Furniture for Small Spaces: The DFS Capsule Collection

Last week I had the absolute pleasure of being invited to the launch of the DFS Capsule collection  in the ultra-cool 'Skinny House' in London's Soho area. It was a fantastic event and particularly eye-opening for me, I have to admit.

Until last Tuesday, whenever I thought of DFS, I thought mostly of sofas that were sumptuous, comfortable and... way too big for my house. I live in a very small post-war, end-of-terrace house. Even with a kitchen extension (that's not very big either) and a concerted effort to keep our belongings to a manageable amount it still can feel small and cramped. Our living room is longer than it is wide, but due to the positioning of the doors, the furniture can only be placed against the walls. It's so narrow we can't even have a coffee table without tripping over it! Sofas  can only be of a certain depth too, so L-shaped sofas, chaises and recliners are not suitable at all. 

Finding a sofa that will not only work in our space, but will also look good, is truly difficult and, I'll be honest, DFS only ever seemed to stock furniture that we'd consign to the 'when we have a bigger house' pipe-dream. Until now, that is! 

DFS have obviously been listening to my woes. And the woes of plenty of people I imagine. Not only are post-war houses teeny-tiny - a lot of new-builds and apartments are too - and there must be millions of homes like mine, where people can only lust after the gigantic squishy sofa of their dreams. They have come up with the most fabulous solution: Capsule - Style for Small Spaces.

With sleek, timeless designs and a huge variety of fabrics, colours and even feet (check out those copper ones especially!) to choose from - it's hard not to love this collection of sofas, armchairs and foot-stools. I adore the clean lines they've used in the designs. There's something of a scandi-chic look to them - which conveniently fits perfectly with the mid-century-modern bones of my house. 

Choosing a fabric is nearly impossible, however. From herringbone, to brushed cotton, suede to velvet and more  - having seen them in real life I can assure you that they're are all wonderful quality and equally lovely to the touch. As if that wasn't enough - the choice of colours is really impressive too - that mustard yellow is perfection... but so is the teal... and the charcoal....

The furniture not only looks gorgeous, but it is functional too. All of the sofas are under 2 meters wide, which means they should fit in the smallest of rooms. You can even remove the arms to get them up narrow or winding staircases. The fabrics, while looking and feeling luxurious are actually designed to be really hard wearing - and are even washable, which makes them suitable for family life too. Each piece is also handmade to order, in the UK, comes with a 15 year guarantee and, most importantly of all, they are really comfortable.

The Skinny House was the perfect location for the launch. It is tall and narrow and a perfect bank canvas to show the DFS Capsule Collection off. The room 'sets' were styled to perfection and it made me want to move straight in.

We got to meet the design team behind the collection too and they spoke about their design process and how they got their ideas from paper to physical products. We also had a go at creating a cushion design ourselves, which will be printed up for real (!!) and then we were rewarded with cake. It doesn't get better than that.

I also found it really interesting to hear that DFS worked closely with Nottingham Trent University for the fabric designs in this series and that design students were offered chances for employment with DFS after they graduated. It's great to see big, successful companies like this supporting local employment.

It was a fabulous day with a lovely group of  bloggers, who I'll tag below (check them out - they are amazing!):
What She Wears, Lust Living, The Lovely Drawer, Sorry About The Mess, Bang On Style

Big thanks to DFS for hosting us and for a chance to see their gorgeous new collection up close.

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For more about interiors see:

The Only Way is Up... or Maybe Out

Slow Progress

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Disclosure: This post was done in collaboration with DFS but all images, words and thoughts are my own. Visit their website to find out more about their great range of DFS Sofas www.dfs.ie