Re-upholstering - when is it worth doing, how much does it cost?

I posted an image of the completed sofa in the kid's playroom on Instagram this past week, and there ensued a flurry of comments about the cost of reupholstery, and at what point was it worth doing. There were also a few misunderstandings on what I'd written, as can be the way when you're writing briefly and in tiny font that others might skim over... so here's a longer version.



The mistakes people make when looking at reupholstering are:

• using an item that is significantly broken and that will cost more to repair than buying a new frame of equivalent quality
• having something reupholstered that you don't particularly like the shape of, that is uncomfortable, or because it was expensive a long time ago/ you have some sentimental attachment to but you feel it's wasteful to pass it on.
• Having something reupholstered just because it cost a lot a long time ago. I recently advised a client not to reupholster a sofa that while originally expensive, but was not well constructed to start with and past its prime.

Re-upholstering is a good idea if

• you have something of age, with a very solid frame and horsehair stuffing (Quality)
• an unusual shape that cannot be found in new furniture
• it's an item you've always found extremely comfortable for ergonomic reasons, and it's attractive (because Lay-Z-Boy recliners are never attractive, even if they are comfortable)

The cost of reupholstering is not insignificant. Here in Adelaide a fully upholstered Armchair will cost around $700 and a sofa will cost around $900, with fabric costs on top of that (allow approximately 5-7 metres for an armchair and 13 meters for a 3 seater sofa of plain fabric). Something like a French style armchair will cost around the $450 mark. You can buy new furniture, already upholstered for around this price from low to mid range furniture retailers such as Pottery Barn, Ikea, Freedom, Domayne etc but the difference is that the frame, springs and foam will not be of such good quality as an older piece, and you can probably expect a lifespan of 10 years maximum for a sofa that is used as the primary seating in a house from a low/mid quality retailer. Older pieces were made better as a rule as they were investment pieces - people didn't turn over furniture with the regularity that they do these days by casting an eye at current fashion.

The other problem with purchasing new and lower end is that you generally will get a fairly inferior fabric on the upholstery. It will usually be extremely cheap in quality which will make it wear poorly and stain easily, and there will be a limited choice as well.

When I'm buying new for myself, or for clients, I have a variety of sources that I use, but if I'm buying a new chair or sofa through one of my to- the- trade suppliers you can expect it to cost around 5 times the cost of reupholstering an existing chair/sofa (with fabric cost extra on both) to get equivalent quality, so you can see that reupholstering is often worth the cost.

If your upholstered item needs some work done to it, then you'll pay extra on top of the basic upholstery cost. Most upholsterers will include piping and gimp (the tapes used to cover the raw edges in lieu of piping) in the basic upholstery price and refreshing dacron wrap over seat cushions and replacing broken webbing as standard for instance, but other items that may add additional cost include:

• Spings replaced - $200 and up depending on quantity
• Feather top up in seat or back cushions - $50
• Nailhead -$200 to an armchair, and $400 to a sofa 
• Legs repolished/ colour changed - $50-100
• Foam replacement - this can be expensive if it includes large seat cushions, so check before you proceed.

Your sofa could end up costing a bit to redo if all of these things have to be done, and this is generally why a lot of Decorators will say throw it out rather than redo it - if they don't like the shape they'll say it to you even louder.

This all sounds like a negative, but I do love reupholstering items. The best part about reupholstering, aside from the environmental one of recycling, is that you end up with a completely unique piece. I had a fairly grumpy upholsterer when I first came to Adelaide, who interrogated me on how much I'd paid for two very small scale armchairs that I took to him. Both were free (happily), as they were from my husband's family. He thought I'd bought them from an Auction room and was going to tell me I'd paid too much (regardless of what I'd paid for them). They cost $650 each plus 5m of fabric to reupholster, and you could easily buy new larger scale armchairs for that price ready upholstered. The thing was, they were solid, with incredibly heavy frames, were attractive and unusual shapes, I had them upholstered in fabrics that I loved, and I've since found out that they're most likely George III and William IV based on their style, so they're very very old. They are too small for a comfortable modern armchair (which was how we ended up with them in the first place), but they're perfect for a bedroom chair to sit on putting on shoes, or in a child's room, which is how we have used them.

After I found a different upholsterer, I've had more recently the wingback armchair reupholstered. Total cost of reupholstery was $1,200 which included a loose new seat cushion in feather and down, spring replacement, webbing replaced, and nailhead trim to the sides and back. I had bought this chair originally at Auction, and it wasn't cheap to do it all, but equivalent style/ quality armchairs in an antique shop would sell around the $4,000 mark and can be hard to track down anyway, so it was worth it to me. The frame was in good shape, the legs are attractive, and it had the original horsehair stuffing in it (which is a mark of quality construction).

As for the sofa, well, it was certainly worth reupholstering. I could have bought a sofa as cheaply as $1,500 and sent this one to the curb, but I still liked the shape, and it was a solid frame. The spring replacement and extra feather infill in the back cushions have completely given it a new lease of life, and it is again incredibly comfortable (funny what a difference those missing springs made!). Most of all, by being able to select a fabric that was very child friendly (an indoor/outdoor fabric from Jim Thompson), it should outlast the children now while still looking good. If you have been reading the blog for a long time you'd know that I am fairly dull in that I don't change over my furniture or decor with much regularity, which doesn't make for the most exciting design blog....  I completely understand the thrill of the new, of changing things up and the high from buying something... but equally I think that if you've put thought, effort and money into something and it works, it's worth keeping and using for years and years... and years.


When weighing up whether to reupholster or not, there are a lot of factors that come into play besides just the money.  But the biggest one is the cost v's replacement cost analogy. For me, most of the time it's worth reupholstering. Something completely unique in style and fabric choice is worth going the extra mile for.

Additional reading - older post on sofas here

costs will vary depending on whether you are in a rural or city location and the client base of the upholsterer (there is an Eastern Suburbs markup in most Australian cities)... this is intended to give a guide price to what you might expect to pay. Always get a quote before proceeding, most upholsterers will give a quote based on an emailed photo, or by paying you a visit in person to asses the item if there is some rectification works to be done.