Up until we went sofa shopping, I hated Microfiber. My daughter has a faux suede sectional and the fabric is always sticking to my cloths so I was adamant I would not even consider microfiber for our new sofa.

However, what we discovered during our shopping process is that not all Microfiber fabrics are like my daughter's sofa. There are varying types and qualities. It's inexpensive to make and there's a lot of things they can do with it. A lot of the faux leather/suede fabrics are actually quite pretty and easy to sit on; some I didn't even recognize as microfiber. Add in the durability factor and just like leather and fabric upholstery, I think microfiber will always have a place in the furniture world. It is much less expensive for the furniture manufacturers to use, so you know they are going to push it into households as hard as they can. That's why a large portion of the more affordable mid range furniture lines only come in cheap chenille or microfiber.

But here's the deal, I honestly think if you're buying a sofa with the primary concern of whats in style, you're making a big mistake. You should focus more on what will work for your families comfort and lifestyle before worrying about what's in style or is the latest trend.

We just bought a microfiber sectional that's a faux leather. The question about whether it was "in style" or not never came to mind. Both my DH & I really liked the way it looked and how comfy it was to sit in. Now it's due to be delivered tomorrow. Sure I want something that looks nice, but that's subjective and the bottom line is, if my DH & I are happy with our choice, I could honestly care less if no one else likes it.

This is a smaller version of what we ordered and I'm happy to say, the bonus is that it was manufactured in the USA!

Very pretty...I would have thought that ws leather.

lukk, very pretty and I agree with everything you said. Don't decorate for others decorate for yourself. I decorated my great room in anticipation of having company over. Big mistake since a number of people would only show up at my home maybe once a year.

I too have heavy duty microfibre that is as thick like leather. That material will outlast me I'm sure.

lukkirish,
Thank you for taking the time to respond. That sectional is OUTSTANDING!!!! I totally get what your saying and agree. What I meant was do you think it looked like something cheezy from Value City furn, Roomful express etc. (sorry to offend anyone). Obviously THAT DOES NOT. If you dont mind me asking where did you purchase that. We really dont want to spend more than 2 grand on a sofa as we have 5 kids under 7 yrs of age. My husband and I are really torn between sectional or sofa/loveseat. He insists on the corner seat and not having a sharp L shaped sectional due to noone sitting in corner (I keep telling him the kids will be fighting for that very spot). A friend of mine was just at a neighbors and raved to me about her sectional as you pictured. I never considered it before and now it may be the way to go. I wanted a chenille tanish colored set but maybe I am crazy with kiddos. Theres a difference between what you WANT and whats practical right? If you could pull up my other posting with pics in my barren sad living room...what is your opinion about this type of sectional color wise (fitting in). I dont want to have a dark living room and am a little concerned about dark fabric. My other posting under blondie2007 is titled Living room furn placement needs help. sorry i had difficulty posting pics before.
Please dont be offended by my posting. ive been out of the furniture buying loop for so long Im questioning all of my selections. I would LOVE a pic of your SPANKING NEW BEAUTIFUL SECTIONAL if you have time. What a great weekend you will have enjoying your new baby! I have a new kitchen table coming tomorrow so I will enjoy mine. thanks again for anyones postings.

Blondie, Thanks so much, I love this sectional, it is so comfortable. It's called the Laramie by Broyhill. I originally found it at the store linked below. I'm not real trusting when it comes to buying furniture online so I searched for a local store that also carried it instead. We special ordered the L shape which also allowed us to choose our pillow fabric for free too.

Sadly, when it was delivered today (direct from the manufacturer) not only was it in the wrong fabric, but it was damaged too! WHAAAAA!!!! I had to refuse it and now we'll probably have to wait another 4 weeks without a sofa. I'll be happy to posts pics if and when. I'm so bummed...LOL

This sofa is what I call an 8-10 year piece. It's not the best quality but it's not the worst either. I don't want a forever sofa cause my tastes change too much. It comes in some other configurations including the one your DH wants but they cost more. Our configuration required the armless piece and the total including shipping was still less than your budget. Funny your DH says no one will sit in the corner, that's the best spot! LOL

Please don't go the Chenille route. I've made that mistake a couple of times now. It's always so pretty in the store but once you get it home it's a nightmare. It stretches, pills and looks worn fairly quick. After a while it can even split and tear.

