Real Simple Upholstery cleaning guide

I was delighted to read, in the November issue of Real Simple, 3 things pros know about upholstery. Whenever people buy furniture or have it reupholstered, it behooves them to inquire about the care instructions of the fabric. Fabrics come labeled as W,S,WS and X. "W" means that the fabric can be treated with water-based detergents, this is the easiest method of cleaning. "S" means that the fabric can be treated with only solvent based cleaners (the foam in Resolve foam cleaner on a clean cloth) It is important to try it out on a part of the fabric not seen to make sure there is no color transfer. "WS" means that the fabric can be cleaned with either solvent or water. "X" means that no solvents or detergents can be used.

A customer brought in a settee (from the 1800's) to be reupholstered. It was in pretty bad shape and needed a lot of work to bring it back to where it should be. Because of all the tack holes, I had to re-glue the entire piece. After this, the webbing needed to be replaced and retied, along with new edge roll. I removed the original horse hair, washed and dried it and replaced it in the seat and back. I then added foam over the horse hair and sheet poly before attaching the fabric. Variegated gimp finished off the piece. I think you can see by the before and after pictures that the job was an improvement to the piece.

Bonded Leather

Customers should be careful when buying furniture made from "Bonded Leather". Bonded leather or reconstituted leather is a material made of varying degrees of genuine leather combined with other substances to give the appearance of leather at reduced cost. There is a difference between bonded leather and Naugahyde or Faux Leather. Bonded leather is made from the scraps of leather which have been ground up and laid flat with a finish on top. This finish is then plaited (stamped) with a pattern to have the look of full grain leather. Faux leather or Naugahyde is a plastic material with a tricot backing and then stamped or plaited to give it the look of leather. A customer came to me recently wanting me to repair her leather sofa. She was told it was bonded leather and yet when she showed me the sample of the material, it was not leather, but indeed it was faux leather. When a customer buys bonded leather furniture, they should ask the seller to confirm that there is actually leather in the material.

Truly reupholstered furniture.

Many times I am asked by customers if I re-tie the springs or replace the foam or cotton batting on their furniture. It is important to note that a good reupholsterer always takes the piece of furniture down to the frame. At this time, the frame can be inspected and when needed, can be reinforced or the joints can be re-glued. In addition to the frame, the springs are evaluated and replaced if broken or contorted in such a way as to be deemed unusable. The springs are then re-tied to created a nice long lasting seat. Springs in other areas of the piece are also evaluated and re-tied if necessary. Polyester, cotton batting and foam are replaced to provide a comfortable piece of furniture. I have had many pieces of furniture in my studio where there is one or two covers over the original. This piece has not been reupholstered, it has simply been recovered. The value of a truly reupholstered piece of furniture cannot be exaggerated.

We now offer chair caning!

We now offer traditional hole to hole chair caning. Individual strips are woven through a series of pre-drilled holes around the perimeter of the chair. We use the 7-step method as we have found this to be the strongest and most reliable.

Article in the Times Record

I was so honored to have had an article written about me and my business in our local newspaper, "The Times Record". Hopefully, all who read it will think more about our environment.
If we all have just one piece of furniture reupholstered, re-caned, re-finished, instead of trashing it, we can prevent some of the toxic fumes that come from getting rid of the furniture in a landfill.

If you want to read the article, here's the link:

http://www.timesrecord.com/articles/2010/06/02/features/doc4c06961af01d8929698605.txt

tip of the day

Save Those Used Tea Bags

Do not throw out your tea bags with the trash. Save them in a dish and then empty them around your garden plants and shrubs. It makes a good substitute for peat and will add plant goodness and save you cash.

This tip goes right in line with my "reuse, re-purpose, reupholster philosophy.

Tufted back chair

Hapitat for Humanity

I feel so very fortunate to be doing something I really love; reupholstering furniture. Now, I really want to give back so I'm volunteering for Habitat for Humanity. It is such a wonderful organization and I'm pretty handy with a hammer so....I'm really looking forward to helping someone else realize their dream.

