best couch material type to withstand kids?

[caedmyn]

We’re shopping for a couch set or sectional for our family room.  I’m not sure what type of couch would hold up best to kid abuse.  My kids are very hard on everything. We currently have a really nice leather couch set that we bought used in our living room.  I really like the wipe-clean ability of the leather with kids, and it’s held up well so far, but DH doesn’t think leather is really comfortable to sit on.  Before that we had a series of regular fabric couches, and the back cushions/padding tore away from the frame on two of them due to kids laying/climbing on the backs.  We’ve never had a microfiber couch so idk how well those hold up.  I have heard that they really attract pet hair, and we do have a cat.

[DawnM]

What about a nice thick heavy duty corduroy or denim?  I have seen those hold up pretty well.  

[Scarlett]

I have a set that is about 25 years old that is just now starting to show wear.  It is a high grade ( which can get expensive) and it is a tweed type fabric.  Very neutral color and it used to have pretty colored throw pillows to brighten it up.....

i worked for a furniture manufacturer back in the day and got it at cost.  Imo, most furniture out there these days is not very well made any more unless you go high end and spend a fortune and even then it is iffy.  

Edited October 31, 2019 by Scarlett

[prairiewindmomma]

17 minutes ago, Margaret in CO said:

Asphalt or concrete. 

Right!!! With a floor drain so you can power wash them off as necessary.

[maize]

Our approach has been to skip the couch, I have one rocking chair and some folding chairs in the living room.

Yeah not very comfy I know...

[73349]

47 minutes ago, Margaret in CO said:

Asphalt or concrete. 

I was going to go with stainless steel, but you're right.

[Hoggirl]

Sunbrella!  

[Ottakee]

13 minutes ago, Arctic Mama said:

Mine is a textured microfiber.  Like, a waffle weave with a really short pile.  And it’s poop brown.  We just had a party with 21 children under the age of 13 and this is how it looks 🥳
 

The pillows got tossed and the rug obviously has detritus, but for how hard Benny partied it’s still pretty darn clean!

 

Jumping in here to say that I LOVE this picture.  How old is he now?  How is he doing? 

[Ottakee]

1 minute ago, Arctic Mama said:

Hahaha!  Sorry for the thread jack, OP!  He was watching Sesame Street while we cleaned up the chaos and the couch was in a good state to show durability 😂

@Ottakee he is doing very well!  Just learned how to barrel roll across the floor two weeks ago, which is his first real self mobility!  We are just working on the transition from EI to preschool because he will be three in December 😱 But slow and steady progress in a variety of areas, so no complaints here!

That is awesome.  Over and over I have seen kids make big gains in that 3-5 year old range....going from rolling to sitting and beyond.  My heart is with these kiddos that have to work extra hard to do things.

[MercyA]

My sister with four kids detested her microfiber sofa. She couldn't spot clean it without making it look worse. But I don't believe it was a waffle-weave like Arctic's--it was more of a smooth, brushed microfiber.

I have some sort of textured waffle-weave fabric on mine and it's held up very well and pet hair doesn't cling to it. Probably some type of polyester.  

And yes to tweed type fabrics! My mom still has her original tweed sofa from the 70's and the fabric must be like iron or something! 🙂 

[ChrisB]

I tend towards regular fabric that can be spot washed w/water.  We've had suede-like microfiber, and after a few short years, the fabric looks worn (shiny in a worn way) and shows any slobber (think little kids or pets) or liquid very easily.  It cleans fine, but shows quickly.  Maybe they have newer, better kinds now...  I've never had leather, but I agree with your husband that it's not very comfy.

[HomeAgain]

We have leather in our house.  It's pretty comfy, but it's also the Couch That Came With The House for the last two occupants, so it's quite worn, too. 😄 It's a huge beast and nobody wanted to move it out with them.
Before that, our criteria for living room furniture was this:
-removable covers.  I want to throw stuff in the wash.
-stain resistant (and the whole couch would get coated with spray to help that along)

I'm not terribly worried about what it would look like in 6 years, but having the removable covers and stain spray really helped.  We gave our last couch away after having it for way too long and it still looked great.

[vmsurbat1]

With 5 children (now grown!), we went with quality leather and have been very satisfied.  I think leather can be quite comfortable (unlike synthetics); probably the biggest factor is the actual design of the couch.

[sassenach]

14 hours ago, happysmileylady said:

Girl, your house does NOT look like a pregnant mama just partied with 21 children.  And their is no detritus on the floor lol.  My living room right now looks like I partied with 50 kids..............and I took mine trick or treating! lol

 

And I am not sure Benny ever stops smiling.  😁

@Arctic Mama I missed that news! Congratulations!! So good to see Benny's sweet smile. He looks great.

[Rachel]

Denim couches were in our church’s youth room 15 years ago. They are now out at camp. They do look faded, but nothing is torn. 

We bought inexpensive (for a couch) couches that came with a lifetime warranty on the frame and 15 years on the cushions. 6 years ago we bought 2 identical that were $550 each. We don’t let the kids jump on them or climb over the backs, and no food or drinks (even water) is allowed in the living room. We have 3 kids, 2 dogs, and 2 cats plus regular company with kids and until we got a dog that slobbers a lot, they looked pretty new.  I would say visitors don’t notice the dog slobber, just me.  I don’t know what at the fabric is but some sort of low nap velvet type, the brand is England. They have more expensive couches, but we decided to go with something that was less expensive because of kids. 
 

We also have a couch from Ikea with a tweed type fabric in our school room. So far it’s holding up well too, it’s only about two years old and it doesn’t get used near as much as the living room couches. It was a display couch so we got it at a discount, I’m not sure which model it is.