Monday, August 2, 2010

Crappity crap sofas and some not so great photos of my living area.

A few years ago I bought two leather sofas from Freedom. A furniture store here in Aus,  I think it would be something similar to Pottery Barn.  These leather sofas were gorgeous, just what I was looking for and reasonably priced, (I should have realised then). They were bi-cast leather, something I hadn't heard of before, and unfortunately didn't do any research before I bought them.  I did ask the question - Are they leather? and was told yes, but it was bonded, and had a protective coating on them. Here are the sofas.  You can see why I don't have an interior design blog, as no arty photos, close ups or staging for the camera.



































Having bought plenty of furniture from Freedom previously I was sure they would be great, and yes they were until this happened.

































































Just over three years later, they started to peel, at first I was blaming bitchypoo as I thought she had spilt nail polish remover. Eventually as they became worse and worse,  I realised it was a fault in the manufacturing.  Surprise, surprise they only have a two year warranty. I went back to Freedom and although it was just on 4 years by this time, they wouldn't replace them, but they agreed to give me a credit that I could use in store.  It wasn't a huge amount, but I suppose it was better than nothing.   I never want to buy a leather sofa from them again, in fact I never want to buy a sofa or anything from them ever again. Trying to find something within the credit amount they offered was difficult, I finally decided on a mattress to replace one that a friend somebody who I trusted, had borrowed my spare queen size mattress and then gave it away, grrrrrrr.

Off to Ikea I went, to find myself a nice reasonable sofa or two, and look what I found, woo hoo.



I went back to Ikea and bought some more cushions so now my place looks like a shrine to Ikea but I love it.
That's a red throw that I already had, in the middle of this sofa.


Bailey loves them too!



I LOVE IKEA









5 comments:

  1. Thanks for the warning about bonded leather. What a scam!

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  2. Aaaaaaahh....thats me running for the hills! I have a Freedom sofa and now I am too scared to ask if it is Leather or Bonded???? What make was yours it looks awfully familiar??

    Maybe I should be letting Hamish Monster sharpen his little claws on it instead of threatening to pull his whiskers out one by one if he does, he is going to be mighty pissed off if they do start falling apart in a few years time :-)

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  3. I would be really angry about the leather sofas! The one good thing is that you good two lovely sofas from IKEA. I have never been to IKEA, but have seen some of their stuff. I love the way the sofas look in your house - so bright and comfy!

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  4. After they finally give me a refund or exchange or whatever, I always tell the retailer that I have a blog and am on Facebook and that I'm spreading the word about the service/ product that I'm unhappy with. Soon these retailers will wakeup to the power of "word of mouth" on the internet !!!
    Good on you!
    Cheers
    Helen

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  5. your Ikea looks great - and clearly the cat enhances it!!

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