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Comfort, natural materials, and a ‘rustic’ look are key when you’re looking for a country style sofa.
No lumps, no sag, no hard seats – thanks to modern technology we can have perfectly comfortable country style living room sofas.
These days we have another problem: Too much choice.
So which country style sofa is right for which kind of home?
Period Homes
With a historic home, your choices are (thankfully) limited. Either ...
... you buy a country style living room sofa which ‘echoes’ that vernacular (unless, of course, you can get an original antique), or
... you go for a more ‘neutral’, pared-down piece and turn it into a country style couch by using the period’s ‘country’ fabrics and colors for throw pillows, blankets, and other accessories.
Modern Country
If your current home is a modern “white box”, your options are wide open.
1. You could choose a modernish version of a country style couch, like the one on the right.
The sofa is covered in cotton duck; if you added rustic blankets and traditionally embroidered or patterned cushions, the sofa would take on a ‘country’ look.
2. Alternatively, you could pick a ‘romantic’ country style sofa, with elegantly rounded lines and covered in a floral pattern.
(Elzette, my South African neighbor, tells me that any self-respecting country style sofa in her part of the world will have big flowers all over it.)
3. You could also turn a piece of garden furniture into a country style couch – lavish generously stuffed, cushions on the seat and back of a wooden garden bench for a ‘holiday home’ feel.
4. Last not least, you could go for a seriously rustic sofa, rough-hewn and covered in leather or a coarsely woven fabric. If your surroundings are otherwise on the sober and neutral side, your country style couch will start looking like a stunning museum piece.
Rustic
If you live in a rustic lodge or a genuine log home (wow!), you have another interesting set of choices. You could ...
... buy (or build) a simple country style sofa or bench that would be perfectly at home in a historic Alpine or Scandinavian log cabin, or
... find a rustic ‘American country’ style living room sofa in any of the styles the early settlers used, or
... invent your own – a piece, made out of local materials, that is in quirky keeping with your rustic home.
Materials
Any materials are appropriate for a country style couch, as long as they are (or look) natural and sufficiently informal (or really rugged, if that’s what your home and tastes call for).
Historically, leather was not much used on European country style living room sofas.
The only exception is England, where leather-clad easy chairs were regulars in country houses, libraries and clubs. But you wouldn’t have found leather on a country style sofa in an English cottage.
For more information about country style interiors, have a look at the following pages:
Country Window Treatments
Country Style Home Decor on a Shoestring
Country Style Living Room Furniture
Country Style Bedroom Furniture
Creating a Country Look in the City
Interior Rustic Pictures
Also, do check out the following:
Return from Finding a Country Style Sofa to Country Decorating
Return to Dream Home Decorating Homepage
