My wife and I bought these couches for our main living room, and as you can imagine they’re subject to a lot of traffic from everyday use and the occasional party. They are a lot more comfortable than what they looked like when we first unboxed them. They are firm, but not anything like sitting on doctor offices’ seats. It took maybe 10 minutes from getting them out of the boxes to them being put together. After a while the velvet does start to feel and look like a very soft suede. My only issue with them is how easy they gather dirt, but realistically that’s only because our daughter likes to play outside and then lay on them.