Why a good upholsterer is your best friend in design

Once upon a time, my client owned these two different but still comfy arm chairs. Chair 1 on the left is an English Arm style with a box style back cushion  and Chair 2 on the right had rolled arms with a knife edge back cushion.  My clients wished to use both of these chairs in their new living room,  reupholstered in the same fabric. Aside from a slight difference in width and the arm styles, they are basically the same chair.

This is the fabric we selected for the chairs, which is Thibaut's Island Coral in beige.

And voila - old chairs made new again. Now, look again at the old chairs and then again at the newly reupholstered pieces. Notice anything different? These are the same chairs in the same spots as above.  The difference is obviously that the old roll arm chair was reconfigured by my upholster Heller Furniture in Norwell, MA and now sports a nice pair of English arms.  The back cushion is now a box cushion and the skirting is now the same on both pieces. Aside from the fact that the chairs are still slightly different in width (hardly noticeable unless you're looking for it), they are now a stylish matched set.

And this is why I say that a good upholsterer is your best friend in design. Whether you're a homeowner, a beginning designer or seasoned pro - a good upholsterer is an invaluable tool in your bedazzled tool belt. Most experienced upholsterers are able to make these kinds of changes to an existing piece. I've seen the most used and awful pieces be literally reborn - made modern and fresh.   For this project, which is still in process, I brought a sofa, these two chairs and an order for 10 custom seat cushions for various chairs around the house. Everything was made completely to order and fits like a glove.  It's important to note, however, that this doesn't come cheap. My client's could have certainly purchased two new matching arm chairs for the same price at a decent store and in some stores they could have purchased two new chairs for the cost of getting just one of these chairs reupholstered. But the quality would never be the same and the chairs would never be as comfortable. These were good chairs to begin with; they were just old and well used.  By reupholstering existing furniture, my clients got the exact fabric and details they wanted and kept the old chairs out of the landfill.

I recently wrote 6 Tips for Working with an Upholsterer for Williams-Sonoma Designer Marketplace which I highly recommend.

Speaking of upholstery, I wanted to thank Modenus for featuring a before and after of my Boston Townhouse Living Room project on their website today. This was a project that included several upholstered pieces. The sofa was a Dapha for Baker Furniture with Stroheim & Romann fabric (both to the trade), the arm chairs were Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams (retail) with a Robert Allen washable velvet (COM to the trade) and the side chairs were Restoration Hardware in their own velvet (all retail).  I point this out because I think it's a good lesson in using varied resources to achieve the best results on a project. Retail store furniture can often be covered in COM (Customer's Own Fabric) or COL (Customer's Own Leather), so never hesitate to ask. It may be more expensive, but to get exactly what you want, it's worth it.


If you would like my help on your design project, I would love to chat with you! Please email me. Thanks! Subscribe to ::Surroundings::