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We consider ourselves an early adopter of the Nugget. While we don’t have an OG Nugget, we did buy ours in 2018, well before Nuggets blew up in popularity.
If you don’t know what a Nugget Comfort is, read this first. It’s basically a foam kid-sized play couch that now has a HUGE fan base.
You may be on the fence about buying a Nugget. Is it worth the hype? Is it worth all the money? For us, the answer is YES and YES!
One of the most frequently asked questions we get is “How has it held up?”. We’ll cover this and more in this article!
Note: This is not affiliated in any way with the Nugget Comfort company. However, we do mention other products which may be affiliate links. What does this mean?
As background, we bought our Nugget back in 2018. We have the color “Koala”, which is a light gray color that’s still available (i.e. not retired).
We have one child that uses the Nugget at least once a week – if not more! It’s played with intensely. It’s jumped on, tumbled on, climbed over, and built with. It’s also used frequently by the adults in the house to sit on. As mentioned in our review, we’ve also had adults sleep on it and do yoga on it.
We also have two dogs that love the Nugget. We don’t have any rules when it comes to our pets and the Nugget.
We are also very lenient about the Nugget in general. We let our child eat on it and color while sitting on the Nugget. As a result, our cover has seen so many food spills and pen/marker marks.
We haven’t found the need to wash the cover of the Nugget as often as one might think, especially considering how lenient we are with how it’s used. On average, we’ve probably only washed the covers once every 3 months. Sometimes more, sometimes less depending on food or beverage spills. We also don’t always wash ALL the covers each time. The triangle covers probably get washed the least. They just don’t seem to get nearly as dirty as the other ones!
For most spills, we just wipe up with a towel or damp towel. For pen or marker marks, we will usually just let those sit unless it really bothers us. We’ve definitely been guilty of just flipping it over so we don’t see it!
Since we wrote our Nugget Couch Review back in 2019, we got the amazing Dyson V11 cordless vacuum. This has made it a breeze to quickly vacuum the Nugget, which is perfect for getting off crumbs, sand and dog hair. (Click here to read our full, honest review of the Dyson V11).
When we have washed the covers, we haven’t always followed the manufacturer’s instructions, but we haven’t run into any issues. They recommend washing the covers in cold water by itself with clear-colored detergents. We always have washed the covers in cold water, but not always by itself. Here is the specific detergent we use! The other instructions for washing the covers is to HANG DRY. This is one thing we’ve always done! The dryer can really mess things up so this is one rule we are careful not to break! Anyone who could ever wash the Nugget in our house has been briefed on DO NOT DRY THE NUGGET!
We’re going to go ahead and air our dirty laundry…pun intended!
Here’s a picture of what our Nugget cushion looks like before and after we washed it recently.
One of the messes is due to spilled applesauce. The origin of the rest of the spots are unknown! Just general gunk and mess that kids (and dogs) create!
As you can see, our Nugget can get pretty dirty, but it always comes out fairly clean! No, it’s not perfect, but the spots still showing aren’t really that visible or noticeable in person. We honestly didn’t notice them until we went to take this picture! We’ve never used a spot cleaner and there’s a good chance they would come out if we did.
We think the Nugget covers have held up great the past 2 years, considering the amount of play it gets! We have noticed that the texture of the covers have roughened just a bit. They are not as super soft as they were when we first got it. We can really feel the difference, as we wash the cushion cover far more frequently than the triangle covers.
We also noticed some slight pilling in the fabric, but only when you really look closely. The overall look of the Nugget hasn’t really changed much since we got it! No color fading, no stretching, no major issues! The zippers have also held up and we’ve had no issues!
The foam on our 2 year old Nugget has also held up great! No sagging or loss of shape.
The only damage to our foam was completely our fault – or more appropriately, our dog’s fault. While washing the covers once, our terrier started “digging” on our naked Nugget. Luckily, we were able to stop her quickly, but not before she managed to take a few chunks out! However, once the covers are on, the missing pieces of foam aren’t noticeable and it has no impact to the use of the Nugget.
One change in the Nugget foam that has occurred since we bought it two years ago is the yellowing of the foam – but this is NORMAL!
When we first received our Nugget, the foam was white. Overtime, the foam turns yellow. This is completely normal for foam and does not impact the quality or use of the foam. Foam oxidizes to yellow.
Here is what our Nugget foam looks like now (2 years later):
As you can see, the once white foam is starting to yellow. It’s more noticeable in certain spot than others, like around the edges.
We’ve also seen several pictures of other people’s Nuggets that are much more yellow – like bright yellow. And in many cases, their Nuggets are newer than ours.
We are no foam experts, but we do know that it is normal for foam to turn yellow. There are likely a variety of factors that impact how quickly it turns yellow (time, climate, sun exposure, etc.).
Bottom-line: do not be alarmed or concerned when your Nugget foam turns yellow!
Many people are turned off by the yellowing of the foam, but again, it’s completely normal! It’s also not that big of a deal considering the only time you see the foam is when you wash the covers!
However, in August 2020, many people in the Nugget fan groups on Facebook started reporting that their Nuggets arrived with GRAY foam. There was no official announcement from Nugget about the gray foam and lots of questions by customers. Why are some people getting gray foam in their Nugget? Did Nugget change foam suppliers? Was there an issue with the white foam? Many reached out to Nugget and Nugget responded with:
“Thank you so much for reaching out. We hope you’re enjoying your new Nugget! Every year, we make small changes to our products based on a number of variables, including manufacturing, operational and customer feedback. Our new foam color is not a result of any problems with our white foam, but rather a purely visual change, to reduce the chance of the foam changing color over its lifespan. We still get our foam from the same, NC-based foam supplier, and we still quality-check every piece that enters our facility. Please know that every Nugget is made with the same amount of care and attention to detail!”
All-in-all, we are very happy with our Nugget and how it’s help up 2 year later.
We have experienced some slight yellowing of the foam (which is completely NORMAL). We also noticed the texture of the frequently washed covers became rougher to the touch. There’s also some minor pilling of the fabric, but you really have to look hard!
The very minor wear and tear on the covers doesn’t impact the functionality of the Nugget, and frankly it doesn’t bother us! However, if it did, there’s always the option of purchasing a set of new covers separately, which is nice!
Hopefully this article was helpful if you’re considering buying a Nugget or already have one! Of course, everyone’s experience of wear and tear will be different, but we just wanted to share our experience!
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