Leather furniture

[thewillow]

Why does leather furniture look so tacky when leather seats in cars look so good?

[FTVS]

I have a beautiful leather sofa (well I think it's beautiful) so i guess it's just a matter of taste..

[Kim White]

perception dear willow and peer pressure. throw the thing away if they're laughing at you, put some decent car seats in the house :-)

[gazzawazza]

I've said this before and I'll repeat it now, tackiness, like beauty is in the eye of the beholder. For years my wife wanted a leather suite but I always believed them to be uncomfortable. We now have a very shabby looking three-and-a-half-year-old three-piece (not leather) in the front room and a lovely leather two-piece in the backroom where my wife and myself sit which still looks as good as the day we bought it two years ago. And it doesn't look tacky to us!

[KARL]

I tend to agree that nearly all leather furniture on the market is inclined to look tacky fairly soon. Moreover, I find nearly all livingroom furniture in the shops, and therefore in homes, moderately to very uncomfortable to sit in. The reason is that it is too soft, saggy and aims to have you sitting in a posture not unlike that of lying in a hammock (no wonder lower back pain is so common). There is however one notable exception. Have a look at the Ekornes Stressless range - it is rapidly becoming the benchmark for comfort and style, and it is in leather (they do not age to the same extent). Some of these have recently been seen on eBay at a fraction of the price when bought new.

[davver]

Actually I do tend to find leather car seats are often rather tacky - maybe it's because most of them are in fake leather. The cars which have them are often pretty tacky in my opinion as well eg Jeep Cherokee. Some leather sofas can looks awful - modern ones with, again, fake leather so it doesn't have the natural colour but is black or white, or that dreadful gunmetal blue-grey. But who can criticise those sofas and armchairs made of real leather, with the big buttons in! The ones you get in gentlemen's clubs, good hotels etc. SO comfortable.

[number8]

I have a leather sofa and leather seats in my car and find both comfortable and not at all tacky looking. I suspect the tacky looking leather sofas are cheap and most likely come from a (the!) national chain. If people choose to pay peanuts (and the prices this chain sells for are cheap - �600 for a three seater - purlease) then they will get rubbish.

[BenNw8]

Well that really depends on the quality of the leather. BMW's for example use Nappa leather . I found a great site that sells top end luxury Italian leather Sofas