Off Topic: Reupholstering Furniture

[Tugger31]

I'm planning on having some living room furniture re-upholstered. I'm totally out of my comfort zone here, as I cant even sew on a button! I'm going to have it professionally done. Do I buy the fabric and get it done by the same fabric store?? Order fabric online and find some place to have it done?? I'm not sure where the "scams" and/or price mark-ups are. I want a good job as my furniture is high-end but over 10 years old so the fabrics are fading and have some puppy-damage, but I dont want to get bamboozled!

Thanks!

[YetAnotherDeb]

I can't help, Tugger, bug I'm curious to see the responses. I have an antique rocking chair that needs reupholstering. I doubt I can afford to have it done professionally, so I'm hoping someone says "do it yourself and save a bundle! Here's how!"
_____
YADeb

[Poogle]

I looked at getting my couch recovered, and ended up buying a new couch I contacted Calico Corners (chain) and an independant upholsterer who has been in business for 30 years. Calico Corners requires you to buy fabric from them, the independant I contacted would let you use your own, however they were really up front with what fabric they used, and how much it would cost. For a 7ft couch with rolled arms and a tufted back, plus replacement cushions I got a quote of $2500 from Calico, and $2600 from the local. This of course is an estimate with average fabric cost. Also, be advised that most upholsty fabric sold in stores is not wide enough, so the places that do upholstry have access to "to the trade" fabrics that are a wider width and more expensive.

yetanotherdeb- depending on how much upholstring your rocking chair needs, it might be fairly easy if it is the kind with just the padded seat and back. I recovered my dining room chairs and it was not too bad, make sure you get a good staple gun though Sunset makes a good basic upholstry book that has some good tips

[Usia]

I've had 4 pcs recovered by a professional. It was very expensive in my opinion, but even saying that, most of the furniture was worth unholstering because it was quality and very confortable. Saying that, I'm not sure it was worth the pricetag of $2000 to upholster 4 pieces. I may be wrong because what do I know about real prices of hands-on work:

[vplan]

I think I agree with Poogle, it is cheaper to buy a new couch. I would check newspapers for sale and craigslist also. I never ever buy new furniture, and I've bought some really amazing things on craigslist, like 4k kitchen set for $400. I had it already for 6 years and still in love with it.

I upholstered with leather 8 chairs in dining room. I've bought leather on ebay, something like for $40 and used only half. I loved the result so much that I've bought a sewing machine that should be able to handle leather. I am getting ready to upholster four chairs in my kitchen set above. I estimated that it would take me about $200 to buy leather (of course from Ebay). These covers will require a lot of sewing though... So Deb, yes you absolutely can do it. I am doing everything myself after discovering HGTV. I've learned to do just about everything: laying tiles, installing carpets (yep, I got those ones on ebay too ), I even installed recessed lighting in one of the bedrooms. Obviously, I repainted the whole house all by myself. In the same room where, I installed recessed lighting, I installed bamboo hardwood floors. These I've bought from Costco and total room cost me around $500 (10x10 feet). I used youtube, almost for all tutorials. Oh... I forgot, I replaced even all toilets (4 of them) in my house as well. My husband still can't believe that I was able to do all of that. The only downside, it takes ffffooooorrrreeeevvvveeeeerrr, since I have a full time job, where I average about 60 hours per week, and I also teach at the university when they need me. And of course, very often I have no prior experience either. I don't have children, so I guess, it would qualify as having a lot of free time. For some reason, I can't conquer staining wood yet - I keep running out of patience all the time I start staining anything.

Unfortunately, the most expensive is going to be the labor, Tugger..... As long as you do a good research, ask your friends, search online, you will not get bamboozled. I noticed, when people are unhappy with any work, they make sure to post the comments everywhere they can. Of course, this is not a guarantee. However, for the most part, it really worked for me with very rare exceptions. Since you have a high-end furniture, I expect you will look for a place with a relatively long practice. Thus, you should be able to find plenty of comments online.

[bearcatfan]

I agree that it is expensive - mostly because of the labor involved.

I don't see where you are, but are you near any Amish or Mennonite communities? I am originally from an area where there is a great guy who re-upholsters furniture for a decent price. My sister got a chair redone (was my mother's, sentimental) for about $250 including the fabric. It is beautiful, but I think it took about 8 weeks. So you might want to start there, if you can. Might be worth the drive.

[Artist of Eyes]

If you have one of those Mega JoAnn Fabrics stores some will do it there and some can refer out to reliable Reupholsterers. The Amish recommendation is a very good idea. Goign directly through them saves $$$ on many things.

[unfetteredpast]

Just make sure you have a talk with the cat before you spend the money.

[Sancho]

I've reupholstered 2 chairs twice and my couches once. It's probably less expensive (or about the same price) to buy new unless you want/have really high end furniture. I did it because I love my pieces. You just have to get quotes and recommendations. I use a decorator and she has very good people that do work for her and the prices are good. If you are open on fabric, you can get good deals at discount places and on discontinued fabrics. Fabric is a huge part of the price. You just have to shop around for fabric and get quotes on the reupholstering price. Asking at fabric stores (that sell upholstery fabric) for recommendations of people that reupholster is a good idea.

[bzar]

if you really love the furniture and want to spend the money to get it reupholstered (R/U for short), then it might be worth it to do that. people R/U if the pieces are sentimental, antiques, or high-end.

i've R/U a very basic set of living room furniture by myself, the kind with just cushions and a wooden frame. the frame didin't need R/U - the frame was bare wood that had been stained and varnished. i bought the upholstery from a man who R/U furniture. the fabric was pretty expensive (this was pre-internet and pre-kids days!).

the cushions were in excellent shape, so all i bought were the fabric and batting (you cover the cushion with batting, then put the new cover on). i re-used the zippers for the covers.

it took a long time to do 1, 6-cushion "couch" and a 4-cushion loveseat. and this was pre-kids days!!!!

Option to consider:
slipcovers. either buy from Ross's, Walmart, or online, or sew your own, or have someone sew a slipcover for you since you haven't sewn anything of this magnitude.

if you want to try sewing a slipcover, go to HGTV.com to see videos. then do a small project like your dining room chair or an office chair.

***
as a child, i watched my mom R/U a sectional. a sectional!!!! she's an excellent seamstress, and even that, it was a monumental task. the body of the frame can be done fast w/an electric staple gun. but it's the cushions that are labor-intensive. she took up the entire den area - you need 2x the size of the piece that you are R/U to allow for laying out the parts (cushions, fabric, etc.).