Lifespans of sofas in our house are not very long. My husband is a big guy and wallows on them whenever he is home. He never sits on it but lays on it for hours at a time. Two years was our max usually but then we never bought really expensive ones. We did get about 4 years from a flex steel but it was very tired looking by the time we replaced it. We bought a very expensive leather sofa on a deep mark down and it lasted 11 years -- I will say that probably the last 3 or 4 it should have been replaced for one arm was wiggly and we had to prop it up on books to keep it level. We bought a new one this year -- a leather Chesterfield. It's a lot lighter than the one we got rid of so I'm expecting to be back on a two year replacement plan. So I'm saving up for it's replacement!

Minimum ten years

should be more if you ask me-but I don't know at what price point nowadays I should expect that

my high quality click clack is still alive and well, after twenty years. at my Mom's place now-since we moved overseas.

and it wasn't exactly cheap but it was affordable..we were living extremely modestly back then-right after college and all

now..I don't know. seems like prices go up and up and quality kinda goes down and down

I think it depends on how much you are willing to spend. Personally we have usually bought mid-priced furniture, say $2000 to $2500 for a leather sofa, and I expect that to last around seven to ten years. I have looked online at higher priced furniture, like baker and Herndon. If I stepped up to that price point, I would expect the sofa itself to last indefinitely, but with fabric I would still expect it to need to be reupholstered at around the ten year mark.

Oh, and we have kids and use our sofa a lot.

I have no idea if my expectations are reasonable or not though.

I do think it's reasonable

Our bed is Barbara Barry for Baker furniture..was a floor model so one third of the price...and then I had it shipped from coast to coast lol. I was nuts about this bed, and I was generally nuts those days. I'm not sure I'd do it in my normal state of mind. I think it was the first upholstered bed I ever saw in my life. Really. I just somehow never saw one before..))

It is built to last indefinitely..

The fabric might need to be changed one day, that's true..hope not too soon though..

If you buy really well-made sofas, the frames should last forever. They might need tightening every ten years or so and certainly will need new upholstery and perhaps new cushions every so often depending on the fabric and use. I just had my 16-year-old custom sofas reupholstered as the fabric was shredding from sun damage.

We replaced our sofa about 8 years ago. It was at least 45 years old at that time. It had been recovered 3 times, and the frame was still strong. My dad bought it before he married my mom. I grew up with that sofa (along w/my sister and multiple dogs and cats) and my parents gave it to me when I got my own house. And it held up well to my kids and cats. If it weren't for my allergies getting worse, prompting us to switch to leather furniture (which is better for allergies), we'd still have it.

Obviously our current sofa is now 8 years old and going strong. We went with a higher end brand and I expect it to last for many many more years.

My "inexpensive" one is done after 2 years. my expensive custom job lasted 17 years I even took the covers of the cushions off and washed them in the washing machine . it was a really heavy traditional looking upholstery - chenille-like but not chenille. I wish I knew exactly what it was.

Gosh, the three sofas in my parents living room are 60 years old, and have only been recovered once - 31 years ago.

Our main sofa is about 8 years old. A high quality frame and should last forever. Recover when I'm ready for a change.

The expensive sleep sofa I bought when I was single lasted about 20 years. It needs reupholstering and new slipcovers, but the frame is fine. And we used it a lot because we home school, and I did a lot of readalouds on that sofa with three kids. Unfortunately, we live in a rural area with no upholsterer nearby, but we're keeping it in storage.

One of our couches is from the late 30s (recovered twice that we know of,) and the other from the mid 50s (original fabric.) I'm a big believer in buying vintage/antique for buying quality.

We are going on 20 some odd years. We have 4 sofas in our home. One is an Ethan Allan, the rest are Rowe.

The loose backed Rowe sofa should be replaced. The other 2 Rowes are in our basement where both my DD's used growing up. But, at this point my daughters were past the point of trying to jump on sofas.

You get what you pay for.

My youngest just bought a sofa bed from Raymor and Flanagan. I have to say that they had a wide variety of sofas, some more comfortable than others. She has a warrantee that will replace the sofa if it gets damaged or stained. I think for 5 years or maybe more!

Timely question for me. I bought a Thomasville sectional nearly 22 years ago and just called to see about having it recovered. The upholstery is still quite nice, but the cushions, esp the loose backs have lost their oomph. It's a lot of $$$ to have it recovered, but I've looked high and low for an american made replacement and can't find anything comparable. They can't get it in until January, but I'll have it done then.

Had one last 30 years; too long, was tired of style before it wore out.