I have a new kitchen table and server coming tomorrow too! Trade you pics on those! What's yours look like? We originally got a counter height table with little shelves under it, really cute. I loved it but it's too big for our dining area so the store said they'd allow 1 exchange. Now we've gone with a modern mission style. It's not what I wanted originally but it's a beautiful table and will work well in our space. The server is what hooked me, it's pretty.

This link includes the configuration sheets and everything with the photo of the sofa so you can see what's available. I've learned a lot about the process so if you have questions, let me know. The store we ended up getting ours through is local for us but they also sell online and have been great to work with. If you want that information I can also provide that to you. Can't wait to see your new table! - Lukki

Here is a link that might be useful: laramie sectional.

Molly, didn't see you posted, thanks!

Blonde, forgot to add, I knew what you meant and that you weren't trying to offend.

Hi Lukkirish,
I just wanted to let you know Im back to square one - or as you would say WAAAAAAAA! ahhaha. We received our kitchen/dining table to day and back it went. Actually WE had to take it back but thats another story. We just were not happy with the quality of the table AND the wood tone was totally different than in the store. Total brown wood top and in store looked like it had cherry in it which would match tone of kitchen more. Needless to say after some pathetic tears were shed I picked myself up and will be back to square one in that dept. I loved the chairs. They were a french country vanilla distressed chair with twisted wood back and dark seat. Thats the only part that made me sad...to give up the chairs. Im really searching for a set with french country antique white chairs and more of a cherryish/slight brown tone is ok top that is 40-42# in with and long enough to seat 8. Oh well. I was thinking of you today and hoping you enjoyed dinner at your new beauty and it worked out well. I keep looking at the website you connected me to and WOW the prices are amazing with free shipping. Maybe I will have to find something at a local store and price match. I, like you, refuse to buy without sitting in it first. Gosh I hope I make a darn decision soon. My hubbie said he will use the money to build a shed if I dont YIKES !!! toodles.

Hi Blonde, I was thinking about you yesterday too! I imagined us both getting our deliveries at the same time. I'm so sorry it didn't work out. I can obviously relate to the disappointment, but you are wise to stick to your guns.

I love french country style, there are so many choices out there, I'm sure you'll find something that works. Buying sofa's online is not wise, but are you only looking locally for the table too or are you buying that online?

Truth be told, we've been dealing with furniture issues since October of last year. It all started when we bought a table/chairs set that we both fell in love with at Sam's Club. Never thought I'd buy furniture from there, but it was gorgeous and affordable especially since it was a spur of the moment thing.

Six months later, and now we're on our 3rd table set & what will be our 3rd sofa swap.

The quality of the table & chairs from Sam's was hideous & after a couple of months, we returned it. Then we found a sofa set, table & chairs set and server that we really liked at a local furniture store. Like your set, the table had a french flair to it, but it was counter height and swallowed up our room. The server was damaged and the sofas were so uncomfortable, we decided a sectional is what we were used to and wanted again. The store didn't carry the sectional we've decided on and charged us a hefty restocking fee for the return of the original sofa set. To avoid an additional restocking fee on the table/chairs/server we decided to just choose something different from their inventory which unfortunately very limited. DH said no to a round pedestal so that limited my options even more. :c( I ended up going a completely different direction, but am pretty happy with it. The only problem is, the table top is chipped and they are going to stop by with a new one sometime next week. grrrr

As far as the sofa goes, the set we just returned got picked up yesterday and the sectional delivery was refused Friday which means we now have nothing to sit on except a recliner and my DH's desk chair. Talk about an empty slate. LOL Oh well, at this point I'm just hoping it won't take another 8 weeks to get the 3rd and hopefully final sectional.

Here's the table & chairs, what do you think? Pretty different from Country French huh? I've always liked being a little different and this sort of keeps me in that direction.

