I saw "leather club chair" and "cottage" and instantly thought of this picture. It's from an old issue of Cottage Living magazine and is maybe one of my favorite rooms ever. Of course, these leather chairs are *extremely* distressed (verging on totally trashed), but I love the mix of different materials in this room, it looks very comfortable and I think totally has that cabiny-but-not-woodsy vibe. So, I think the answer to your question is... yes!

Here is a link that might be useful: plus she has an off-white sofa too!

Thanks Amanda! I had forgotten about that site...just spent alot of time browsing...drool. I do think that the chair could work. I think I'll go get it today :O)

That's a wonderful room, but I have to ask -- have my cats been visiting that house?

**shred, shred**

Do you have a picture of the club chair?

Without seeing it, I absolutely think it can work if it's distressed) enough. If it's a crisp, new-looking club chair, but the style is right, I have seen leather chairs in shelter mags, "aged" a bit by having a old quilt thrown over the back and maybe a crushed velvet slipcover just for the seat portion.

Post a pic if you have one! :-)

Joanna

I don't have a pic of it ... but I will tommorrow ... I bought it today :O) I will have to have auntjen's cats over to break it in ;O) After re-arranging the living room 500 times last night, I decided it was the best choice, based on the fact that it's much smaller than the slip-covered one, which was really quite huge....sooo cozy, but so huge. It was on clearance because it has a scratch on it, so I took that as a sign that it was meant to be ;O) I will post a pic once it's in my room. I am really excited!

It looks very similar to this one, except that it's a medium brown.

Here is a link that might be useful: {{!gwi}}

Growing up we had a summer house/very large cottage on a lake that was decorated just as you're describing. My grandfather had a leather club chair there and it looked perfectly wonderful. Put a cool old-looking Shabby Chic style throw pillow on it and you're all set. Leather wears wonderfully and the club chairs are soooo comfortable . . . and isn't that what Cottage style is all about?

I'm sure you noticed that in the room photo, lots of the brown in the chair is picked up elsewhere in the room. That is why it all fits together so nicely. You can do that too. I bet your new chair is very comfy and will work wonderfully.
Diane (1908 cottage)

We had almost that exact chair, in a med. brown leather, in our living room for years. Then decided it was too large for the space, and brought it down to our summer cottage even though I thought "hmm, not sure about a leather chair in a cottage." But it really works fine there (even though my standards for that house are pretty low!), and I'm sure yours will too. I have it in a room that has a braided rug, rustic pine bookcase, painted flea market table, etc.

Uh-oh .. I bought the chair last night, brought it home, and ... I hate it!!!!!!! I took pictures before I left for work this morning, so I will download those tonight. It looks so shiny & new, and so dark, and so masculine. I looked at easily a dozen pictures of rooms last night that had the look that I want, and had a leather chair, but when I set that chair down in my LR last night I wanted to cry. It was a final sale (scratched - was in the clearance section) so I am stuck with it. It also looks too small. I was worried that the slipcovered chair would be too large, and thought that this one would be better, but the leather one just looks too small...especially since the other chair in the room is bigger (the one that I am going to slipcover). I will post pictures later and see if you guys can talk me out of my tree. I was so excited, and I do feel that a leather chair can work in the room that I envision in my head, but it's not working right now :O(

Do you have kids and/or pets? Can you borrow any from someone? I bought 2 small scale leather club chairs w/ nailhead trim in January & they're beginning to look less 'shiny & new'.

Please, please don't worry yourself over this - you can make it work & we can help! I immediately thought of a magazine layout that I've always adored & will try to take a pic of it & post it when I get home from work.

Okay, not sure if any of these pics might fit in w/ your style, some are very cottagey & some are more traditional. At any rate they all either feature a leather chair or something in the room could be translated into a leather chair to give you an idea.

This is the pic I thought of right away:

Then I found these in my stash. There is a tufted black chair in 1 pic and a ragged office chair in the 2nd:

A random worn leather wingback:

and 2 for kicks where maybe there could be some translation of using a leather chair:

Ooohhh I love those pictures!! The last one in particular screams ME. Here are some of the pictures that I was looking at:

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And here is my reality :O(

This is the chair that I am going to slip-cover

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UGH!!!

Oh I think that you can totally pull it off!