So..if I decide to buy a new sofa now..(as in within next 5 years)...which brands I should be looking into?

Or will it be wiser to buy vintage -and reupholster it if needed?

(I'm usually into buying vintage..with sofas, I'm a bit more hesitant though..)

I bought Smith Bros of Berne

http://www.smithbrothersfurniture.com/

I would check the cost of reupholstering before committing to a vintage couch. I would also read up on and be careful of bedbugs.

When I asked about reupholstering it was ~75% the cost of a new one. If you pursue that option, please share the quotes. ty

Reupholstery is not cheap if done correctly. But it's an opportunity to get exactly what one wants in style and fabric, plus if a very large person sits on it, heavy duty springs can be added. It's not cheap buying an inexpensive sofa every few years, either. And doing that, one has nothing to show for money spent.

I've never bought a vintage sofa - they have all been hand me downs. In my family, one never disposes of a good piece of upholstered furniture. None of mine were costly items when new - ordinary furniture just used to be far better made.

A young couple's first purchase typically was a sofa and chair and they fully expected to still be using it when they celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary. Of course they also didn't consider their spouse "disposable" either!

I would also be interested in your quotes for reupholstering if you decide to go that route. When I tried to research that for chairs a few years ago, it seemed to run around the same to pay for reupholstering plus a used chair as for buying new. Since I didn't already own a chair that would fit in the spot I had, I decided not to run around chasing inexpensive chairs on CL that might or might not be as represented (and I'm not knowledgable enough to choose a great quality chair without knowing the brand name to research) and might or might not have bedbugs.

Our last two sofa purchases have been from clubfurniture.com. I have been happy with the quality, especially given the price. The last time, I was not super happy with how long it took--much longer than the website represents--nor with their failure to initiate communications with me when things took longer than expected. We are going to need sofas again soon as we are moving to a bigger house and I am currently planning to purchase from them again. They now have crypton upholstery fabric, which interests me greatly.

(Oh and the scolding over buying new and correlating that to considering a spouse disposable is not appreciated. I absolutely understand buying vintage and reusing what you have on a number of levels, but there is really just no need to suggest that people who make a different choice consider their marriages disposable.)

I was NOT referring to people on this forum! I was referring to the "everything's disposable" of the attitude of many of the young getting married today. Some even refer to "starter marriages".

I am just getting estimates to reupholster a two sofa sectional and two wing chairs. The chairs are 40 odd years old and I had them done about twenty years ago. The sectional I have only has five years but bought it from a consignment store, it is about twenty years old. All pieces are Harden.

The odd thing I found is that of five upholstery outfits I contacted, only one actually came and examined the furniture before he would give me an estimate, one, the most expensive for labour only. The others all asked for pictures by email. Of these three gave labour only estimates without knowing if the springs were shot or the joints loose . One gave an estimate using " average priced fabric" what ever that means, but again has no clue about frames condition. The labour only ran from $2661.00 to $6400.00 The one with average fabric was $5,800.00.

Finally the one with labour and fabric was $9,500.00. I am leaning towards the latter but have questions for him on fabric as he says he is giving me a 20 percent discount , but I can buy it on line at a much lower price.

I wonder of this estimating without inspecting is the norm these days, I do not like this trend.

I suggest if you do go the reupholstering route, you do a lot of homework. It is a lot of money, but do believe worth it if the frame is good quality.

Good Luck.

I am fine if our sofa lasts 5-7 years. We have 3 children (11,7,5) 2 cats and 2 dogs. My grandmas sofa lasted my whole life (was white and we were only allowed to sit on it with a sheet underneath us) and sold for 3000.00 last I heard when she went into a retirement home. I will expect furniture to last longer when the children are gone. She also had a pink marble and cherry coffee table that was for magazines only.....

With apologies for not reading all the replies yet, I dunno - ours is practically an antique now. I think it may be from the 40s through the 50s. It was inherited from a great aunt. It may even be from the 30s. It's a camelback w/ rolled arms & claw feet. The only thing I've needed to upgrade (besides upholstery fabric) has been cushions.

My hubby wallows on it all day & night as well. I keep it slipcovered.

Timely post as I've been looking for a sofa with reversible chaise. I've been struggling with the quality/price balance. Ethan Allen: with the 30% discount was $3600. I'd love the quality but in 8-10 years when I want a change, I couldn't justify doing that. Macy's has a Jonathan Louis - good look, good price, not great comfort or quality - for $700. Tempting. We've landed in the middle with a Rowe at $1700.

Hope this helps.