NEWSLETTER SEPTEMBER 2007

Welcome to the Limited Editions December 2007 newsletter

FRIDAY 7th December - 9am to 5pm &
SATURDAY 8th December - 10am to 4pm

Oddments of upholstered furniture, water hyacinth, fabrics, wallpapers, accessories – all at bargain prices!

All at Level 2, 258 Thorndon Quay – access is off the Wade House and Limited Editions car park – up the steps, and take the lift or stairs from the lobby. We look forward to seeing you.

A Sofa or a Couch?

And now for a bit of trivia. Time has reduced the distinction between a sofa and a couch so that today the two terms are largely interchangeable. Collins Dictionary says that, a sofa is “an upholstered seat with back and arms for two or more people” and a couch is “a piece of upholstered furniture, usually having a back and armrests, for seating more than one person.

It is also a bed, especially one used in the daytime and by the patients of a doctor or a psychoanalyst.”

In the history books, the difference is slightly clearer. A couch is a piece of furniture that you recline on whereas a sofa is for two or more people to sit on.

A couch “can be used as a sofa by day and a bed by night”; “in the 17th and 18th century a couch was usually an armless chair with a greatly elongated seat with a slanted and sometimes hinged back used for reclining or sleeping during the day”; “in the late middle ages the couch signified a daybed”.

Given that couch is from the French se coucher – to lie down - and that the couch has strong links to doctors and psychologists rooms, the distinction seems clearer – it would appear that whoever coined the phrase “couch potato” had a strong appreciation of history.

Sofa or sopha was originally an Arabic word for a raised section of floor furnished with rugs and cushions, and set apart for esteemed guests. Designs for “sophas “ in Thomas Chippendale’s Director all have solidly upholstered arms with padded elbow rests, cushioned seats and upholstered backs, but show their carved wood framing.

Today the term sofa is largely synonymous with settee, which originally began life as
a double chair furnished with cushions, and the term couch is closely associated with both domestic family life and television culture.

So which is it? Sofa, settee, couch… We think you should use the one that you like best.

Limited Editions 2007 – the year has been busy and varied. Our projects have included self catering cottages in the Hawkes Bay, many interesting renovations and refurbishments around Wellington and in the Wairarapa and the Hawkes Bay. We have also done new houses and apartments, special joinery and furniture for barristers’ chambers, a major furnishing project for a hotel and a unique promotional partnership with TelstraClear.

The work has ranged from the complete redesign of whole houses, apartments, kitchens and bathrooms to fitted joinery, colour schemes and
beautiful new furniture, curtains, blinds and bedding.

2008 is already looking very busy, with several interesting projects underway.

Christmas hours

Limited Editions will be closed from 5pm on December 21st until Monday 7 January, when we will reopen at 9am.

Thank you for your support in 2007, and we wish you all a wonderful Christmas and New Year with family and friends, and a very successful 2008.

With best wishes

Claire & all the staff at Limited Editions