Luxurious Old Fashioned Sofa Styles

Add some classic elegance and a bit of timeless luxury to your interior with a more old-fashioned sofa style. Though there are always plenty of new sofa styles available and fashions that come and go, a few designs have stood the test of time and continue to be popular year after year. These luxurious old-fashioned sofas are the perfect addition to a period home, or to act as an eye-catching centre-piece in a modern interior.

Barnes Leather Midi Sofa in jin brown with corrientes brick lumbar cushions

Characteristics of Old Fashioned Sofa Styles

Although old fashioned sofa styles vary, a few characteristics are common across most. Elegant lines, often incorporating turned legs, scrolled arm-rests, and luxurious materials like aniline leather, tweed, velvet or silk. Many, though not all, also include features like tufted buttons and castor feet.

Watson Grand in Bourbon – Versailles Green (Range 6)

Leather Chesterfield Sofa

Perhaps the quintessential luxurious old fashioned sofa, the chesterfield is a design that never goes out of fashion and looks perfect in almost any home. Incorporating scrolled arms and tufted buttons for that look of something lifted from an Edwardian drawing room, Chesterfields look particularly good in rich aniline leather or bright velvet.

Harrington Scrolled Arm in Vintage Aniline Leather

Consider the Harrington, a classic low-backed Chesterfield with hand-finished details and elegant features like raised legs and optional castor feet. Or, for a Chesterfield with a slightly more flamboyant silhouette, try the Cromwell; classic Chesterfield features scrolled arms and deep cushions with tufted buttons, but with the arms splayed out a little to create a less boxy and more distinctive shape.

Harrington 3 Seater Sofa in Vintage Aniline Leather

Velvet Sofa

If there’s one material that defines old fashioned luxury, it’s velvet. Soft, warm and inviting, but also reminiscent of Victorian sitting rooms or old country houses.

Though most sofas are available with velvet upholstery, the Stirling works particularly well; a classic Chesterfield design with luxurious feather filled seats and a huge range of velvet available as fabric options, so you can pick the exact colour and style you want.

Stirling Midi in Oscar Velvet Teal Green

Alternatively, for a very different look, try the Bedgebury. An understated, simple sofa with elegant, classic lines and matching feather filled scatter cushions to add both comfort and a relaxed look, the Bedgebury is ideally suited to velvet upholstery. It enhances the comfort, makes the cushions extra inviting, and reinforces the clean lines of the sofa.

Bedgebury Medium Sofa in Stain Resistant Velvet Peridot 37

Finally, for the perfect velvet sofa, have a look at the Paisley. An adaptation of the classic Chesterfield style, but with a gently curving back and smaller, unscrolled arms, the Paisley is a unique design that draws the eye without being showy or ostentatious. It seems almost tailor-made for a subtle velvet fabric, making it the height of quiet luxury.

Paisley Midi in Oscar Velvet Dusty Pink

Duresta Fabric Sofas

Duresta specialises in luxury classic sofas made in accordance with timeless designs, incorporating old fashioned features but updated for the modern era.

Waldorf in Mulsanne Mink (Range 8) with Mulsanne Stripe Mink and Scirocco Stripe Mink Scatters

The Duresta Belvedere is a perfect example of this approach; a beautiful sofa with classic old fashioned features like high legs and castor feet, and gently scrolling arms. It also features an optional valance; an elegant but fundamentally old-fashioned feature.

Belvedere 3 Seater in Brampton Damask Stone (Range 6) with Scatters in Brampton Stripe Stone and Bramton Roudel Stone

Another option from the Duresta range is the Ruskin. With its triple raised, castor-feet legs and splayed, slightly scrolled arms, as well as the twisted braiding along the base and arms, the Ruskin just oozes luxury and glamour. It is available in a number of beautiful classic patterns that evoke the elegant state-rooms of Britain’s finest homes and make this sofa a highlight of whatever space it is placed in.

Ruskin in Alnwick Russet / Stone (Range 6)