Buying a new sofa too often involves a depressing trip to a thinly-disguised warehouse to buy something cheap, mass-produced and characterless. Yes, it'll look good on the showroom floor; but you know that in three or four years you'll have to replace it with something else.
It doesn't have to be that way, as these lovely pieces demonstrate.
Bowmore chair in Harris Tweed
From £886, Tetrad – 01772 792936; www.tetrad.co.uk
Knightsbridge ottoman
£1,920 plus fabric, Dudgeon Sofas – 020–7589 0322; www.dudgeonsofas.com
Coleridge 2½ seat sofa
£3,840, Brights of Nettlebed – 01491 641115; www.brightsofnettlebed.co.uk
The Quiver Klismos stool
£5,600, Soane – 020–7730 6400; www.soane.co.uk
St Kilda chair in Harris Tweed Granite Herringbone
£1,610, Sofas & Stuff – 0808 178 3211; www.sofasandstuff.com
Lauderdale 3-seat sofa in Elk Brown velvet
£1,675, OKA – 0333 004 2042; www.oka.com
Hanbury sofa
£10,200, Jamb – 020–7730 2122; www.jamb.co.uk
Alexandra chair
£2,675 plus fabric, Beaumont & Fletcher – 020–7352 5594; www.beaumontandfletcher.com
George chair
£1,764 plus fabric, The Odd Chair Company – 01772 691777; www.theoddchaircompany.com
Byron chair
£1,589, John Sankey – 0115-946 2121; www.johnsankey.co.uk
At home with Uncle Monty: Design cues from the Withnail and I icon
Thirty years after the release of Withnail and I, Arabella Youens examines the stylistic legacy of the fictional character's taste
12 beautiful sofas to fit any living space, from classic to contemporary
Are you sitting comfortably? And stylishly? Then we'll begin.
-
How many puppies in the average litter? Country Life Quiz of the DayPlus a 1960s house, Hollywood's most famous cavewoman and more in Friday's quiz.
-
Love, sex and death: Our near-universal obsession with the roseNo flower is more entwined with myth, religion, politics and the human form than the humble rose — and now there's a new coffee table book celebrating them in all of their glory.
-
Injecting colour, pattern and character into a once-plain sitting roomBooks, art and textiles transformed a once-characterless space into a warm, inviting sitting room.
-
Say no to boring walls: Six choices of paint and paper which will get people talkingAmelia Thorpe picks out some glorious alternatives to just painting everything white.
-
'Not cheap... but cheaper than a divorce lawyer': Why it pays to hire a consultant to choose the perfect paint colourDriven to distraction by paint charts? A colour consultant could be the answer for anyone befuddled by choosing the right hue, says Giles Kime.
-
Room with a cru — how an 'enduring legacy of lockdown' is the latest must have in interior designLong gone are the dusty cellars of the past. Now is the time to make the place you store your wine as pleasurable as drinking it.
-
The secret to transforming an awkwardly shaped roomCave Interiors turned the awkwardly shaped sitting room of an Edwardian house into a warm and welcoming space.
-
A gloomy kitchen entirely re-created as a cosy living spaceWhen Nicole Salvesen and Mary Graham were asked to redecorate a country house in Berkshire, the first task was to turn a dark space into a colourful sitting room.
-
A living room that's a lesson in how to restore lost character in a historic spaceNicola Harding used rich colours and textures to enhance the historic character of a Jacobean house in Berkshire.
-
The slipper chair: How one of America's great designers produced a classic of armless funThe slipper chair might have its roots in the 18th century, but it owes its compact, convivial appeal to Billy Baldwin, a giant of 20th-century American interior design.
