What Chesterfields Mean to Me, By Brynne of The Gathered Home

If you’ve been keeping up with our ‘What Chesterfields Mean to Me’ series, you’ll know each of our writers has a very special – and sometimes, personal – story regarding the memorable moment which first sparked their love for this unique style of furniture. One of our writers, Jenny, talked about how ‘Olive’ – her Chesterfield chair, which had belonged to her partner at the time. She even explains how she wasn’t a fan of the chair when it first became part of the furniture in her home. Today, though, she couldn’t imagine living in a home which didn’t feature the chair. Such is the power of the Chesterfield.

Brynne of the blog The Gathered Home has a very different story about the day she first became acquainted with her prized possession – her Chesterfield sofa. And she’s agreed to share it with us here on our blog; we’re leaving you in the very capable hands of Brynne…

I was introduced to chesterfield sofas when I first discovered the world of home design blogging. It was one of those stars-align, heavenly-choirs-sing, voice-from-heaven moments. Prior to this, I thought that all leather sofas were of the saggy baggy elephant variety – overstuffed, shapeless, and most frequently found in their natural habitat in forest green, navy or burgundy colors.

Enter the chesterfield sofa, center stage.

Now here was a leather sofa with style, with flair, with feminine wiles but a masculine presence. The hunt was on: I was determined to find my own chesterfield. I drooled over weathered leather with the patina of decades, but soon discovered equally gorgeous versions in crisp linen and moody velvet.

As a young, broke, newly-wed college student, I turned to Craigslist classifieds to track down my “dream sofa”. Which proved to be rather difficult. Wouldn’t you know, the rest of the world has a taste for button tufting as well? Each time I spotted a likely candidate, I would email to inquire only to hear back that it had just sold.

Finally, one evening my husband and I were out enjoying a few drinks together when I found the perfect vintage leather Chesterfield sofa (browsing Craigslist on my phone, as we Craigslist-addicts tend to do)… Actual acquisition of the sofa turned into a lengthy tale involving a cutthroat bidding war and outpacing a hurricane (which you can read here, if you are so inclined), but suffice it to say: I now have my dream sofa.

“Here was a leather sofa with style, with flair, with feminine wiles but a masculine presence.”

This particular Chesterfield is around forty years old, and the leather has only gotten more beautiful with age in my opinion! Yes, it is somewhat worn around the edges, and a button or two is missing, but I mean… Forty years! I only hope I look this good four decades from now.

That epitomizes why I love Chesterfields – while they may be on trend at the moment, they are also classic and timeless, and in my opinion they only improve with age and wear. And when you find a piece/style of furniture that looks better the more use it sees, then you hold onto it and profess rabid fandom, my friends!

 “…when you find a piece/style of furniture that looks better the more use it sees, then you hold onto it and profess rabid fan-dom”

Another lovely Chesterfield story, I’m sure you’ll agree. A big thank you to Brynne for taking the time to put pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard) to share this with us.

Don’t forget to check out Brynne’s blog  – make sure you pop over and say hello if you get chance.