At Casco Bay Furniture, we are often asked about the history of the Chesterfield sofa. Here is a bit of that history.

The word “Chesterfield” is a term used today by many in North American and particularly in Canada to describe what most of us commonly refer to as a sofa. But the term has much older origins. It is generally thought that the Fourth Earl of Chesterfield, Lord Philip Stanford, who lived from 1694 to 1773 and died at the age of 79, commissioned his furniture maker to build a leather sofa that would not wrinkle the clothes of a gentlemen sitting upright, but in comfort.

The other day it occurred to me that, although I had been in the furniture business for a long time, I could probably learn more about cushion construction…and it may be true for many of you. I decided to contact Lawrence Sweeny, owner of Larin Cushion Company of  North Carolina.

Lawrence how long have you been in the cushion business?

I’ve been in the business for 40 years. I started in the cushion business at Hickory Spring Manufacturing Company, a company that is a leading supplier of foam, springs, and other furniture related components. After three years, I left the company and formed my own company, catering to a portion of the business I thought was not being served well in the industry… the high-end business and specialty manufacturers. We make a quality product and rarely do we have a cushion failure. I have made several million cushions over the years and we may have had only 4 or 5 returns a year.

We have all admired a beautiful piece of furniture, a sofa, a dining room table, but have you ever wondered how it goes from concept to reality? Surely it must be a complex process.

Think about it. Take a sofa, for example. Not only does it have to look good, it has to sit good for the vast amount of people—with all of their different sizes, heights and shapes—who are considering purchasing it,

A quality sofa is also expected to last along time, decades even. It has to take the abuse of kids, grandchildren, teenagers, cats, dogs and other assorted creatures. I decided to contact our staff designer, D Ross of  Hickory, North Carolina to learn more about how this is accomplished.

At Casco Bay Furniture we recently had a customer call us. Their new leather sofas had just been delivered and they were afraid to uncover it because of their cat.

I had a chuckle, but I do understand the dilemma, as I also have a cat. The cat’s name is Max and he’s a tuxedo cat. My wife and daughter love that cat. I would say on average the cat gets about a hundred kisses a day (and yes, I do get jealous!) His blankets are fluffed, his food is carefully selected, and he is constantly entertained by an array of toys and distractions.

Do you have a favorite leather chair that’s been part of the family for many years that needs some TLC, or a leather sofa that met with an unfortunate accident, or damaged from an exuberant family pet? I talked to Sharon Brown, the owner and sole operator of  The Leather Doctor located in Southern California. At Casco Bay Furniture we  think Sharon is one of the best leather tech’s in the country.

We would all like to hire a decorator to assist us in decorating our home, but sometimes it’s not in the budget. A qualified decorator can cost from $100 to $200 an hour. At Casco Bay Furniture Review I decided to interview Eva, an old acquaintance of mine. Eva is probably one of the most artistically talented individuals I have ever met and certainly one of the best decorators I know.