AD | Paid partnership with Loaf.

I’m a huge fan of summer, but I have to admit, as the dark nights loom closer, the air is getting crisper, the house starts to feel so much more cosy and all I want to do is hibernate indoors. I love cooking winter stews and soups and look forward to kicking back on the sofa, snuggled up under a cosy blanket and a good box set. I’m even more excited this year because we no longer have to squash 4 of us plus a dog onto one sofa! If you’re familiar with my living room, you’re probably thinking why squash onto one when you have two! Well whilst my lovely vintage leather chesterfield is gorgeously stylish to look at, I can’t say the same when it comes to sitting on it! So it only really gets used as a last resort when my husband reaches the point where he’s lost the feeling in his legs and desperate to stretch out!

When I think of big, squishy sofa’s, I immediately think of Loaf. Their Bagsie sofa has been on the top of my wish list since I first spotted it in the back of Living etc.. years ago! The deep, button-back design just gets me every time. As much as I love it, having a teenager and a tween in the house, I knew that we needed something a little bigger. So after looking at their designs on-line, we decided to go for a corner sofa so we would all have plenty of room to stretch out and relax. We chose the Oscar corner sofa with even sides, we love the simple shape, the depth and most of all the size and squishiness! Also, the seat cushions are feather wrapped, so they still have the softness but won’t loose their shape over time and end up sagging, it would drive me crazy if I was forever plumping them back up! I headed down to their shack in Battersea to look at fabric options and test it out.

In my mind I was set on choosing a fairly neutral colour, I love the sludgy, swampy colours like greys, browns, blacks, but I’d also seen a sofa on Instagram in a gorgeous green, so feeling brave, I picked this green velvet fabric up, but then soon decided I wasn’t actually that brave, it was a little too vibrant for me and probably wouldn’t stand the test of time {in other words, knowing me, I would probably go off it too quickly!} I spent a good couple of hours looking at all the grey and brown samples in velvet and linen, there’s so much choice and a sofa like this is an investment to last so I wanted to make sure that I covered every option.

The Oscar sofa which we had chosen was actually on display in the shack in this gorgeous mermaid plush velvet, I kicked off my shoes, curled up in the corner and I fell in love! The mermaid colour wasn’t too bright and I knew it would definitely work with the colour palette, that I love, for in my home. So with that in mind, I took away a selection of my favourite samples, including the mermaid plush velvet to see how they looked in my living room.

I love to mix up textures in my home so decided that a velvet sofa would work great alongside my linen loveseat. Velvet is so luxurious and super soft, so the thought of having a huge sofa in this fabric for the whole family to get cosy on was just the dream! Velvet can often be considered as a delicate material that is impractical but actually, the short, flat pile makes it durable and also means that any dirt (usually biscuit crumbs in our house!) or pet hairs just fall away from the fabric. I actually love the way that velvet ages, the pile starts to look a little bruised in certain areas leaving a gorgeous patina so it never looks too perfect. I guess just like leather, it shows character and gets better with age. If this is something that will bother you then loaf also offer a clever velvet which is spill resistant, super durable and has an extremely high rub count.

We were all super excited once we’d placed our order for the Oscar even-sided corner sofa in mermaid plush velvet and the kids must have asked at least 3 times per week if it was “nearly here yet!”  You can imagine how painful a 9 hour drive to Cornwall was a few summers ago can’t you! When it arrived, I have to admit that I had a nail biting moment as it only just managed to fit through the door! Measurements were never my strong point! Luckily I had chosen bolt on arms which saved the day! It’s definitely worth triple checking doorway measurements which are all on the loaf website and speaking to the staff who can advise different options to make sure it fits into your home!

We’ve had the sofa since the beginning of July, I had a little move around and put the love seat in the bay window and the chesterfield sofa into the back half of our living room. I wanted to get a really good feel for the new sofa before I spoke about it and I can honestly say that having a big, comfy sofa like this has made such a difference to our family time. Alfie is 14 now and normally hibernates in his room, but since having a bigger, squishy sofa, he now sits downstairs with us most nights which has been so lovely. He and Jersey who is 11 steal the corner spot most of the time, leaving myself and my husband at either side. But thats fine as when they’re in bed, it’s our time to hog the corner and relax in front of the TV.

Working from home means that it’s not often that I take a lunch break, I’m usually sat eating lunch at my desk whilst editing photos or tapping away on my computer. But since the new sofa arrived I’ve started to take a little bit more time for myself to recharge by curling up with a book or a magazine for half an hour. It’ doesn’t happen every day, but I’m working on it!

I think cold, winter days make you really slow down and live life in the slow lane. Since the drop in temperature and darker nights, it’s so nice that the house feels extra comfortable and snug as we’re going to be spending extra time curled up on the sofa drinking hot chocolate, cups of tea and maybe the odd glass of red wine!!

We’re always super busy throughout the week with work, school and after school activities so weekends are our time to kick back a little. On a Sunday morning Alfie, more often than not, has a football match. So we’re up and out early and well wrapped up! Afterwards we call for the Sunday papers and the kids pick up some chocolate or sweets to eat whilst curled up watching a movie wrapped in fluffy blankets. The loose, feather filled cushions on the Oscar sofa mean that we can position them where we want to make sure we’re extra snug!

It’s also got the thumbs up from Chester our dog who takes up more room on there than the rest of us! We had an occasions where I found some melted chocolate on the sofa… no one likes to own up to it of course! But I’ve spot cleaned it with a clean, damp cloth and it came off no problem. With 2 kids, a dog I also added the Castelan fabric Protection which covers the sofa for 5 years against any spillages.

My stripped back coffee table looking great with the new sofa.

As you can probably tell, we’re totally in love with our new sofa, it ticks all the boxes of not just looking super stylish but also very comfortable with the perfect amount of squishiness! My husband, kids and I all cosy up on our sofa every day and it’s where we feel most connected as a family, so it’s such an important part of our lives, I’m looking forward to all the memories we’re going to make together. What do you think of the new addition to our home?