Design on a dime?

This is really more of a collecting-my-thoughts-in-one-place post than anything that might be actually interesting. But so it goes.

So Mike and I are going to buy a couch. Our very first grown-up, non-futon couch. We want it to be comfy, and we want it to be somewhat durable and somewhat stain resistant (you know, given our forthcoming addition and all). This isn't our "forever" couch - we've decided that will wait until any mini-people are past the super-stainy stage. So this is, like, a beater couch. But, in theory, a better beater than what we have going now.

This is our living room now - pretty bland, not much color, mostly a blank palette.

This is the only object that we are sort of trying to match in the living room - it hangs above the fireplace in dark brown frame with deep red undertones.Here are the sofas we are considering. Keep in mind that we are probably going to buy a sofa plus a loveseat/chair/chaise. I'm not super into matchy-matchy, but I do think the room will look better (and less graduate student haphazard) if the main pieces (at least most of them) are part of the same set.

The first is this red deal. I am SO not a red person - my prior two futon/couches were blue. But, lately, I've started to think that blue ends up looking sort of denim-y and thus frat-y. On the other hand, blue does match the picture quite nicely. But maybe red is good? A change? Some contrast? And certainly very forgiving on the stains (also, this set is very forgiving on the wallet as well). And then we could pull the room together with some navy and butter throw pillows on the couch/chairs? (thereby matching the colors from the picture.)

I don't think the woman comes with the sofa, thankfully.

Here's the red set as a room:(keep in mind that we're only buying the stuff you'd sit on - not the rug or tables or lamps or pillows) (But maybe red couches only belong in brothels?)

Out other options are a little pricer, but a little more of my "traditional" style. But maybe I should do something a little different? Or maybe I'll end up regretting taking the risk?

This is the same sofa, first in twill oliveThose pillows would have to go, obviously. I think we'd still be looking at some dark blue and yellow pillows. The green is nice and inoffensive (although in this picture, it seems awfully light for an olive - obviously, we're going to see it in person before purchasing.). I don't know, though, that the green is better match with the picture than the red. The picture has some green, but not a lot and it's not likely the same shade of green.

Here's the same one in twill indigo. This is closest to what we have now (minus the pillows, which would, again, have to go). But I worry about the whole frat house look. I also don't want the sofa to look like a giant pair of jeans. But it does match the picture quite nicely!

And then in brown microfiber:Brown is fine, and safe. Our house already has a lot of brown, between the floors, the stair banister, and the kitchen cabinets (all of which are visible from the living room). We could put any color pillows on this and probably be fine. The dark color would forgive stains, and the microfiber is also supposed to be stain resistant. The microfiber is polyester and feels like suede; I have heard mixed reviews on the durability of microfiber, but these are coming from a store with a well-known name. With it coming in brown, though, I worry that our sofa might look like some furry beast, or something. Brown also doesn't do a lot for adding color to the room - but maybe that's what accent pillows and book spines are for?

I know this is sort of a lame comparison since I don't have room shots of all the sofas. Here's a sort of generic room picture of the style of sofa of the last three:


But, well, internets, what do you think? And, please, vote since I can tell you that one of us has no real opinion beyond "comfortable" and the other one of us doesn't want to make the wrong decision for her first big new-house purchase......

[Also, it's not like these are the only choices on earth, but these are the leading contenders. The blue-and-yellow store is out, but stores like this and this and maybe this are our speed. Yes, we know about craigslist. However, the transporting-a-couch-yourself-thing seems a little daunting right now. Yes, we also know about consignment stores. However, given my allergies, it's often tough to buy used furniture, since pet dander has a way of creeping inside things and settling there. Our goals for this project are a) affordable, and b) easy.]