That was not encouraging.

I don't know if anyone reads this forum if they are NOT looking for an answer to a furniture question? So, maybe, the contented people have no desire to answer my question above?

Is it salepeople that frequent this forum to "advertise" their wares? I always wondered.

But, if you happen to be on this forum, and you DO know anything about Chateau D'Ax and are willing to tell me the good, the bad, and the ugly, I'd appreciate it.

It seems after being on here for a while, and looking at many different sofas, my husband and I have found a Chateau D'Ax we liked at Macy's Home store.

Any comments one way or another? Thanks.

We have 3 young kids, and the set is in our main living room, so is much used. I always sit in the same spot to watch tv, and that side of the couch is a bit lower than the other side. It doesn't bother me--I've recently started sitting on the opposite side to see if I can even it out.

It has held up very well for the price we paid--when purchasing, I didn't expect to get more than 10 years out of it, but it is still in fine shape after 5 or 6 years. Other people have asked me where they can get a set, so I guess it's still very attractive.

I really liked that the seat cushion (which looks like 3 cushions) is actually one cushion--3 sewn together. At the time we bought it my little girl had been constantly pulling cushions off our old set and I was sick of putting them back!

Our sofa is in the middle of the room, so the back is exposed, and with 3 kids somersaulting over it on a daily basis, it still looks pretty new. The leather is still in great shape.

I think it's a good buy for the price you pay. I have seen a lot worse in leather--my SIL's set is all bunchy in the cushions--mine are still great, although slightly sunken on one side (the only spot I sit in) and a bit "softer" now than when we first bought it (it was very firm in the store).

Our next sofa will be high end, but this one got us through this stage of life very well.

Because they liked it so much, my mom and dad also bought one just like it but in a different color (special order) about 4 years ago, and it shows absolutely no wear and is super comfortable too. Ok....it's my mom and dad, and they aren't hard on anything, so it's not a great test. But still......they love it and it's a great napping sofa. For the price, I'd buy one in a minute if I had a place for it. Love the chair and ottoman that goes with it too.

I had done some research prior to the purchase on leather types and processing/dyeing methods and was satisfied with the type of leather used on the couch we chose. We loved the look - especially the tufted seat cushions - and it will fit the space we need it for. We won't be taking delivery of the sofa for at least a month until our house remodel is complete, so can't give any in-home impressions of the look/quality yet.

Incidentally, our final decision was between the Chateau D'Ax Alviso and a different leather sectional at Macy's (not sure if it was Chateau D'Ax or not). Both looked great, but we the one we went with just seemed to be of a higher quality leather and had better stitching on the tufted seats.

We have two young boys, so I'm hoping the sofa will live up to our expectations. We did purchase the 5 year extended protection plan. I hope that was a good decision. It never occurred to me to negotiate with the salesman to throw it in for free, as others have suggested in these forums.

But maybe not, so, here goes. Both brands "cut corners" all over the place to keep the price down. But, both brands do very extensive testing to make sure their "new way" of building a sofa will hold up. When we sold Natuzzi 10 years ago at the height of Italian leather-mania, we couldn't believe that any company would build a sofa that way, or that anyone would buy a sofa made that way.

Well, almost everyone in the US was buying it. And it wasn't just Natuzzi, it was every sofa coming out of Italy, and also Leather Center too. And nobody, and I mean nobody, was having their sofas fall apart. They really did hold up. Well, we soon got outta that rat race and into better and more unique goods, but 10 years later not one complaint or request for warranty info on the Natuzzi's we sold (or Leather Center sofas, they sold to stores under the name Georgio Leoni).

I still don't care for the way they're made, but they do hold up. If that doesn't answer the question, then I don't know what will, but thems the facts, and its my story and I'm sticking to it :-)