Are you considering painting the walls at all? If you want color then a few that come to mind are SW Blond or Restrained Gold. SW Dromedary Camel if the other 2 go too yellow. Anything from the BM color strip w/ Waterbury Cream or the strip w/ Wilmington Tan. BM Revere Pewter was once recommended to me by someone here & it is a really nice lighter, warm grey.

There was a repeat of a Divine Design where Candice Olsen used BM Clarkesville Gray on the walls & Featherdown on all of the trim which was really pretty.

Eddie Bauer Alabaster is a really nice rich cream.

Get a nice light colored pillow for the chair to break up all of the darkness of the chair.

Another common thread among the pics that you posted as inspiration is a dark wood furniture. I know that you mentioned that you like painted chippy furniture but darker stuff would balance out the chair & pull the chair color throughout the rm. & then try accent pieces of furniture in the white chippy paint for maybe a small accent table beside the leather chair & maybe painting that bookcase white.

What about a berber style or sisal area rug?

Now for a larger project:

Any chance you'd be able to do a simple carpentry project and use flame retardant wood and picture frame mouldings to create a more elegant fireplace surround? Okay - maybe there's no such thing as flame retardant wood but I know that there is flame retardant paint & paint it white. Leave some of the brick showing like in your posted pic #4 for a cottage style look.

Good luck!

All those photos scream Me too. So, why aren't any of those insanely great rooms in My house? Huh? Why??

I esp love the "Well Tailored Suite".

Red

I think once you get a nice comfy pillow (try a down blend) and possibly a throw, it's going to work well. I agree that possibly a dark wood coffee table would be nice. Don't sweat, it will come together! :)

Here are a few more but more so on the Modern Country side. They do show a nice range of light furniture mixed w/ wood tones:

And another photo where they wrapped the seat cushions. Could be an option for you:

Red, I love your place! Here are a few more from 'Well Tailored Suite':

I love rooms like these-- thanks everyone for sharing them. Valzone, you already have all of the elements there! i can see it when I look at your pictures! Now, it's just finding the time to complete your vision. I really love the mix of leather and slip-covered, keeps a warm comfy feeling, but not too frilly. the leather grounds things. I like the black dresser you're using in the room right now. It would be fun to have some different colored painted items in the room-- chipped turquoise, something black, etc.

picture with leather chair mixed with upholstered chair--love the turquoise with the leather here.

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Val, can you switch the leather chair with the upholstered chair? Put the leather one by the fireplace? And you definitely need a bigger coffee table, I think that is making the leather chair look smaller. Plus it's on a wall by itself, near the fireplace it would fit a bit better.

I think you're on the right track, don't give up!

I think it's going to work. You just need more STUFF..lol! Like in all the pics shown...stuff on the walls, stuff on the tables, stuff on the floor, stuff on the chairs...lotsa stuff. I love that look, too!

I'd do like Pesky1 suggests and move the chairs, get a bigger coffee table, and I'd also try to "age" the shelf near the corner. Paint it black or age it with gel stain and you could even add some molding to give it a more cottagey look then age it with something.

I think you're on your way to a very nice room!

I agree with everyone who says you can make the chair work! I especially agree with pesky who asks if you can switch the two chairs. That was my first thought before reading the posts. I agree that the leather chair looks a little small where it is--but you can counter that with an interesting pillow and some wall decor-- make it an "area" instead of a chair. However, I also think the chair to be slipcovered is a little big for it's space. If you can swap the chairs and make a little reading area by the fire, I think it would look great!

You could go a couple of directions-- a light colored pillow to balance the brown leather.. but I'd go a little more bold. I love Decorpas' turquoise and leather-- maybe a throw and a bright pillow. An embroidered pillow would be great and add texture to the chair. I think that's what you need-- some warm texture to balance the shiny leather. I do love the addition.. you just need to embrace the chair and bring it into your fold. :)

I am going to borrow from another of decorpas' suggestions-- painted furniture! I'd love to see the color of the pillow in a chippy/worn finish on a piece of furniture. Are you attached to the light woods of the bookcase and coffee tables? I'd paint both. I think I'd do the bookcase in a blue/green/turquoise in the same family as your pillow but maybe darker and more blue. *I* would probably attempt something a bit more daring with the coffee table. I am feeling a black with painted legs or painted top interest. Red would be nice in there too but I am feeling the blues and greens.

