People often want a general idea of the cost of reupholstering their furniture. Asking:What is the cost of reupholstering my couch? orHow many yards of fabric do I need to recover my dining chairs?The degree of upholstery (completely upholstered or with wood surround) Treatments such as buttons, tufts, channels, and pleats The quality of the existing padding and springing (foundation) Side Chair Seat + Back 2 to 3 yards Open Arm Chair Loose 3 to 4 yards 4 to 5 yards Balloon Back Arm Chair 5 to 6 yards 6 to 7 yards 7 to 8 yards 9 to 11 yards 10 to 12 yards 12 to 14 yards Tight Back Love Seat 14 to 18 yards Loose Back Sofa (3 18 to 26 yards 16 to 20 yards 28 to 36 yardsLearn UpholsteryUpholstery ProjectsUpholstery TipsUpholstery Fabric Where To BuyDining Chair Makeover UpholsteryOld Chair MakeoverUpholstery Diy TutorialsDiy Dining Chair CushionsRattan Furniture MakeoverForwardHow to Reupholster Chairs • From old dining chair seats all the way up to the big club chair in your family room, use these tutorials to learn how to reupholster a chair and make it new again!
Even a tutorial on recovering an office chair!Upholstery projects have the ability to transform tired, worn-looking spaces, especially when care is given to the selection of colors, fabric patterns, and the style you’re trying to achieve. However, the most important part of any upholstered item is what you don’t see. Hidden beneath the fabric exterior are the “guts” of your furniture, including: The type of stuffing material will depend on how the upholstered furniture is to be used and the comfort level you are seeking. In cushions and other upholstery, batting is applied over the foam to prevent slippage and provide a smooth appearance. The thickness (loft) of batting can range from very thin up to 1/4″ thick. Batting is available in cotton, wool, polyester or a blend. Cotton batting is made from 100% cotton that has been layered. There are two weights available: The weight is determined by the type of project you are working on, but both weights are suitable for upholstery.
Cotton is a natural fiber that can poke through the fabric covering, making the furniture uncomfortable to sit on. If you are upholstering a headboard, this may not be a concern; but it may cause problems on seating for sofas and chairs. If so, a combination poly/cotton batting may be the answer. It’s durable and will give your furniture a smooth look and feel. Wool batting is made from wool waste that has been woven together and is available as: The use of animal hair is one of the oldest types of upholstery stuffing. The hair used is most often from the manes and tails of horses and is often found in antique furniture. When re-upholstering antiques, the existing horse hair can be combined with wool or cotton to add additional loft to the piece. While not actually “hair”, feather and down is often used in upscale furniture to provide the ultimate in comfort. Upholstery foam is the most common stuffing material used today. It’s available in several densities which determine the grade and quality of the foam.
The higher the number, the better the quality. A quality, high density foam will not break apart or cause clumps. Choosing the highest density foam you can afford will improve the comfort level, appearance, and life of upholstered furniture. The resiliency or durability of your upholstery foam is important as it will determine how much wear and tear your furniture can withstand. Using foam labeled high resilient, or HR, will make cushions more comfortable and reduce sagging over time. All upholstery foam sold in the United States must be fire resistant. If the furniture you are purchasing does not indicate that the foam used is fire resistant you may want to reconsider. A label with the letters FR on it will confirm that the proper foam has been used. The level of firmness of upholstered furniture is determined by the Indentation Force Deflection (ILD) number of the upholstery foam. This scale ranges between 6 and 45 with the lowest number representing the softest foam and the highest the firmest foam.
How soft or firm you would like your upholstered piece to be is a personal decision, and knowing the ILD number of the foam you purchase allows you to determining it. While not durable enough for padding the frames of furniture, pillow forms are used to stuff or restuff pillows that comprise part of many upholstery projects. Pillow forms are available in polyester, down, and feather/down fillings, with natural fillings generally considered best for serious upholstery projects. The particular upholstery project you are working on will often determine the type of stuffing material used. A lesser quality cushion foam or batting may be perfect for stuffing small accent pillows, headboards, footstools and furniture pieces that do not receive heavy use. Conversely, mattresses, seating, and furniture that are used frequently will benefit more from high quality stuffing to provide the ultimate in comfort and prolong the life of the furniture. While quality stuffing materials cost more initially, they can save in the long run by making furniture last longer.
Indra Desigri thinks that even the most challenging home improvement projects can be made easy with the right materials, good information and a well-planned approach. For more from Indra, visit OnlineFabricStore.net Upcycling is having a moment. It's all about taking something old and drab and making it new and beautiful. And nothing puts on quite a transformation like a piece of reupholstered furniture. Whether you hire a professional or do it yourself, the benefits of getting a sofa or chair reupholstered are endless. New fabric can tie a room together (or become the beginning of a redecorating endeavor). It also means you'll own a one-of-a-kind custom piece. And it's often worth it to redo an older piece of furniture rather than to buy new. "Nowadays, there are so many different levels of quality in furniture," said Mary Best, interior designer and owner of Mary Best Designs. "We're exposed to a lot of mass-produced furniture. It's not super-expensive, but it's usually not made to last.
