c either they're moving or remodeling a room & the current furniture no longer will work for the space.

Since you'll have an opportunity to see it in person, you'll be able to tell if it's something in good condition & what you were hoping for. If it has stains, smells or is in an otherwise unkept home, obviously you might want to look elsewhere. Maybe we lucked out since this sofa was in a finished basement & the older couple (no kids, no pets) were looking to downsize into a condo. It can't hurt to look & you might get an idea of what certain materials will look like after a couple years of wear & tear. Just an option!

Try the Marshall Fields Home Store in Roseville (Hamline, between B and B2). I think if you comparison shop you'll find the prices aren't too bad and the quality is generally very good, and you won't be paying the markup for the Pottery Barn brand name.

We currently have 3 sofas, 2 were purchased at Costco and 1 from a local furniture store.
I agree with the poster who said no way to microfiber. My parents have a microfiber set and I hate it, I would never buy it myself. One of the sofas from Costco is leather, the other upholstered, and the third, from the local store, is an upholstered sectional made by England. The leather is really easy to keep clean, but I'm not wild about how cold it feels in the winter and how bare skin can stick to it in the warmer months. It looks great though.
The sectional (England) has held up really well, and I think that the construction is excellent. We have 3 German Shepherds who sleep on the furniture, and we entertain a lot, so our sofas get a lot of use. We've had the sectional 7 years and it's still in very good shape, no sagging or anything like that.
I would start at your local stores and see what they have. Pay attention to construction, for example, more frequent support beams in the sofa means less chance of drooping or sagging down the road.
I love Crate & Barrel's furniture, it is high quality, but you definitely pay for it.