The first criteria for a sofa is, without doubt, comfort. We have to ask who the sofa is really for and how long will they actually sit in it; a drawing room or bedroom sofa has a different criteria of course to those in television rooms and family dens. And then we spend many hours  deciding how it should fit the space – the length,  the depth, the rake, the seat height and the arm height, the arm length and the seat spring, then the cushion filling for the seat and for the back.  All before we choose  the fabric or the finish detail.

But then sometimes we just get lucky. We found this one almost by accident when we looking for a bedroom cupboard. I say almost, because we weren’t actually  looking for it, but we were in a French antique dealers workshop so not the most unlikely place in the world to come across a little gem! We needed a sofa  for the drawing room, we wanted elegance and a degree of formality, nothing too large or solid. It shouldn’t be stuffy or overstuffed, had to comfortable for all age groups but not necessarily for hours on end.

So, all boxes neatly ticked.

When we found it was in pieces and,  typical of this style the sides, back and seat just unlock. Perfect  for steep stairs, narrow doorways or campaign adventures. And for packing easily into the back of our car.

We upholstered it in our workshops with a lovely, very simple Etro fabric  in two tones of blue – grey, then finished the edges with studs in traditional manner to keep the shape and the design simple.  The seat cushion was made to fit the shaped front – a lovely soft filling with a high percentage of down.

We didn’t need to do any work to the gilding but our furniture restorer did touch in the paintwork over one area that had been suffered some damage  – now you’d never know.