Pros and Cons of Linen Upholstery

When shopping for certain home accessories, such as furniture or throw pillows, you may across products made from a linen fabric. Linen fabric is popular in home decor, but like any material, it has its pros and cons. Knowing the benefits and negative aspects of the material can help you determine if linen is the right choice for your home accessories and decor decor.

Pros and Cons of Linen Upholstery for Furniture

Linen fabric is a natural fabric that is made from flax plants. People enjoy this fabric not only for furniture and upholstery, but for towels, napkins, table cloths, bedding, and clothing, as it keeps cool during the summer and various other products.

Natural, Eco-Friendly

Many people feel that one of linen’s big strong points is that since it is made from a natural flax fiber, it is eco-friendly. This in itself is true, but it is also important to note that different manufacturers may use different manufacturing methods and fabric treatments that can decrease the overall eco-friendliness of linen upholstery for furniture. However, in most cases, linen is still more eco-friendly than certain other fabrics.

Heavy Usage

Unfortunately, one of the huge cons for linen upholstery is that it cannot handle heavy wear and tear. In other words, furniture with linen upholstery is not ideal for family rooms or other spaces where the sofa, chair or other furniture item will be used on a daily basis. Linen upholstered furniture should be reserved for more formal spaces that are used on special occasions.

Look and Feel

Since linen is a natural fabric, it does tend to be soft and comfortable, which is appealing to many people. Furthermore, it does take to different dyes, colors and even patterns or prints, which make it a versatile look. However, most people tend to prefer the more natural look of linen upholstery, especially for furniture.

Wrinkles

Another huge negative for linen upholstered furniture is that it wrinkles easily. Though some manufacturers treat their linen upholstery with anti-wrinkle formulas; however this does not necessarily guarantee that the upholstery will not still wrinkle at some point or another.

Quality

The amount of “slubs” present in a linen can help you determine the overall quality of the furniture upholstery. It’s important to keep this in mind when shopping for linen upholstered furniture. To find slubs, you’ll have to run your hands over the fabric. The small knots or tangles you feel are referred to as slubs. Higher quality linen upholsteries will have less of these than lower quality linen upholsteries, so it’s important to check for these when shopping for linen furniture.