Saturday morning dawns and we know that after breakfast, we will pop down the hill and see the 'granny gang' in Waitrose. We all make an effort to attempt to coincide at about 10.30 come hell or high water and today is no exception.
These days, I rather rely upon the hope that Meg gets off to sleep fairly easily and does not have a distressed evening so that I can concentrate upon any tasks that I want to undertake some time from about 8.30 onwards until I get myself off to bed at about 10.00om. Fortunately, last night Meg seemed to settle fairly easily which let me concentrate on what I wanted to do in the evening which was to put the finishing touches to the look of the leather sofa which I had purchased from AgeUK but had taken them about two weeks before they had a spare delivery slot. I had a fair idea what I wanted to try to do but in practice the sofa was in remarkably good condition when it arrived. I wonder if before delivery, they had someone in the store to give it a brief once over with some restorative furniture polish before they actually delivered it. Sometimes, when one makes a purchase there is a syndrome called 'buyer's remorse' where one really regrets the purchase that one has made and wonders whether or not to return it. But in this case, I had the opposite of buyer's remorse which I suppose is buyer's delight because although I had evidently taken the decision to purchase it and tried it out for comfort, the sofa when it arrived seemed to look so much better than when I had tried it out in the store. As an interesting twist, our domestic help had wandered into the store and seen this sofa and rather fancied it but noted it had a 'Sold' sign on it. I had confided in her that when she called round last Wednesday about my purchase because I showed her the couple of throws that I had already purchased in anticipation of its eventual delivery. Although it did not really need it, my 'baby wipe' solution was put into place to remove any shop grime but in the event, it was in a very clean condition when delivered. Then I put into effect the 'Leather Silk' treatment to give it a final touch of restoration before the next stage of the process. I had a quick look underneath it to see if there was any maker's trademark but none was to be found. But what was attached to the underside was a little swatch of the leather from which it was covered which I suppose you could utilise in case there was something like a cigarette burn on it and you needed to make a patch repair. I wanted to try to discover whether the type of leather utilised was 'genuine' leather or a man-made plasticised substitute named PUV or faux leather, But a quick trawl of the internet revealed that this is a not an easy question to answer as there are a whole slew of different types of leather varying in expense naturally from the most expensive to the least expensive and to make life even more complicated it is quite possible that different qualities of leather are utilised for different parts of the sofa, the most expensive being utilised for the parts of the sofa that will receive the most wear such as the seats) and the least expensive for other parts that receive no wear to speak of. One website I consulted listed at least six types of leather depending upon the layer of the hide that had been used. So my source referred to full-grain leather, top grain leather, split grain leather, Nubuck, bi-cast leather and bonded leather before you actually start to consider what is popularly known as faux leather which is not really a leather at all. This is all very confusing but at the end of the day, I think that what I have purchased is a combination of split grain leather and bonded leather. The latter is composed of scraps of leather once the real 'quality' parts of the hide have been removed and these are then bonded together into a sort of chemical soup which is still 'real' leather but not as we might imagine it. So all of this is really confusing and only a matter of academic interest. I think the mainly American websites are at pains to educate their more discerning customers so that one knows the type of questions to ask of the furniture salesperson in the furniture store. Anyway, I intend to take my swatch down to the local cobblers who have a very good reputation in the town (and who regularly repair my hat for me) to see what their opinion is of the matter if they have the knowledge base. Now for the throws I have utilised. One is a throw I had bought originally and is a creamy, linen type look and goes down the back of the sofa so that one is not presented with a slab of brown upon walking into the room. Most people would have their sofa backs against a wall and the fronts would have some scatter cushions and hence this question would not arise. The indian cotton throw in a delicate palish green design which I purchase just the other day goes beautifully across the seated area to almost give a two tone appearance. The two 'Eau de Nile' cushions I acquired recently have now found a good home as well. As a final finishing touch, I impulse bought a 'Chindi' rig when I was shopping in my local Aldi store. I can do no better than to quote a website telling me about this type of rug: 'Chindi rugs are a type of rug that is originally from India. The word Chindi means leftover in Hindi, and these rugs are made by weaving together leftover scraps of fabric. These scraps can come from old clothes, bed sheets, or any other type of fabric. Chindi rugs are authentically and ethically made in India with recycled materials, and they add a traditional and colorful vibe to any space in your home or office.' So this is placed in front of the new sofa and adds a colorful, not to say ethnic, look to the seating area. The final thing that I did was to take a photo of both the 'bare' and also the 'decorated' sofa and this will be added to the website that I maintain documenting the various types of furniture I have bought, where and how it was purchased and what its final use has turned out to be.
© Mike Hart [2024]