Hide Design: Using leather in your home.

For centuries cattle hide, known for its durability, long life and its resistance to both abrasion and wind, was used to bind and cover books, dress cowboys and line European luxury car interiors. Over the years leather made its way into the home mainly in furnishings that, in the 1970’s and 1980’s, became big, bulky and badly designed.

Today we all long for a family room sofa clad in buttery smooth Italian calf skin or an original Eames lounge chair in ebony hide. Get away from choosing an entire seating group for a living room or family room in the exact same design and color. Mix it up. Or just choose one piece in leather to balance out other upholstery fabrics in the room. Leather pieces stand great on their own. You can also mix leather with other fabrics on the same piece. Try upholstering a sofa or chair base in leather but the cushions in silk or other fabrics.
But to add a unique twist to your interiors, how about using leather as architectural detailing and finishing? Leather has moved off of our sofas and chairs and now onto a variety of surfaces including flooring, wall tile and even cabinetry. I had the opportunity to design a home office for a client where instead of wood wainscoting, we used 2’ x 3’ strips of leather tile. The look was sophisticated and unique. I was actually wonderfully surprised when the client agreed to this wall finishing even though the wife was a devout Hindu.

Check out the many ways leather can finish off any room.