Server

OMG is all I can say. You could write a darn book about your furniture sagas. My goodness! My hubbie and I built our house. We have a joke that we always say, 3rd times a charm. He likes to embarrass me and tell everyone that I returned everything we put in the house at least twice aahahahah. Sad but true. We women I guess really know what we want - or NOT! Your table looks great. You couldnt ask for a more perfect match with your wood flooring. the tone is perfect. I really like the server that accompanies it. As you can relate, if the TOP of your table was an ugly brown it would not flow in the room at all= hence why I had to return my beloved table yesterday. I really hope I can find one that I like as much look wise. We are in Pgh, PA looking at local Levin stores and such but not much too choose from Im afraid. Im getting desperate. Where do you live and if you have any comments on stores in our area, let me know. I wasted $50 delivery fee yesterday as we had to return it. At least if we had bought a bed or something we could justify it was worth it. At least we werent charged a restocking fee. Do you think getting black chairs is a HUGE mistake with young kiddos. I imagine all greasy finger marks on it and a nightmare that shows all oily fingers (our dark cabinets do). My husband thinks it will hide dirt more but I think it is like a mirror that you can see oils. Let me know. Sounds like you are quite the furniture shopper haahah. I still cant make up my mind between sectional and sofa/loveseat. I will try to post a pic of my great room so you can advise me what you think. Wish me luck.

Ok, after much trying I just cant get this photo import thing done. Ive done it before, have the directions written down etc. but still not working. I have album saved in snapfish and shutterfly and dont want the world to view all my albums just my liv rm pics to no avail. I give up. Any quick tips Im missing send my way. I know its so easy as Ive managed before but need a refresher. sorry. Help

You are so right about the chenille fabric on this couch! I made the mistake of buying it because I loved the way it looked and it feels very soft. However, it absolutely is not durable at all. I have two small dogs whose nails have never damaged any furniture before, but if they so much as jump on the couch, their nails catch the fragile chenile and it rips. I bought it for my family room but had to move it to the living room or I imagine it would be a shredded mess within a year. But its not just the dogs...anything with an edge can very easily catch and pull the chenille. Only good thing about this, is that it looks great in my living room!

I do love the couch itself tho. It is very comfortable and seems sturdy.

Blonde,

I think you and I must be furniture sisters LOL I can't imagine building a house, how wonderful! That's a lot of work so my hat is off to both of you! We bought our home as a foreclosure in need of some loving and loving is what it's gotten. :c) With the exception of our master bath remodel, we've done all the work ourselves; including the installation of our floors. After all we've put into it I wish I could say it's our forever house, but I don't really think so. That's another story though. LOL

Thanks so much for your feedback on the table/chairs/server. I was wondering if it worked with the cabinets and flooring, so your opinion is really appreciated. I'm pretty happy with it. Yes, the furniture saga continues but I'm sure it will work out, things always do, don't they? And yes, 3rd time is the charm. Now I have to find curtain fabric for that big window next to the new table. Always projects. LOL

Don't feel too bad about the furniture options in your area, we're in a similar boat it just takes some tenacity to stick with it until you find what you want. We live in Michigan about an hour or so north of Detroit. Furniture options here are barren at best. As a matter of fact, we had to drive over 50 miles away just to see the couch we got. I love to research though and would be happy to help you to find out what other options are available in your area.

Sorry you're having problems with the upload. Tinypic.com allows you to upload pics to for the HTML code without an account. Just go to tinypic.com, upload the pic, change "RESIZE" to Message Board (640x480), hit upload now, it will make you type some cryptic words to keep spammers out, then it will upload the photo. Copy the HTML code and place it in the Message window of your Forum message. Hit preview and your photos will be there. :c)

50.00 is cheap delivery considering fuel prices. The store we bought the table at has now charged us 79.00 x2 plus that freaking restock fee for the sofa's which was 350.00. That's over 500.00 in fees. Ouch. I could have bought tv stand with that! I've never paid a restocking fee before in my life and can promise you I never will again. I think it's ridiculous.

As far as black goes, the only experience I've had with black is that I recently painted the cabinet in our spare bathroom black and love it. It is sort of a dust magnet though. I love both black and white painted furniture and don't think you can go wrong with either. My last kitchen table was white and I had for 20 years; it showed dirt that I don't think the black would show, however black would show any paint chipping that I don't believe the white would show as badly. Finger prints are another animal however and I can't say, you may want to post a thread and see what kind of response you get. One thing I do wonder about is if the black would have a stronger presence in a room as opposed to the white, I know it does in our bathroom. Do you know what I mean? How big is your space? Would the black swallow it up?

Is this what your other table looked like?

I love those chairs. They carry them at Pottery Barn Outlet which luckily is 50 miles north of us, they are very french country. Why is everything 50 miles away? LOL

Here is a link that might be useful: link to table & chairs in photo