Do you have artwork you intend to use? A rug? If so, start there with pulling some colors. I do think a rug will help make the new chair feel like a part of the room also.

I don't think you made a bad choice at all. I think it's just a little shocking to your old comfy room.. and you need to finish bringing the room together. I like it-- and I hope you will too.

ps.. sw bosc pear would look great on your walls.

I am really seeing Funkyart's Bosc Pear color for the walls! I second her idea of the brighter pillow, embroidered- that would be so charming on the leather. And the coffee table in black-- I saw a finish today on some Swedish cottage decorating site I was on where they had red under the black, and the black was worn off to reveal some of the red. That could be great with the dark leather of the chair.

I am thirding Pesky's chair move. Another inspired idea. And yes, if you can get a bigger coffee table, that would probably help out in terms of balancing the weight of the sofa and chairs.

Maybe an old trunk, as in some of ttod's inspiration pictures above? That idea of wrapping the top pillow of the chair was interesting-- that could really work. You will have to try that one out and just see, as I suppose it would depend a lot on the fabric chosen and how it works with the chair shape.

It's perfect...honestly! Pop a throw on it, add a few more accessories here and there and call it a day! :)

Wow - thanks everyone for your comments, suggestions and pictures!!

ttodd - this is a rental and I can't paint it :O( This has been a major pain in my butt. The entire apartment is the same color and although I appreciate the color in other people's rooms, it's not working in mine. I don't plan to stay here very long so I will have to try to ignore the wall color for now and keep thinking forward to my next home, which will be permanent, and in which I will be able to try out other colors. Wouldn't it be great, too, to do something about the FP. For now I have to stick to changes that aren't parmanent. I never noticed the dark furniture but you're right! Today I went looking for some dark pieces to add, and I found a gorgeous little round mahogany table, and I hummed and hawed and decided to walk away from it, because I wasn't sure. Tonight my (very) special friend (who had been shopping with me) rung my doorbell and handed it to me, wishing me a Happy Mother's Day. I just about cried. It's now beside the couch and it looks FABULOUS!!!! I took pictures but my camera battery died before I could download them so I will post pictures tommorrow.

polkadots, pesky, frazoo, funkyart, and decorpas....LOL about the coffee table!! That's actually DS's physio table but I am guilty of throwing junk on it and using it as a coffee table. I am actually in the process of sanding down and priming an old wooden trunk for a coffee table. I am not sure what color to paint it, but I will prime it and then post that as a seperate question.

pesky - I tried switching the chairs, and I took a pic of it (will post once my camera batteries are recharged). I wasn't crazy about it. I did, however, move the dresser down towards the couch and put the leather chair on the other side of the fireplace and I am liking that.

frazoo - yes, I agree - more stuff! I just moved in a couple of months ago, so still getting stuff in place. I signed a lease that said that I wouldn't use any nails in the walls, so I haven't hung one single picture, but I have decided to hang pictures anyway, and just fix the holes before I leave. I can't live with blank walls! For the gel stain - would I have to sand down the shelf first, or just put it on as is? It's a cheapo laminate shelf.

Thanks again everyone. I have to say that I am more used to it today and am actually excited about it now :O)

What a wonderful & thoughtful friend!!!!!

Glad you like the table next to the sofa & I can't wait to see a pic of it.

Oh, Valzone-- I am so glad it is growing on you! I think the extra little bits (and that very special mahogany table) will bring it all together! I'll watch for your pictures.

I totally get your style-- and I would definitely hang pictures on the walls. Do you have some of the paint to use to patch up holes? I know landlords are protective of their homes but I don't think hanging pictures is destructive. It's part of the wear and tear a landlord takes on when renting a property.

get that battery charged quickly haha!

Here's my new table (now I need a new lamp...this never ends, does it)

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Here's the oogly chair and the leather chair swapped

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And here's the dresser swapped with the oogly chair

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DS managed to get in nearly all of the pictures....he insisted on "helping" :O)

Table looks great!!!

I like the look of the 2 chairs flanking the fireplace. It looks slightly awkward now because the leather chair is smaller but I would reserve final judgement until you get the slipcover for the larger chair & a pillow and throw or two on them to 'bring them together' more.

Great helper too - send him over my way! Happy mother's day!