<p>thumper, did you know that Bed Bath & Beyond owns World Market?</p>
<p>I had two club chairs and a sofa reupholstered a while ago. The club chairs were from W&J Sloane circa 1960 and the sofa was from circa 1920. I was able to get really good fabrics at a place up here for about $18/yd. One of the fabrics is a type that usually sold for over $200/yd. The upholsterer was a very experienced older man who had worked for Sloane’s and did museum work and so forth. I think I paid under $2K for all three, which was a HUGE bargain.</p>
<p>Most newer furniture is probably not worth it.</p>
<p>Consolation, I have a lovely little loveseat from Sloane, circa 1976. I loved that store.</p>
<p>Sloane’s had very high quality furniture, definitely not disposable. </p>
<p>They had a clearance center in Westport, IIRC. My parents would frequently check it out. 
</p>
<p>I also fondly remember Altman’s.</p>
<p>I reupholstered a sleeper sofa about a year ago. It took me a week of full-time work. About 2 1/2 days to take it apart, remove old upholstery, not quite 2 days to cut and sew all the pieces, and a day to put it back together. I grossly overestimated the amount of fabric that I needed (and it was a tweedy fabric, with no repeating pattern). I have enough left to probably recover our recliner. But it was special order, so I knew I couldn’t be short. Fortunately, it was on sale for half price, or I would have felt worse. </p>
<p>The arms were overstuffed and there was a lot of pleating on the front. The end cushions had lips that extended in front of the arms and zippers. Before I started, I googled all the videos I could find on line and watched them all which were very helpful. </p>
<p>I ripped apart all the old pieces of upholstery and labeled them with sharpie and then used these as a pattern for the new pieces. When I got it apart and realized that the hardest part involved sewing, I was relieved, because that is a skill I have. For instance, the overstuffed arms required a lot of sewing skills.</p>
<p>I also ended up purchasing an air compressor and staple gun. The little electric one staple gun I had was not powerful enough to easily put staples in the hardwood frame. </p>
<p>Hardest part: pulling off the old fabric and prying out staples (hundreds of them, lots of skinned knuckles) and unattaching/reattaching the sleeper mechanism (because they were not very accessible and they were heavy; H helped with that part, also my electric screwdriver was not powerful enough for the hardwood, and it was awkward to screw by hand into the hardwood frame, even though the holes were already there).</p>
<p>Unexpected glitch: Once I started cutting, it dawned on me that the new upholstery fabric raveled So I had to get out my serger and serge all the edges which required some extra time. </p>
<p>Purchased: fabric (way too much), upholstery thread, heavy-duty shears (my regular sewing shears didn’t work well with upholstery fabric), air compressor and staple gun, new cushions (the old ones were pretty flattened, some extra stuffing but I reused all the old stuffing and back cushions)</p>
<p>Reused: all the arm & back stuffing, padding, muslin extensions on some of the upholstery pieces, zippers for the cushions (because of the length, new ones would have been special order). </p>
<p>I also took lots of photos before, during and after. This was especially helpful in reassembling it in the reverse order that I had taken it apart. </p>
<p>tango14, thanks for that full report. I’m beginning to think this may not be a project for me.</p>
<p>Our local tech school has all sorts non credit evening classes, including upholstery. You might see if you can find a class of this sort, if one of the chairs is transportable. </p>
<p>Being of a creative nature, I took a class in upholstery in HS, and really enjoyed the process, though in my adult life have done little more than seat covers. Difficulty is totally dependent on how your chair is pieced, and price dependent on whether you can find discount fabric. Some local fabric stores used to have big remnant tables with upholstery fabric. I haven’t entered a fabric store in years. </p>
<p>Tango, that is quite the feat! </p>
<p>Do note that mine was a full size sleeper sofa with overstuffed arms and lots of pleating. A chair, particularly if it wasn’t a very elaborate design would be much easier. The whole thing cost me about $1100 (including the air compressor + staple gun). I could probably have saved about $225 with the excess fabric I bought. This is much less than I would have spent on a comparable new sofa, and this thing is incredibly comfortable, which is why we didn’t want to get rid of it. I’d do another project like this any time, but I find this kind of challenge fun!</p>
<p>tango14, I find this kind of project fun too – but I don’t want to get in over my head! I’m going to continue educating myself until I’m more comfortable.</p>
<p>VH, I was at Big Lots today. They have cute upholstered occasional chairs for very reasonable prices. Since the bedroom chair doesn’t get huge use, check them out. Very cute…and similar to the ones at World Market.</p>
<p>Yeah, that’s the kind of thing I’m thinking about, thumper. It’s really just an “occasional” chair that my guests – whom I have fore maybe four weeks a year – sit in while they’re there, maybe 15 minutes a day.</p>