"If you have a really nice quality piece that has held up for years and doesn't creak, it's worth saving." She says it's also worth it to reupholster an item if it fits the size of your space and is comfortable or sentimental. Best owns a pair of chairs passed down from her grandmother that she could never part with. "I love them so much that I just keep reupholstering them," she said. Although reupholstering means replacing the fabric on a piece of furniture, it can also mean replacing the foam, batting and coils or repairing the frame. Best said DIY-ers can tackle simple projects themselves, such as a kitchen stool or replacing the fabric on the seat of a square kitchen chair. Those wanting to tackle something more challenging can learn complicated skills by taking an upholstery class. "I like the fact that you can take something that someone would throw out and once you take it down to the frame, you can do anything you want. It's like sculpting," said Randy Maio, the owner of Maio Unlimited Upholstery and a part-time instructor for 43 years at Milwaukee Area Technical College.
At MATC's Walker's Square location, 816 W. National Ave., Maio teaches students advanced upholstery techniques in which students work on their own projects, whether it's outdoor furniture, automobile seats or living room chairs. Through his business, he also has experience with antiques, airplane upholstery and commercial projects (he's done work for Potawatomi Bingo Casino and area universities). "I like the challenge of doing many different things," he said. "I know exactly how it works, and I can show them (my students) exactly how it works." Each of his four classes has 18 students who come in with a range of reupholstering knowledge — or none at all. "There's no experience required," he said. "You can learn as much or as little as you want." Some students take the class as a hobby, while others are looking to start their own design businesses. Because students bring in their own projects, they learn by doing the work themselves and by watching their fellow classmates work.
Maio does demonstrations on his students' work so they can learn techniques on projects they don't have. However, he stresses that he doesn't do projects for them. When his students finish a project, it truly reflects their work. Throughout the 15-week class, students learn how to sew on an industrial machine, which is much faster than a home sewing machine. In addition, they learn how to make patterns, lay out fabric, measure furniture for proper yardage, put the fabric on, make cuts, tie springs, install support materials and more. "I teach how to take furniture from a bare frame and build it up from scratch," Maio said. "I never use the old fabric as a pattern. I may use it as a guide, but I never lay the old fabric out in order to cut the new one. If that upholsterer made a mistake, you'll make the same one again." For someone looking to do their own upholstery, the cost savings are huge because you need only to purchase the materials. The exact cost of getting a chair or sofa you love reupholstered professionally depends on the materials, size of furniture and level of difficulty.
"It's like calling up a car dealer and asking how much a car is going to be," Maio said. But as a general guideline, a chair is going to cost anywhere from $300 to $750 for labor, and a sofa will be between $1,000 and $3,000. These estimates do not include any of the materials. Other factors that will affect the price: strings needing to be retied, diamond or channel-style tufting, antiques that are stuffed with horse hair or Spanish moss (special skills required and more labor-intensive), pattern matching and frame repair. "I think the biggest misconception is that people think they'll be saving money," Best said. "Reupholstery could be even more expensive than replacing a piece of furniture. There is a lot of labor involved. Fabric can be expensive. But what you're getting in the end is very valuable. You're really customizing your own piece." However, she has some advice for getting a one-of-a-kind piece at a discount. She bought a metal-framed chair from West Elm and had it reupholstered in a fabric she loved.
"I bought something that was mass-produced, and I customized it," she said. "So I got the best of both worlds." As trends go, being eclectic is definitely in. Best isn't really seeing the drapes that match the throw pillows that match the bedding, which was still popular a decade or more ago. "I personally design by mixing everything," she said. "Your end tables don't have to match. You can have a brass chandelier and a bronze fixture. You can take an old chair and mix it with new fabric. It's all about giving your space personality." Milwaukee Area Technical College: Classes for the fall semester start Aug. 30. Duration: 15 weeks (class meets 3 hours/week) Where: Walker's Square Education Center Cost: $186.25 (plus the cost of materials)Learn more at matc.edu; Waukesha County Technical College:Classes for the fall semester start Sept. 6. Duration: 4 to 6 weeks (class meets 2 ½ to 3 hours a week) Where: Waukesha campus, 327 E. Broadway
Cost: $87.70 to $196.50 (plus the cost of materials)Learn more at wctc.edu; According to MATC reupholstery instructor Randy Maio, a lot can go wrong when rehabbing a piece of beloved furniture. Follow these tips for success. 1. Know your limits.Determine what your skill set is before you tackle a big project. If the project is over your head, call a professional.Before you start the project, take pictures of everything. Once you take everything apart and start putting things back together, it's helpful to refer back to the original project. 3. Don't be overzealous."Don't take everything apart before you know what's happening," Maio said. "Take notes on everything before moving on." 4. Figure out yardage properly.Not knowing how much fabric you'll need and purchasing it anyway is a recipe for disaster. Either you'll have too much fabric or not enough (and upholstery fabric can be very expensive, so you don't want a ton of leftovers). In his upholstery class, Maio teaches his students how to measure their furniture in preparation for purchasing fabric.