{ The Great Couch Debate }

The time has finally come...to say goodbye to my uni-student couch from Fantastic Furniture. It's a happy day, let me tell you. I am so over vaccuuming it's crappy, sticky, clingy fabric, and I am never again buying a couch with throw cushions as it's only backing!

So, off Mr M and I tootle down to the big smoke of Melbourne-town {which is quite the occassion let me tell you, he usually gets a rash coming into contact with suburbia}. We were pretty much sold on getting a brown leather couch, for cleaning purposes mainly. So this is what I had in mind...

{ Image 1. Skona Hem 2. Meizai 3. Apartment Therapy - Michelle Masters 4. Roxxn }

But then...the only leather couches that we could have Tessa on and not scratch are way out of our budget. So our thoughts turned to fabric couches. As much as Mr M says Tess won't be allowed on the new couch, we both know that eventually she will end up there.

I really love antique style couches with big puffy cushions, small feet and low arms. The cottage being so small we were all about trying to make the space seem larger, so we thought a couch which you could see under would create an illusion of space {or so some interior design magazine told me...} So I then had something like this envisaged...

{Image 1. Unknown 2. Living etc. 3. Jayson Home and Garden 4. Notebook magazine 5. Southern Accents }

Mr M was...how shall I say this...very specific about the shape of the couch. We hate lowline couches, too low to the ground and low backs are not our style. Mr M is also 6' 6'' so he feels top heavy in a couch that is too low at the back, not deep enough or has low arms {"I feel like I'm going to fall off!!!"} But anything too deep and I feel like Goldilocks in Papa Bear's chair with my feet swinging off the ground! We wanted something comfortable, something you can see under if possible, somethnig with a hard wearing fabric and with rolled arms - square arms we felt were too modern for our classic tastes. 

After traipsing through what seemed like every furniture store in coo-ee of Melbourne, we finally came back and settled on the Ashbury from Freedom. It has rolled arms, a high enough back, not too low to the ground, is a classic shape so it shouldn't date too much, fits into Mr M's standards of comfort and my standards of classic French/Cape Cod/Australian country style. Plus it could be upholstered in any of the fabrics we chose at Freedom - after much debate we decided on a hard-wearing, industrial type fabric called 'Essence Bark'. I had my hopes pinned on 'Benz Sandstone' but after we compared the two side by side there was not a lot of difference {i.e. not worth the domestic argument about to explode in a public place}.

Now what combinations to get? We debated have two armchairs and a three seater, two 2.5 seaters, whether we had enough room, whether we should really be buying for the space considering we will most likely have the couches longer than we will live in the cottage. We finally settled on a three seater and a two seater. Great. Now they won't be ready until late November as they are getting custom built.

Now that wasn't hard was it? How exhausting.

 

{ Image from the Freedom Spring catalogue - we are getting the Ashbury without the skirt at the bottom so you can see under the couch better }