'F' for Furniture

Tufted Leather Sofas

Taxes pretty much wiped out our savings for a while. (Oh, wasn’t I clueless, wanting a new rug or to fix up the outside of the house?) Yeah, we need to recover a bit financially before any major purchases, but that doesn’t stop me from keeping a running wish list in my head.

Leather sofas, especially of the tufted variety, have been on my radar for a while. I liked this one a couple of years ago, and you all left some useful comments about the practicality of leather for families with kids and pets. (It’s a go.) Then of course, there was the eighth edition of Making it Yours, featuring a green leather chesterfield. I don’t think a chesterfield is quite my style (although I do appreciate them), but I am finding myself drawn to leather.

Victoria Smith's Living Room (SF Girl by Bay)

Victoria has a beautiful leather sofa from DwellStudio (above, featured on The Everygirl).

Genifer Goodman-Sohr's Living Rooms

Genifer Goodman-Sohr (image source) had one black leather sofa in her SF apartment. It belonged to her boyfriend/husband, as I recall (I have the old Budget Living magazine around here somewhere). She then picked up a matching one for her Nashville home (featured in Better Homes & Gardens).

Maxwell Leather Sofa from Jayson Home and Garden

I know I can’t run right out and buy a new couch, but I’m filing the idea away for when it’s time. I put together a list of my dozen favorites, but it’s the one above from Jayson Home that I’ve really got my eye on right now. So good.

Someday, or something similar, perhaps.

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  • a lovely being
    April 17, 2013 at 2:40 pm

    ooh, yes. the tufted leather sofa. my favorite was always tori mellott’s… of course it’s custom, but someday I want one just like it! x
    http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/06/garden/06custom.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

    • Making it Lovely
      April 17, 2013 at 11:17 pm

      I loved that whole article — thanks.

  • Peaches
    April 17, 2013 at 3:07 pm

    1. Taxes blow. 2. I’m with you…Visions of caramel colored leather chesterfields have been dancing in my head for years. 3. Gen has a blog now. Man she has great style! http://gensfavorite.blogspot.com/

    • Making it Lovely
      April 17, 2013 at 11:18 pm

      YAY on the blog news! Instant ‘subscribe.’

  • Jennifer
    April 17, 2013 at 4:32 pm

    Us too, with the taxes. Ugh.

    I LOVE the look of the tufted leather sofa, but I have heard form others that, while they look pretty, they are really uncomfortable. Any experience with this? I have not ever sat on one. Maybe I need to go hang out at Restoration Hardware…they won’t mind…..right? =)

    • Making it Lovely
      April 17, 2013 at 11:21 pm

      I’ve always found them to be great. It depends on the leather though — there’s a big difference between the cheaper grade (stiff, often looks cheap), and soft, high-quality leather.

  • Laura M.
    April 17, 2013 at 4:33 pm

    I loved that Making it Yours! I love your blog and am a long-time reader but first-time commenter. If you are thinking about the next in the series, can I suggest as (selfishly-motivated) inspiration a Making it Yours with a big red oriental rug? I recently inherited such a hand-me-down rug from my parents. It’s a really nice lovely rug and it was really generous of them, especially since I’m a grad student and could never afford something that nice on my own. However, its a bit more traditional than my usual style – I’m definitely into more modern style with clean straight lines and funky pops of color. I really love the rug itself and hope it will last a long time but I’d love some ideas on how to use it without ending up with an entirely traditional space.

  • Jamie Howe
    April 17, 2013 at 6:33 pm

    I find your honesty pretty refreshing on the $$$ matters. I’m not into keeping up with the Jones’ but I often find myself wondering how the heck does everybody else do it???? I always say I have champagne taste on a high life budget. Glad I’m not the only dreamer!

    • Making it Lovely
      April 17, 2013 at 11:24 pm

      2+ years on the wish list here, and counting.

  • Kristi A
    April 17, 2013 at 7:47 pm

    We used to have a tufted leather sofa. It looked good from a distance, but NEVER AGAIN with my kids and pets! I love leather and agree that it’s durable. But the tufting. Oh, let me tell you how hard it was to try and clean encrusted food (kids!) and sticky pet hair (dogs!) out from under all those dang buttons. It was truly disgusting! So now we have 2 leather sofas with nary a tuft. Sooo much better. Just something to consider.

    • Making it Lovely
      April 17, 2013 at 11:25 pm

      Ick. We have had some chairs with tufting and while they haven’t been horrible, I know what you’re talking about.

  • Sara
    April 17, 2013 at 8:05 pm

    My parents had a leather sofa when I was growing up (not tufted though)…they still have it some 20 odd years later and it has aged so well. Now their grandkids jump on it!

