The Story of a Sofa
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And then their is this sofa.... It needs upholstery too (like the armchair and the 7 dining chairs).
I do not really know what to say about that sofa. I do not even know exactly how we ended up with it.
Some might say, what is wrong with this sofa? Why it needs a new fabric? It looks very elegant. - Yes, it does. And it fitted very nicely in the entrance of my mother-in-law's house in the Veneto, Northern Italy. The leopard print is absolutely her style and that's how she upholstered the sofa after having found it at her favorite antique dealer in Marghera some years ago.
But one day, this sofa was in my house (well, also her son's house) thousands of miles further South in Calabria.
My Italian in-laws are super generous. Whenever you say, you like something, the next day it is on your doorstep (if possible). So, you have to be careful what you say. But in case of the sofa, no one said it would look nice in our entrance in Pizzo - not even did anyone say we like it.
I think, what happened was that my mother-in-law just had found another sofa at her favorite antique dealer which suited her place better - and she wanted to rearrange the furniture in her house. I don't think that Angelo was transporting half of the household on the roof of his car all the way down to the South of Italy (11 hours drive from Venice), since there were some other pieces of furniture and household items that ended up in Calabria. Some were for my in-laws place down here. And some were for our house. Some don't match our taste at all. And some came in very handy actually. The rest we gradually return... The sofa just stayed.
It was clear from the beginning, that it does not fit in the living room. We placed it in the entrance, where people could sit down to put shoes on, or to pose their belongings while visiting. And if you look at it, its quiet cute, (seating space is 130cm / 52 inch). And if you look closer, it has two shells in-carved in the wooden frame. Beach Style! But the leopard print is definitely NOT going to stay!
A new fabric needs to give the sofa a more modern look
A purple velvet would look elegant. But it is a summer house, and CC, my husband, did not want a warm fabric.
The entrance, where the sofa now is standing, we call "the Venetian Room", since Angelo had decided to paint the walls in Venetian red. And we have two Venetian paintings - guess where from? - From my mother-in-laws favorite antique shop in Marghera. Further, this room has not only red walls, it has a turquoise ceiling and a light blue walk through... complicated to explain, but it's a color folly.
In my earlier post, I told, how CC came fabric shopping with me. Just before the shop was closing, he passed by a grey fabric, that was displayed as a curtain. He stopped, and asked: "How about that?" - Yes, yes! I totally was with him. What a great idea. It neutralize and modernize the whole thing! It brings out the wooden frame, it reflects only colours we already have enough of - what a perfect solution. The fabric we have chosen, is not very thick, but it is a easy to handle polyester and therefor we get it at a super price too. It looks grey from far, but indeed it is a grey with a BLUE thread. Perfect!
I have photoshoped the sofa to visualize the greige upholstery.
The fabric is only 54 inches wide (137cm) and the sofa is 130cm long. 3 meter might be enough, but I am going to get 4 meter to be able to use it the other direction in case the material is too short.
