my design box – the Chesterfield sofa

You may have noticed that I did not post last week. My apologies for skipping out on you but I decided to take a break from blogging so that I could focus my energy on a new temporary job that I just started. While I love all things interiors and plan on making a business out of this blog, right now I do temporary administrative assignments to bring home the bacon.

That being said, my brain started buzzing with new blog post ideas by the end of the week and I feel refreshed and rejuvenated to make this project expand into something much greater.

One of the new things I want to imbue into this space is more educational posts about interior decor trends that I am in support of, so I’ve created a series called ‘my design box’. It will form a collection of concepts, materials, colors, & other decor items that can be pulled from as I go about styling my own home and, maybe one day, yours!

For today I want to introduce you to a style of upholstery called ‘Chesterfield’ or ‘Chester’. Wikipedia defines a Chesterfield couch here:

“In the United Kingdom, a Chesterfield is a deep buttoned sofa, with arms and back of the same height. It is usually made from leather and the term Chesterfield in British English is only applied to this type of sofa. The word Chesterfield was used to describe a couch in the 1900s. The first leather Chesterfield sofa, with its distinctive deep buttoned, quilted leather upholstery and lower seat base, was commissioned by Phillip Stanhope, the 4th Earl of Chesterfield (1694-1773). The word Chesterfield may now refer to any sofa, settee or couch with the button and quilting used on this particular sofa design.”

– Wikipedia, “couch” (click to view original source)

So what does this all mean?

You will have to see for yourself – here are a few examples:

1 | 2 | 3 | 4

As I mentioned in my last post, we are in the process of redesigning our living room and so far we have one definite on the list. And that is that we will soon be purchasing a Chesterfield sofa (specifically #1 in the image above). It’s very different from what we currently have, which is a light blue fabric couch with big cushy pillows that line the back. My husband despises our current couch and really wants something in leather… so we will get it!

There are many other types of sofas out there on the market, it really comes down to choosing one that meets your particular needs. Chesterfields are nice because they offer grandness to them that is also comfy and down to earth. They really are timeless.

Now its your turn, what do you look for in a sofa?

I would love to hear your thoughts in the comments!

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Thanks for reading,

~ Jessica