Why Reupholster Instead of Buying New, Cheaper Furniture?

Many times, people question why they should reupholster when they could buy replacement furniture for much cheaper. The key word is "cheaper". Yes, if it's about cost, go cheap. If it's about quality, comfort or value, cheap is not part of the equation. Traditionally, furniture was designed with quality, comfort & value, in mind. Now, upholstered furniture is designed to be cost effective, not to mention the comfort, support, or value.

Older furniture was made from hardwood with the frames all glued & doweled. Decades ago, many more affordable frames went from hardwood to pine. Now, what is being sold is either plywood or pressed wood. Watch out for the term "engineered wood", that is pressed or particle wood, which snaps/breaks on various occasions. Many of the repairs that we do is to repair/replace this inferior product. - The padding is also inferior. Who knows what cancer causing chemicals are in the foam or padding of products made outside of the USA.

Unfortunately, when it comes to upholstered furniture being sold, the consumer is not being protected!

On the seating area, they had proper springs installed, either 8-way hand tied or no sag springs. The seat cushion & the spring work would work in unison as would a good bed mattress & box spring. Now, many manufacturers have done away with this, so who knows what support system one finds in new furniture!

With reupholstery, there is a difference in quality work. Most upholstery shops do quick, cheap, wham- bam type work. Many at a price that people love! The problem is that they have no idea of good quality work. They must get furniture in & out of their shops as quickly as possible, in order to make a profit. Many times, we have furniture pieces that have 2-3 old covers that the previous upholsterers never removed. Not only do we remove all old coverings, but we inspect and/or replace any old padding and check the frames and spring work. In California, by law, all upholstery shops must remove the old fabric before installing the new fabric. Ask any upholsterer and they all say that they completely remove all old fabric & inspect the padding, the . frame and the spring work. Hmm. 

Cheap = Shortcuts 

The bottom line is this: 

If you expect good quality work, along with top quality supply's. (e.g. cotton batting, threads, spring padding, foam, bottom cloth) the consumer has very few resources. Most of the quality furniture stores are gone, while the IKEA's, Ashleys & Living Spaces are selling disposable junk by the truckload! 

We custom build sofas & chairs, using hardwood, yet at most, we get one of these jobs a month. People prefer cheap. We hear, "Oh, in a couple of years, we'll replace it"... with more junk! 

Quality custom upholstery doesn't compete with cheap. It's not in the same equation. 

Although many upholstery shops give themselves the title of "Custom", its buyer beware. 

If you want, quality work, expect to pay for it. 

At Howard's Custom Upholstery, we pride ourselves by giving excellent customer service along with top quality workmanship.