LivingwithFlorals.
The fabrics people fall in love with. All the joy of a floral sofa, and one honest word about looking after it.
I will not pretend to be neutral: I adore a floral sofa. It is a garden you can sit in, in flower all year round.
A very British love affair
The British love a floral more than anyone, and the reason is right there through the window: we are a nation of gardeners given only a few reliable months of garden a year. So for centuries we have done the sensible thing and brought the garden indoors, printed onto everything, in flower long after November has shut the real one down. Chintz arrived in English drawing rooms hundreds of years ago and never left. It has been declared over and over, and outlived every fashion that tried to see it off. A floral sofa is a very English thing to love: the garden brought inside, a small refusal to let the grey win, a room that has decided to be cheerful.
Three florals from the library
The joy of the mix
The real fun begins when you stop treating a floral as a thing on its own, because florals love company. They go beautifully with stripes: a meadow print next to a Sea Holly or a Petunia Red Stripe cushion looks like a deckchair on a lawn, which is rather the point. They sit happily with each other too, and the old rule still works: let the patterns share a colour, vary the scale so one is quiet and one is loud, and let a single floral lead. Cushions are the easy way in, a chance to try a print before you commit a whole sofa to it. And a loose cover lets the same sofa change with the seasons, a floral for summer and a calm plain for winter, just like the garden it came from. A floral room is never quite finished, and that is the happiest thing about it.
The gallery wall
From the approved galleryCoco 2.5 seater sofa in Wildwood Ivory
A walk through the meadow
Scroll sideways →Coco 3.5 seater sofa in Wildwood Ivory and large coffee table in customer's own material
Coco 3.5 seater sofa in Wildwood Ivory
Why florals are dry-clean only
I love them far too much to tuck the care advice away in the small print, so here it is, out in the open. Choose a floral knowing how to look after it and you will love it for years. Choose one on impulse and it can disappoint, the first time someone reads the care label after a spill rather than before. So, the honest part in full.
Our florals and prints, English Garden, the Wildwoods, Little Magnolia and their friends, are generally dry-clean only, because machine washing degrades the print, and that includes prints on cotton-linen bases. English Garden must never see a washing machine. Choose a floral knowing that, budget for the cleaner the way you budget for anything you love, and it will repay you with more joy per square metre than any fabric we make.
Choose a floral with open eyes, and you will love it for years.
SophieQuestions, answered honestly
Can I machine wash a floral sofa cover?
No. Our florals and prints are generally dry-clean only, because machine washing degrades the print, and that includes prints on cotton-linen bases. English Garden in particular must never see a machine. The loose cover unties for an easy trip to the professionals, and the print stays perfect for decades.
Are florals a bad idea with children and pets?
Not bad, just honest: a floral in a busy household means a regular dry-cleaning relationship, and you should budget for it knowingly. Many families decide the joy is worth it; many put the floral on an armchair or footstool with a washable stripe on the main sofa. Both are right. Only the unbudgeted version goes wrong.
What do I do when something spills on a floral?
Blot immediately with a clean, dry towel or kitchen roll, never rub, and never use a wet towel on a dry-clean-only fabric. Then take the cover to the cleaner. The first sixty seconds are about containment, not heroics, and dry-clean fabrics reward restraint.
Why do florals need more fabric than plains?
Pattern matching. Our cutters align the print across seams, cushions and panels so the design flows unbroken over the whole sofa, and that takes extra meterage, dependent on the pattern repeat. It is one of the quiet skills that separates a beautifully made floral sofa from a collage, and we think it is worth every centimetre.
Will a floral date?
Trends come and go; gardens do not. Choose a floral because you love it rather than because it is having a moment, give it calm company in the room, and remember the loose cover's long game: years from now the same sofa can wear a new cover entirely, so even a change of heart is a cover, not a skip.