  • Amy
    April 17, 2013 at 8:08 pm

    In January we bought a new couch for our living room. I knew we wanted leather (it really is so great with kids), but it was hard because I wanted stylish and my husband wanted comfort (think recliners).
    Once I saw the tufted couch in Jane’s house tour (http://www.designmom.com/2012/12/living-with-kids-jane-rhodes/), I knew I wanted tufted. We compromised on this one, and we’re very happy (good price too!): http://www.jordans.com/Sofas/L00152000.aspx

  • Julie
    April 17, 2013 at 8:18 pm

    Ah, that SF apt! That’s one of the budget living articles I clipped for my “interiors” file. I swooned over that apartment.
    I’m not sure I could do a leather sofa…don’t they feel cold and slippery? Of course, if that means they clean up easily, I’d take it. I mean, I refuse to have carpeting in my home (just hardwood and area rugs) because of difficult clean up issues, so maybe having my upholstered furniture is just as difficult as wall-to-wall..

    • Making it Lovely
      April 17, 2013 at 11:30 pm

      Sometimes they do, sometimes not. It depends on the grade of leather, I think (though I suppose they do feel cool compared to fabric).

    • Rachael
      April 18, 2013 at 8:23 am

      Julie, my parents have a leather sofa and it is cool when you first sit on it, but if you lay on it long enough it can “heat up” with your body heat. It’s also awesome with dog hair (and people hair for that matter) as the surface isn’t sticky. But they aren’t slippery…

  • doctorangelface
    April 17, 2013 at 10:25 pm

    I’m happy to know I’m not the only one who was obsessed with the various incarnations of genifer goodman’s residences over the years – ha! :-)

    • Making it Lovely
      April 17, 2013 at 11:30 pm

      She’s SO GOOD. I love her style.

  • Amanda Joy
    April 18, 2013 at 8:18 am

    Agh I was sitting on the one from Restoration Hardware a few weeks ago…. oh, tufted leather you are dreamy. And my sympathies on the taxes, that self employment was a kick in the pants to me as well. So discouraging. :/

  • Catherine
    April 18, 2013 at 9:30 am

    The most beautiful tufted leather sofa I’ve ever seen is in my gynecologist’s waiting room, of all places. I need to take a picture of it the next time I’m there, which, thankfully, is not often. :)

  • Ashley
    April 18, 2013 at 10:24 am

    Aaaaaah I would love to replace our forest green cord couch with a tufted leather piece. We’re moving to a new house with significantly larger mortgage payments so a couch upgrade really isn’t on the agenda for awhile, haha.

  • jbhat
    April 18, 2013 at 11:12 am

    Budget Living! Gosh, I LOVED that magazine! Long live Sarah Gray Miller. Nice to see a mention of that old favorite. I miss it!

    jbhat

  • Christina W.
    April 19, 2013 at 1:42 am

    I really loved that R&B couch you posted about forever ago. Love loved it. It was on sale then and now it’s long gone from the site (I just checked) but have you seen their new leather couches? They uniformly look cheap and tacky, which is something I never expected to say about R&B. Ugh all the leather is shiny and the proportions are all wrong and the arms are too boxy ugh ugh ugh. For the life of me I can’t figure out who thought it would be a good idea to let that beauty go in favor of Bland from Blandtown. Boringville, population: these couches. Like if someone covered them in gross 90s cornflower blue upholstery with random multicolored spirals everywhere, it wouldn’t be out of place.

    PS – I miss Budget Living! :(

  • Martin Tiles
    April 19, 2013 at 4:30 am

    Beautiful leather sofa we have seen so far, I think it would really fit into my apartment. Thanks for sharing this.

  • Naomi
    April 22, 2013 at 12:08 am

    if that Jayson couch is the same as the couch that Schoohouse Electric sells, it’s a totally upright, not for lounging on couch, fyi. I was smitten, and went to the Portland store to check it out and crossed it off my list. It’s also a small loveseat.

    http://www.schoolhouseelectric.com/home-and-office/furniture/equestrian-loveseat.html

  • Kathleen
    April 22, 2013 at 7:05 pm

    Have you seen the leather couch in the basement at Divine Consign? So gorgeous! It’s one of the leftover pieces from the Merchandise Mart. It would not fit in my house because it is really long, and thank god for that, because otherwise I would bankrupt myself trying to buy it.

    • Making it Lovely
      April 22, 2013 at 7:55 pm

      I’ll have to go and check it out! If it’s long, I probably can’t fit it in my house either (which is fine for my pocketbook).

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  • Rebecca
    April 25, 2013 at 12:38 pm

    I was checking out that JCP Darrin a couple of weeks ago online and used their “find the in-store display” widget. There doesn’t seem to be anywhere you can go to sit on the darn thing. FYI, the JCP website now lists it for
    $2,775. I am less likely to take a chance on it. Dang.

    • Making it Lovely
      April 25, 2013 at 12:48 pm

      I don’t remember what the price was exactly, but wasn’t it around $1800? That’s quite a leap!

    • Liz
      April 12, 2014 at 4:31 pm

      I just bought the Darrin at JCP today, and was able to sit on it in person and it was “whoa” comfy. JCP was having a sale, 40% off, plus 10% off that, and free delivery. So total it was $1900 with free delivery. I feel like that’s a great deal for a quality tufted couch! We’ve been looking for years.

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