The sofa is one of the pieces of furniture in which we invest more money. When you have a few years, we will have to choose when to upholster the sofa and know if it is worth it. Or maybe it is better and cheaper to buy a new one.
Generally, we look for a piece that lasts for years, that is easy to maintain and that, with these conditions, does not go out of style. If you think that your sofa is old, old or damaged and you do not know what to do, follow these tips as appropriate.
Here at Brisbane Upholstery we can help you make your furniture look excellent.
If the seat is not in its best state it can be due to two things:
1) The cushions have lost consistency-Something quite usual when the filling is made of polyurethane foam rubber.
Solution:
Order an upholstery in the same way as the old one (or two or three, depending on the seats) and replace it. Buy a medium density foam rubber, so it is neither too hard nor too soft. In places where they sell you can advise.
If you think you have enough skill, you can do it.
To do this commission the plates and using as a template the fabric or the previous plate, delineates it with a marker on the new one. You can go trimming with a long knife, a saw with a handle or even a jigsaw. You must be careful that they remain completely vertical to avoid oblique cutting.
2) The structure is damaged-This situation is more common when the base is of springs, metal or wood without complete structure.
Solution:
If the cushions are in good condition, try putting a sofa rectifier under them. They are rigid plates that serve to save-though not definitively-that sinking. In this link you can see what a rectifier looks like.
What to do when the sofa upholstery is very worn or broken?
If the upholstery of the sofa is definitely in poor condition the solution is: reupholster it.
But, before doing so, you must assess the cost of that work and ask for a budget. You must add:
• The foam rubber of the cushions (if they are not of another filling that can be saved) that you have to multiply by the total of cushions that the sofa has.
• The upholstery fabric. These fabrics are usually expensive because they have better quality and more expensive compositions than textiles for other functions. To calculate the meters, you have to measure the sofa: width x length x height. In addition, you have to measure each of the cushions and add to the total of the fabric.
The workmanship of the upholstery
When you have the budget, decide weighing the quality, the love you have or the design of your old sofa and the cost of reupholstering and comparing what would cost you a new one. Check prices online and visit a store to get a better idea.
With the exceptions that it is an antique, a precious heritage or an excellent quality, surely the cost will not compensate the price of a new sofa. Especially if you have numerous cushions.
Other solutions for a damaged or old-fashioned upholstery
The simplest is to put some covers.
If your sofa is of any brand or manufacturer that includes them in its catalogue, you just have to go to the store or order it.
Otherwise there are covers that are marketed and fit many measures and designs of sofas.
If you prefer you can improvise covers at home, buying the necessary meters of the fabric that you like. Here is a tutorial to make a sofa cover at home.
In any case, these solutions are simpler than completely reupholstering a sofa at home, which requires a skill that not everyone has.
If you want to do it by yourself, it is not an easy task, but these are some tips:
These are the materials needed to upholster your sofa:
• Fabric with which to upholster.
• Professional scissors for fabric.
• Black marker (to mark the size of the fabric you have to cut).
• Stapler (but not paper, one for upholstery).
• Sewing machine.
First of all, place the fabric on the sofa to check that it covers the entire surface. We have not said it at the beginning, but it is evident that you will have to measure the sofa and then buy the necessary fabric to cover everything.
You should completely evaluate the sofa and not just the fabric, since apart from upholstering, it is important that we know that the structure of the sofa is well preserved and that it only needs to be upholstered.
Once the sofa is evaluated, the moment arrives that for many can be complicated: remove the previous upholstery. A step that is laborious since you have to remove the upholstery and the staples that hold it but that can be very useful.
If you remove the old upholstery with attention (you even take pictures or take notes), you can see how it was placed, so that later it will be easier to upholster the sofa.
Now you must cover the sofa with the fabric you have chosen to upholster. First the cushions, that if they go loose (in some sofas it is not like this), you must upholster separately. Cover with fabric, cut the desired size and then make a cover with it (the sewing machine will help you to sew said cover).
When you cover the sofa with the upholstery fabric, you should make sure that you have a little extra, so you can staple the fabric to the base or structure of the sofa without problem.
Depending on how the sofa is, the arms can be covered with the same fabric with which you have covered the central structure or on the other hand, maybe you can do as with the cushions. You cover the arms with the cloth that you are going to need and then staples so that it is fixed.
And ready! You have already upholstered your sofa in a simple way, although perhaps the result is not that of a professional, but for something you start and sure that following the steps of how the previous upholstery was the task is easier.
If you want to let experts handle this, here at Brisbane Upholstery we pride ourselves in reupholstering well-made furniture and antiques. If you are looking for experts in upholstery in Brisbane you can be sure our team of professionals will repair, restore and recover your furniture.
