What's your line for what's 'too expensive' for better quality? How do you make the decision?
My current dilemma: we need to replace our lay-z-boy before the birth of our next kid, for parental survival. We have one we used for our daughter and it was a lifesaver (rocking, comfortable to breastfeed in, comfortable to sleep in when you can't put the kid down in the middle of the night, etc). Unfortunately, it is also 32 years old (it was a present to my mother when she was pregant with me) and after 32 years, 4 babies, 4 toddlerhoods, 3 kids climbing all over it, 3 teenagers, living in every apartment I have and being my most-used chair... well, it's giving up. The seat is sagging enough to give me a back-ache, the cushioning on the back is gone, the fabric has rips in it again, the side is starting to come off... Oh, and the rocking mechanism squeaks like crazy. It's done. Getting it fixed would cost about 1/3 more than buying a new one. So. We've been looking for used ones for the past 4 months (the nicer ones have people trying to sell them for the cost of new 'clearance' couches, the other ones look not far off from the one we've got), and no one has another hand-me-down we can use. So, ok, fine, new... but on clearance, because $$$. (I strongly advise buying used furniture if that's an option. In this case, we can't find what we need, and we've been looking).
We need something that, in order: 1) rocks, 2) has a back that goes backwards and a leg rest that flips up so you can sleep on it if needed, 3) that doesn't look hideous and can be used outside the kid's room and moved to the living room as a reading chair after we're done having kids. I care and put effort into the aesthetics of our house, so 'not hideous' is a thing.
We've narrowed it down to 2 options.
Option 1) Very reputable brand (Elran - Quebec-specific, but known for excellent quality and longevity). Leather. (resistant, low-mainteanance, wipable/washable when the kid pukes on it, because breastfeeding and bottle-feeding = regurgitating on everything. Babies are gross). Looks kind of like a pottery barn club chair. Could absolutely be used in our living room. SUPER comfortable, I wanted to take a nap on it in store. 1199$CAD on sale. *EEEK*
Option 2: Blue fabric, with a fuzzy weave (I'm having nightmares about milk chunks. BABIES ARE GROSS). Warranty against stains if we get the professional stain-proofing, which hopefully will help with most of the baby puke... maybe? Less sticky than leather, but also less wipable/cleanable/resistant. And probably needing to be re-covered after 10 years of family use, based on other couches having simliar fabric just wear down (so about 600$ to recover, based on the 3 people I asked for quotes on our current ones). Not a well-known brand, so no guarantee about the longevity. I like the colour, but I'm not sure I see it in regular use downstairs. Almost as comfy as Option 1, though. 700$ including the stain guard.
So, baseline: at what point is nicer/higher quality/likely more long-lasting/visually prettier worth more money? How much more money?