Filed under: Your Home, Living Room, Furniture, Mitchell Gold and Bob Williams
You asked: "I've always had a long-distance love affair with linen -- there's a pile of photos featuring this upholstery fabric in my design file. Can you help me get to know it better before I commit to living with it?"
....Mitchell Gold & Bob Williams answer:
You've come to the right place. We're long-time linen lovers, too. It was among the first fabrics we chose for our upholstery collection 20 years ago, and it remains a big part of our style.
Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams
What is Linen? The Versatile Classic.
Linen gives a sophisticated look, yet still conveys that all-important welcoming quality. As a natural fabric, it's also meshes with our green spirit. It drapes and tailors well, making it work for slipcovered and upholstered pieces. In fact, it's hard to find a style linen doesn't suit. It swings traditional or modern with ease, equally at home on a wing chair or a square-arm sofa.
Linen can be a good investment; it's classic and perennially in style. (And we mean it - the fabric dates to ancient Egypt!) And its simplicity makes it easy to update with a change of accessories. It also "reads" as luxury, in a subtle way, without the glitz. If you want to add sparkle, however, linen looks particularly elegant with nailhead trim. And a sofa in linen is a perfect background for a display of decorative pillows.
Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams
What is Linen? A Color/Texture Pop.
Natural and bleached-white linens are rich neutrals that fit with our serenity-oriented color philosophy:To keep things calm, chose no more than three or four hues for a room, with one or two of those being accents. This is where linen's slubbed texture is a bonus, adding another layer of subtle interest to the scene.
Linen takes dyes beautifully, giving you wonderfully rich color options. (We've fallen in love with some beautiful grays this season.) It also conveys subtleties well - for instance, our Spring 2011 line includes a linen-cotton blend in a bright white, a warm white, and a crème so that you can get the shade you need.
Linen is especially durable and resists pilling. However, like any natural product, it has slight inconsistencies and color variations, which, to us, is part of the charm. For overall care, we recommend professional upholstery cleaning.
What is Linen? Yes, a Fabric with a Few Drawbacks.
However, as in clothing, though generally crisp, wear or use tends to wrinkle it. So, if your linen slipcovered sofa will see a lot of lounging, you'll need to appreciate a more relaxed look. And, as one of our customers once said, linen "isn't ideal for sitting around in your underwear on," though it does soften over time.
As much as we love linen, we have to say there are probably better ways for a busy household with kids, pets, and the occasional sloppy guest to achieve sophistication, especially in the main seating area. Stains are difficult to remove. Spilled red wine will be a permanent addition. A darker color might help somewhat, as might picking a linen-cotton blend, which is slightly easier to clean, wrinkles less, and has a softer hand. But from our make-life-easier viewpoint, family-friendly faux suede in the living room and luxe linen in the master bedroom sounds much more relaxing.
Here's more of Mitchell & Bob's great advice:
Small-Space Living Room Seating
Expert Q&A: Warm-Weather Spruce Ups for the Living Room
Want to know more about linen? Check out this video about the fabric: