This is a frequently asked question with no easy answer, so let’s uncover this subject together.
The first step is to really look at the piece you are considering for re-upholstery. Quality counts when evaluating a piece of furniture. A high quality sofa or chair has eight-way hand tied coil spring construction and is made with solid hardwoods. The frame should have a heft to it and if you reach under the seat you will be able to feel the coils.
If the sofa or chair is the correct size for your room and the styling fits into your décor, it may be worth recovering. The added bonus is that you will not need to discard it and that is always a good thing. There are tricks to restyling that a good designer and upholster can share with you, such as removing or adding tufting to a pillow back; adding decorative nail head trim, gimp or double welting; adding additional padding to seats or redoing the cushions altogether. The fabric choices are endless, so you can find the perfect fabric to fit your overall design scheme.
If a seat or back cushion needs to be replaced, you have a range of cushion fill choices awaiting you. A good standard cushion is a foam core with a dacron or feather wrap. You could choose all feather if you don’t mind fluffing everyday, which may be worth the fuss as it will feel like you are sitting on a cloud. Most professionals would agree that the best cushion fill on the market is a spring and feather combo that will last a lifetime with a price tag to match.
Pieces from the past tend to have a uniqueness about them that is hard to replicate with the overstuffed style choices of today’s furniture. Chairs, especially, can have a one-of-a-kind personality that is worth making the effort to revive. They can become a star in any room. Many times my clients have chairs that their grandparents owned, creating a strong sentimental bond for them.
Should you do the job yourself? Only if you are an expert tailor will it come out with any degree of professionalism and this is not a task for the feint of heart. Think of re-upholstering as making a dress, a really big fitted dress with tailoring in the way of welting, zippers that go on forever and a pleated skirt. The most common mistake I come across is the homemaker who reupholsters a dining room chair using a piece of plywood as a base for the foam and fabric to wrap around. A professional upholsterer will discard the plywood and replace it with webbing on the frame to give the seat a bit of a bounce.
Did you notice that I waited to discuss cost? It is a misconception that re-upholstering a sofa or chair is the cheaper option. This is a labor-intensive operation and in addition you must factor in the cost of the fabric: around 20 yards for a typical sofa and 8 yards for a club chair. If you are comparing the cost to a furniture store sofa, keep in mind that many sofas on the market today are made using cheaper construction techniques and may be imported with the cost advantage for the manufacturer of cheaper labor so make sure you are comparing pricing in regards to quality. Having said that, if it is a quality piece of furniture it can be worth the cost. I have seen incredible transformations of pieces put in the hands of an expert upholsterer that many would have considered too far gone. It is a thrill to see the look of awe on a client’s face as we bring in the freshly recovered sofa or chair. That is priceless!
