Choosing my Sofas, Chairs and Footstools
WHY CHOOSE MY FURNITURE?
Here are some of the reasons our customers love Vanessa’s furniture styles and why our customers keep coming back to choose our luxury upholstered furniture.
Table of Contents
HAND MADE IN THE COTSWOLDS – low carbon footprint
My sofa, chair and footstool frames are traditionally handmade in Gloucestershire, using solid beech from managed forests. They are then beautifully upholstered with hand-sprung seats in a small Cotswold workshop, only two miles from my showroom in Cirencester. Each piece is made with the utmost care and attention by the small team, from start to finish.
We understand how great the need is for environmentally friendly fabrics and furniture styles, now more than ever. We place a focus on helping you create sustainable interiors with organic cotton and more.
YOU CAN ASK FOR TWEAKS TO THE MEASUREMENTS
Since your piece of furniture will be especially made for you, you can ask for tweaks to the measurements: so it can be longer, higher, deeper etc. If you need the legs to be detachable for access problems we can do that too.
CHOICE OF CUSHION FILLINGS AND LEG COLOURS
As well as the option of contrast piping and buttons, our bespoke sofas come with the choice of cushion fillings: foam, feather or feather wrapped foam. With each furniture piece you have a choice of leg shapes and also the legs can be stained to three shades: light, medium or dark.
WHAT IS IN YOUR SOFAS, CHAIRS AND FOOTSTOOLS?
We often get asked what is inside our furniture…
Each piece is entirely crafted by hand, each layer is built up from a handmade beech frame, you can see all the ingredients here:
- Metal springs which are not shown.
- Webbing – natural, strong, cotton herringbone webbing
- Hessian – made from the skin of jute plants- this bridges the spaces.
- ‘Black felt’ made from recycled old scraps of wool fabrics, this is a soft yet resilient stuffing.
- Foam to give form and shape. we use the finest, high density high quality foam. This provides outstanding durability, with excellent recovery properties making it the obvious choice for everyday use.
- Next comes layers of beautiful white wool, which is inherently fire retardant and creates a smooth and fine finish.
- (Top right) Final layer for all furniture and headboards is a (Crib 5) luxurious woollen lining fabric – the most effective fire retardancy lining there is (so suitable for hotels too).
Left: Work in progress on the frame of one of my elegant Sapperton chairs. The legs have been stained to the dark shade we offer and the build up has started on the arms.
Right: Here the back is being constructed for my traditional sofa with metal springs, (the sofa is lying on its back). The top fabric is my new Floral Stripe in Pigeon, Soft Raspberry and Charcoal, this is being made for my photo shoot in a weeks time…
Deep and high backed, can be used as an occasional single bed. It feels and looks particularly glorious in velvet…
This really great sofa, with its simple low arms, takes up less room than our Classical sofa. It is slightly more modern looking than the Traditional sofa.
Classic, timeless and elegant.
This is our best seller by far…it has small arms and a large amount of seating. This sofa can also can have back cushions for extra comfort.
Traditional, simple and smart, has a stylish French feel.
Deep and so very comfortable, you can draw up your knees and read a good book in this chair. Also comes with a back cushion.
Useful extra chair for a sitting room. A good height for a dining table, the elderly in particular, like the height of this chair.
Check out our multi coloured upholstered tub chairs
An elegant style and modern design.
Fun, young and useful, comes in two sizes.
Chic, with a useful flat top for trays. Comes in both a rectangular and square shape.
Traditional and smart with a rounded top, good for putting your tired feet up on at the end of the day…here you can see the super soft woollen fire retardant lining.
WHAT ABOUT UPCYCLING AN OLD CHAIR…
Some furniture today isn’t built for a second life. Maybe at home you have an old piece with a well-made frame but worn out seats and arms…if so, it’s worth giving it another chance. Take it to your upholsterer with some new fabric and await the result!
See my Grandfather’s chair below which has been given a new lease of life, using my multi directional design called Acorn and Leaf. Grand Pop as we called him, was a retired soldier and amazing artist and quite a large man, I remember him having his afternoon sleeps in this chair…so it is very special to me.
We sell fabrics exclusively designed by Vanessa Arbuthnott, along side small, bespoke collection of Made to Measure items which includes curtains, blinds, sofas, footstools, chairs, headboards, and quilts, all handmade specially for you by master crafts people.