The Reupholstering Class

Class went so well last night. There are 5 women in the class and each one brought a piece of furniture they want to reupholster. I started off by explaining what to look for when buying new furniture and also included a "How to" on how to choose furniture at a flea market or yard sale. The women were perfectly marvelous and were so eager to learn. We've got various stages which is great as they'll learn how to put the webbing on a chair, tie springs, re-design their ottomans, etc. I just love the group and I know we'll have a lot of fun. At the end of the course, they'll have a finished piece of furniture.

Reupholstering Class

We'll be teaching a reupholstering class through Merrymeeting Adult Education starting on Feb. 23, 2010. This is a hands-on class to teach beginners the fundamentals of reupholstering furniture. We will work with each student's footstool, ottoman or drop in seat to show the many techniques which can be carried through to larger pieces of furniture.
Upon completion of the course, the student will have a better understanding as to how upholstered furniture is put together. They will learn about repairing the frame, replacing old webbing, tightening or gluing joints and spring tying.

In addition to reupholstering their furniture, we will also discuss the things you should consider when buying new furniture.

Should be a great class and its open to everyone in the Midcoast Maine area.

The value of upholstered furniture is in the frame.

If your old sofa or chair has a good frame, it is well worth reupholstering. A frame is the essential element in the structure and if it's solid, there's no reason to go out and buy a new piece of furniture when you could have it reupholstered.

So, how do you tell if a frame is a good one? A good frame is made of hardwood: oak or maple, for example. These woods are very strong and have longevity. One way to tell if your frame is made from a hardwood is by the weight. Hardwood is heavy. Many times a furniture salesman will lift up one end of a sofa to demonstrate the frame's weight.

High prices in lumber have caused many furniture manufacturers to resort to using materials of lesser quality and cost, materials such as soft woods and inexpensive plywood. This furniture, made from low-quality materials, will not hold screws, nails, staples or glue for very long and cannot endure the everyday stresses in which most of today's furniture is subjected.

But, back to the hardwood frame....

The hardwood frame, even if substantially damaged, can be repaired and reupholstered to look new for far less than the cost of a comparable piece in today's marketplace. Every good upholsterer should know how to fortify and repair such a frame.

Building on your old frame, the Re-upholsterer re-ties the springs, puts on new webbing, all new padding and filling, and totally re-creates the piece of furniture. This is all hand-work involving a high degree of skills. What you get back is a piece of furniture in the caliber of a custom-made piece.

as a teenager, working at Brunswick Reupholstering Co.

This picture was taken when I was a teenager, working at the family business, Brunswick Reupholstering Co. The business had been on a "hiatus" for twenty years after my parents retired. Recently, I've resurrected the business. We're located in Brunswick, Me., we have been here for the last 50 years.
Prior to this, I worked at L.L. Bean where I was responsible for the quality for their entire indoor and outdoor furniture line.
In this picture, I'm hand sewing an outside back.....I still do this when many others who reupholster shy away from hand sewing. I think it adds that extra special touch.

Beautiful old rocker

Quality means everything

Recently, a customer from our family business sent me one of my father's business cards. She mentioned that she'd had some furniture reupholstered by Brunswick Reupholstering about 25 years ago and it still looks wonderful.

My father always believed in giving the customer the very best quality and it shows.

In the past, I've purchased a piece of furniture from a discount store and been truly disappointed. The cover didn't last and the furniture frame became loose after a couple of years. Although I hated to do it, that piece of furniture ended up in a landfill.

Certainly, those older pieces of furniture were built to last. The old saying "they don't build them like they used to" is so true.

website launch - Really

It is official! My website has launched! I look forward to all comments.

http://www.brunswickreupholstering.com

website launch

Tomorrow's the day my website will be launched! http://brunswickreupholstering.com