As an upholsterer I often run into the situation where a customer is faced with the question of whether to re-upholster an old piece of furniture or pop to the shops and buy something new. If the furniture in question is a family piece then often there are associated sentimental reasons why the decision is made to re-upholster it. The debate becomes less clear-cut when the furniture has only been on the scene for a few years - perhaps having been bought at an auction or a house clearance.
In this case the customer naturally looks at the cost of re-upholstery compared with the cost of buying a new, modern piece from the high street - particularly if the sales are on. The art of traditional re-upholstery is labour intensive with the cost of the materials ever on the increase. Consequently, traditional re-upholstery is not a cheap option to which the cost of the main fabric is added. Therefore on a straight cost comparison basis the visit to the shops will likely win out each time. However, there are many very valid points in favour of traditional re-upholstery which should be considered, and I'd like to address a few of them here.
Naturally if the furniture is a particular favourite of the customer's it may not be possible to replace it with like for like, so keeping the old piece and re-upholstering it is an attractive option. Doing so means that in a few weeks the piece will be returned to the customer looking restored and rejuvenated.
Best quality upholstery uses horse-hair as the stuffing. Horse-hair is a natural product which does not decompose and so a well upholstered piece should have a life span of 100 years. Down the line when the main fabric becomes tired, soiled or just out-of-fashion it is a straight forward job to change the main fabric while leaving the underlying materials in place. Good re-upholstery is an investment for the future. Compare this with modern upholstery which uses foam as the stuffing. Foam being a man made product decomposes over time and becomes pitted and powdery. Reasonably we can expect the foam to last about 10 or 20 years depending on it's exposure to elements like light and water.
However it's not just the stuffing which have different life-spans. The actual frames are also often considerably different. Old furniture was often made of dried woods like mahogany or walnut while the modern frames are made with kiln dried timbers such as beech. There are countless examples of frames which are hundreds of years old that are still very serviceable today, however we can't reasonably expect the modern frames to go the distance. The wood just isn't up to the job.
For many years we have been a disposable society for which the "out with the old and in with the new" idea was acceptable. But with the advances of global warming and huge landfills I think we should seriously reconsider how we treat old furniture. In an effort to be more eco-friendly we should re-upholster our furniture and thereby reuse what we have.
In this case the customer naturally looks at the cost of re-upholstery compared with the cost of buying a new, modern piece from the high street - particularly if the sales are on. The art of traditional re-upholstery is labour intensive with the cost of the materials ever on the increase. Consequently, traditional re-upholstery is not a cheap option to which the cost of the main fabric is added. Therefore on a straight cost comparison basis the visit to the shops will likely win out each time. However, there are many very valid points in favour of traditional re-upholstery which should be considered, and I'd like to address a few of them here.
Naturally if the furniture is a particular favourite of the customer's it may not be possible to replace it with like for like, so keeping the old piece and re-upholstering it is an attractive option. Doing so means that in a few weeks the piece will be returned to the customer looking restored and rejuvenated.
Best quality upholstery uses horse-hair as the stuffing. Horse-hair is a natural product which does not decompose and so a well upholstered piece should have a life span of 100 years. Down the line when the main fabric becomes tired, soiled or just out-of-fashion it is a straight forward job to change the main fabric while leaving the underlying materials in place. Good re-upholstery is an investment for the future. Compare this with modern upholstery which uses foam as the stuffing. Foam being a man made product decomposes over time and becomes pitted and powdery. Reasonably we can expect the foam to last about 10 or 20 years depending on it's exposure to elements like light and water.
However it's not just the stuffing which have different life-spans. The actual frames are also often considerably different. Old furniture was often made of dried woods like mahogany or walnut while the modern frames are made with kiln dried timbers such as beech. There are countless examples of frames which are hundreds of years old that are still very serviceable today, however we can't reasonably expect the modern frames to go the distance. The wood just isn't up to the job.
For many years we have been a disposable society for which the "out with the old and in with the new" idea was acceptable. But with the advances of global warming and huge landfills I think we should seriously reconsider how we treat old furniture. In an effort to be more eco-friendly we should re-upholster our furniture and thereby reuse what we have.
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