One of the items I love to search UsedRegina for is a granny sofa. That’s what I call them. Really they’re French Provincial or Louis style, or English Victorian, or Swedish Gustavian sofas or settees… but I group them all under the moniker “granny sofa”, because they look like something you’d find in an old granny’s house.

They’re often curvy, decoratively carved, relatively small, sometimes have button tufting, and I think they’re fabulous. And though they may stir up images of old lady decor they can look fresh, cool, and modern if handled correctly.

If you’re really gutsy, and have the right look in your home, you could embrace the velvet, the wood, and the tufting and go all-out glamourous:

But most of us aren’t that gutsy, nor do we have the soaring ceilings and decadent crown moldings of an old Victorian home to pull this look off. So I think there are two other ways these sofas can be redone to work in a home. One is to neutralize it with solid, pale colours like this one upholstered in a white denim:

It still looks pretty, and has a ton of personality – but it’s a bit more subtle.

The other approach is to juxtapose the sofa’s old-fashioned lines with a really modern fabric – whether it’s a punchy colour or a geometric or whimsical pattern.

Here the vivid blue upholstery pops against the painted wood, and paired with the chartreuse walls it looks modern and fun.

Here’s a round up of some “Granny Sofas” from around the country!  (You can click on the pictures to find the listing.)