This is for your family room and you've got kids? I don't think either choice is practical, but that's me. If this is a piece that will be used daily and has the chance of having food/drink/possible bodily fluids spilled on it, don't go with anything delicate. Velvet is notoriously hard to clean properly...and don't even go there with light colored linen.

I'm with Pesky on this. Go with chenille if you want tough, or microfiber if you don't want slipcovers. Or leather. I'd slipcover with a no-iron fabric like microfiber. Easy peasy for you. Go out in the back yard and get a cup of dirt. Toss in a handful of cat hair and two handfuls of dog hair. Stir in 1/4 cup lint from your dryer. Take that to the store and match it. You'll be a happy mom!

I have two matching sofa from Mithchell-Gold that I purchased from Crate and Barrel three years ago. They have natural/flax colored linen slipcovers. I couldn't be happier. They really look as good as when we got them. I have two kids and a chocolate lab. I just pull them off and throw them in the wash every now and then. So easy!
Highly recommend the linen!

Microfiber or leather would be my choice too. Of the two you are considering, I would go with the slipcover for sure. Brown velvet would be trashed fairly quickly in my house. Our last light colored leather sofa was the best. We now have chocolate brown leather and it shows way more than the light one ever did.

I'm with greenotter - go for the linen. I did some research before ordering our chairs and linen got pretty good reviews on wear.

Our sofa was chenille and I agree that chenille and microfibre wear like crazy, but I have a feeling that if you are considering linen and velvet, you may not be happy with that look. When I slipcovered my sofa I was also advised to skip the cotton and get microfibre or other manmade fabric, but while I agree those fabrics look great, it is a very different style from a natural fabric like linen or velvet. I think the linen would be fine with kids and would look beautiful. I haven't had personal experience with velvets, but it's my experience with kids that the dirt is even worse on dark than light upholstery.

Would love to see it when you choose.

Thanks everyone for your help. I think we will try the beige linen slipcovers. At least those can be laundered.
Hopefully I won't regret it. I can always get new slipcovers in chenille or microfibre if I regret the decision.

I have two light (cream) colored linen blend sofas in my living room and a chocolate brown leather sofa in the family room. Hands down, the dark leather wears the best and cleans the easiest. It holds up to my Tibetan Spaniel's long hair and her little claws too. It holds up to teens whose shoes are somehow magically attached to their feet, so they all end up on the sofa! It holds up to the rivets on their jeans and to their clumsy spills, too. Heck, it holds up to MY clumsy spills! Our linen sofas do just fine out in the living room, but that's because our doberman isn't allowed out there, the kids aren't allowed to eat on them or put their shoes up on them. If I were ever going to replace the family room leather sofa with a fabric, it would be a darkish chenille in a small print or pattern to hide spots, etc.