Furniture stores

Yes, very difficult to find anywhere that sells good quality furniture that will last, these days. They mainly seem to cater for people who change everything every few years.

We have found that M&S furniture seems pretty good though.

We bought two Ercol settees from their Outlet store. We did it online, but it's open for viewing if you live near. They weren't cheap, but will last a lifetime. It was the first new suite we had bought in over 40 years of marriage (cast offs, auctions, newspaper ads previously). 

They are wonderful. The only problem was I measured the sitting room door, and owing to the three feet thick walls, we couldn't get them through. But the best of all outcomes was that we removed a window and turned it into a door onto the patio, having measured up first. 

Should have done it years ago!

After looking around one or two retail park type furniture suppliers, we decided that the quality wasn't what we wanted. I did an online search, and got material samples from a number of better quality manufacturers, including loaf and sofa.com

They do a huge range of handmade styles in dozens of different materials. We eventually ordered from sofa.com, and found them a lovely company to deal with, and our two chairs are excellent, just what we wanted. Not cheap though, we could have got a three piece suite for price of one of our chairs from DFS or other retail park supplier!

Grab a copy of Ideal Home magazine to browse other such furniture suppliers, loads are listed in back of magazine usually, and there are lots of very different styles.

Do you have a Coop non food store? We do and they stock 'good' quality furniture, Glasgow plan, Ercol etc. We have an Alston sofas made in this country ☺. Live them had these almost 10 years show no signs of wear or sagging. Did choose cream so despite scotch guard they're not quite the colour they were 😉. We are also lucky enough to have a Fenwick store and now a John Lewis who stock decent stuff. I see you're in Northumberland doesn't the metro centre have a John Lewis? 

Take a look at Stressless furniture. It's far from cheap but you get what you pay for.

We were looking for a new suite of lounge furniture for ten years and eventually purchase from DFS which rather surprised me!!! The previous one came from John Lewis and lasted 30 years. (BTW no JL in the Metro Centre but one in the Eldon Square Centre actually in Newcastle) One problem we had to overcome was finding settees and chairs which had firm seating and not too low. Many we looked at were too soft. Rather than look at reviews, which invariably will tend to concentrate on the negative, you really need to get out there and get bums on seats so to speak. The new suite seems substantial enough and it's made in the UK. It might not last 30 years but then I suspect nor will we!!!

David

I bought our leather sofas (2 x 2 seater sofas), from Kendals in Manchester about 10 years ago, in the January sales, buy one, get one free, and I paid £2,000 (so £4,000 for both when not in the sale), and they are still going strong, and I will never get rid of them.  Just remember that with good leather, it doesn't matter if its winter or summer, they feel the same temperature, not hot in summer and not cold in winter.  Prior to that, I had a 3 piece suite from DFS, and it was totally rubbish, had problems virtually from when we received it.  Had it about 5 years and it cost us £2,000.  Wouldn't buy from them again.

Don't rule out having an old one repaired / recovered.

We got our three piece when we got married (39 years ago - yes, I was but a child ) - it was an Arkana make.

It lasted really well and we finally decided to have it recovered, not because it was worn at all, but because we couldn't stand the 1970's pattern any more!

Anyway, the guy who did it said that while he was at it he would replace any worn or broken springs. When he brought it back he hadn't needed to do anything at all to the frame or springs.

Incidentally, he also converted the two chairs into a two-seater settee. We had always thought of the traditional 'three-piece' as the way to go, then realised that one chair never got used. Mrs H far prefers her little sofa 

He also made us a big pouffe with storage space, to match.

Worth thinking about.

Very good option Ian. I often have a browse in antique furniture places with a view to having something redone. Not always cheapest option, but older furniture was often very well made.

Thanks for the replies, there's a lot to think about. I had considered having our old suite recovered. There's a firm in Northumberland who get excellent reviews so I might look at that option before we do anything else.