Budget Upholstery

If a sofa or chair is in good shape on the inside and all it needs is a fresh new fabric on the outside, that's recovering. When a piece needs work on the inside that is reupholstering.

We work from the frame, up much the way the furniture maker does. If your old piece has a good frame, there is some initial saving to be had. Using modern materials with traditional skills can provide you with results that are even better than the original. In our hands, you can get a full measure of value for your money, and quality that is hard to match.

Reupholstery is one of the few professions that is stilled controlled by the hands of a skilled craftsman in the assembly line age. If you have a sofa or chair that is shedding its stuffing, take another look before throwing it away. It could be the beginning of a beautiful new piece. Recycling quality furniture can bring much pleasure in seeing your reupholstered piece bounce back out of its old one.

If your furniture frame has stood up for ten years or more, it is probably good. Over the years a good wood frame has jumped 100% or more in price. Good frames are made of oak, maple, ash, alder or mahogany. Good frames are joined with double dowels (wood pins) and wood blocks, or screws.

When they loosen, they are easily firmed up or replaced. Frames made with metal braces, and those where staples are used without dowels, are generally not the best. The wood used in such frames is usually of poor quality and we usually advise against repairing.

Before repairing a piece, we will move it around to check for "motion" in the joints. We do frame work as part of the total job and we will put the arm solidly back where it belongs, replace any support pieces that are loose or missing and put the frame back into mint condition.

Many pieces have outside frames as their style. These frames are worth strengthening and our skillful upholsterers will know. Furniture with exposed frames as part of the design of the piece are usually valuable. These outside frames are usually cherry, walnut, or mahogany, and some are beech or birch. They are found on Victorian styles that have rich, dark woods, on Chippendale and Sheraton pieces where the frames are handsome embellishments, on Empire styles, French and American antiques, and on good reproductions.

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