Have you ever considered reupholstering instead of buying new furniture? Reupholstering can offer you a way to love your old furniture once again. Whether it’s your grandmother’s chair or the newer sofa that has the right proportions for your space, reupholstering might be a better solution.
Top Reasons You Might Consider Reupholstering:
-You’re tired of the current fabric
-Your cat used the arm as a scratching post
-The size or style is difficult to find
-You can save money if it’s a quality, high-end piece
A good reupholstering job can breathe new life into an old item, transforming it into a renewed style element. I recently helped a client reupholster her dining room chairs, and we were able to change the style and comfort as well. My client had beautiful Country French chairs from Century which were not exactly what she had wanted. They were cane back chairs and a bit casual for her new formal dining room. With the magic of reupholstering, we completely converted her chairs from cane backs to upholstered backs. They went from country to appropriately elegant, and they were even more comfortable for sitting.
Reupholstering is a dying art form, but there are still talented craftsmen out there with skills that have been passed down through generations. These tradesmen take pride in their work, and your furnishings are truly like new once they have finished. The labor of stripping down a piece to its wood frame and then building it back up again is time consuming. These talented people work with their hands and a few select tools. This process a may reveal an area of the wood frame that needs to repaired, or they may discover that the foam need to be replaced. These types of discoveries are fairly common, and one generally doesn’t realize what has been happening to the item over time. It’s not until the work begins that someone can truly know what he will find under the hood, so to speak. Fixing these issues might add to your overall cost, but the investment will also extend the life and comfort of your piece.
Of course, the question everyone wants to have answered is, so what does it cost? Is it cheaper to reupholster or to buy something new? In order to answer this, you have to compare apples to apples. If your piece of furniture is quality, high-end furniture, then it would be worth reupholstering. However, if it is lower-end furniture, then the answer is no; that’s made to end up in landfills.
When my client was considering buying all new dining chairs, we priced up the difference between buying all new chairs and reupholstering what she had, and the cost savings was huge! Reupholstering saved her half of the amount that she would have spent, and she got exactly what she wanted! Her perfect dining room chairs were already in her dining room, we just had to re-imagine them. Sometimes, the right answer to your design dilemma is reupholstering what you already have.
It’s very possible that you, too, could make the most of what you already have and save money in the process. Reupholstering could be the answer you have been looking for.
Heather McManus
Artistry Interiors
March 20, 2015
