Emily Ward is a Social Media Manager, living in Worcester and working in Birmingham. Emily has always had a passion for soft furnishings and interior design. So when Emily told us that she’d been shopping at Furniture Village, we asked her to write up why she chose her sofa.

Emily told us:

"My biggest regret in life is not following my heart and doing the job I really wanted to do - being an interior designer! I’d always been a huge fan of Art, Fashion and Textiles and studied them both at college. However when it came to life career choices, I thought interior design might not be a secure career choice and so I studied Advertising and Marketing at University.

However, my passion for interior furnishings didn’t stop and I studied an Interior Design course in my own time after my degree and worked at a local Soft Furnishings shop whilst studying. This is where my enthusiasm for creating my own look rooms and making my own furnishings started. I loved spending my Saturdays helping customers match designs, fabrics, colour schemes and furnishings to create their own individual style. I also loved learning how to make curtains, cushions and reupholster old tatty pieces of furniture to give them a new look.

So, when my partner and I moved into our new home 4 years ago, the challenge of putting our own stamp on a dated home was a project I looked to with open arms.

Our house is a 30 year old modern 4 bedroom home. While you might think “surely that doesn’t need much work?”, it had been occupied for over 10 years by a lovely 80 year old lady, who had a fascination with blue.

We were most proud of our living room (post transformation), which was previously long and thin and generally very difficult to place any sort of furniture in. We extended it into the dining room to give the illusion of extra space and set about sourcing a corner sofa and suite which could help create a feeling of intimacy. We knew we wanted to make this room light, refreshing and calming as it was where we were going to be spending most of our time. Plus, we wanted to have this as the perfect room to entertain in.

The day we sourced our suite from Furniture Village was during a cold, wet October. The evening before I’d been out with friends and I think my now husband decided to take full advantage of my weary state. Furniture Village was well equipped with almost every item of possible sofa, corner sofa and armchair we needed. As soon as we both set eyes on the Collins and Hayes Catalina sofa we knew it was the one we wanted.

Apart from being light and contemporary, out of all suites we sat on, this one was by far the comfiest. After a long hard day at work, this was the biggest box the sofa had to tick. As soon as we’d sat on that corner sofa in Furniture Village, we knew it was the one! As an added bonus, it looks amazing with a mix and match of colourful scatter cushions (“not more cushions!” my partner said.)

The pale colour, which is a complete change from the previous dark and dingy blue, makes the perfect base for changing colour schemes with the seasons. I knew we had got this purchase decision right, when a year later, a good friend of mine, who heads up Interior Design at Harrods bought exactly the same suite.

4 years on and despite having two very muddy cats that also have a tremendous love for the Collin and Hayes feathered back cushions, it still looks as good as new.

Emily"