Not so many years ago, Having a 3 or 4 piece leather suite in your living room was seen as something of a class achievement. All pieces of furniture co-ordinated and matching, in the same fabric upholstery. But times are changing. Here at Distinctive Chesterfields, we have steadily been noticing buying trends moving away from the set suites. People are now, it seems, actively looking for a group of individual pieces of furniture, rather than a suite of chairs and sofas.

The larger, focal point sofas, in premium, soft, leathers are proving more popular than ever, and the old wing chair is being given a new lease of life with contemporary polished studs and brightly coloured hides.

The days of the old antique green and antique red chesterfield suite is numbered!

A demic chesterfield is a sofa which uses the offcuts of leather and is not made using full hides.

Prior to upholstery, a patchwork or leather scraps is sewn together and laid over the frame. It is then applied- using more buttons that for a usual chesterfield so as to hide the hems.

The frames will usually be of lower quality too, as the point of a Demic Leather Chesterfield is not best quality but cheapest price.

The real problem with a demic, though, will only become apparent over time. The stiching can pull and work loose- leaving unfixed holes on the sofa, which then let in dirt and grime and can rot away the sofa from the inside.

For a comparison- for a full hide 4 seat sofa in good quality antique hide you can expect to pay £1,000- £1,500 whereas the value if a demic of the same basic design is only £300- £400

The old saying does stand true here- you get what you pay for!

The problem with a Leather Chesterfield is that a good portion of the price you pay is for the bits you cant see rather than the bits you can, which is why i decided to write this article to let people know what to look for in a good quality chesterfield sofa.

Firstly, the easy bits to spot-

Is it real leather?

the easiest way to find out is to ask or smell.

Is it a demic?

This is also fairly easy to spot. Look at the arm from the front. Is the last button on the top of the arm or the outside of the arm? if the top then the leather is full hide, if on the side then the sofa is a demic. These are much cheaper in price and quality. I will post more on this later.

Other than that, without pulling the thing apart, check the weight- the heavier the better, and check the reputation of the seller- and bear in mind that many sellers DONT have anything to do with the manufacturing process, they just buy and sell

A Club Chair is a chair with level arms and back, often fully buttoned or tufted but can be plain upholstered. It will usually have a low, deep seating position and be covered in leather. Taking their name from the early nineteenth centure gentlemans clubs in London town, these chairs were most often accompanied by chesterfield sofas and high wing chairs and most commonly fourn in Antique Red or Antique Green Leather.

What is the difference between an antique chesterfield and an antiqued chesterfield?

This is a question i am asked often.

The answer is very simple- an antique chesterfield is an old sofa, with an old frame, and old foams and leather. An antiqued chesterfield is a new sofa with a new frame and foams/ springs and leather, which goes through a hand applied antiquing process to give it an aged appearance.

Well which is best i hear you ask?

The answer is different for different people:

Some crave originality and are prepared to live with the comprimise (a sixty year old sofa will not take the same daily use as a new sofa).

Others prefer to sacrifice the originality of an old sofa for a new one which can be used as an everyday piece of furniture, yet still retains the appearance of a used chesterfield.