The internet knows best!

[gene]

Furniture seat cushion insert - Dr. Jekel and Mr. Hyde

On very rare occasion, a homeowner will immediately not like the style of seat cushion insert I made. I had a woman who's husband had a bad back and the foam/core insert was too soft. They could tell immediately. I put a new foam insert in at no charge (much firmer).

This is a service I do for the Interior Designers I work with. It doesn't happen very often, and it's easy for me to do, and it makes a very big impression on the ID and the homeowner.

If they tell me weeks or a month later, then they pay for the new insert.

I recently had a homeowner tell the ID that the seat cushions on a sofa were too hard. I called the homeowner the very next day. Set an appointment to go see them. They were 6" foam inserts. Too firm. What they want was a foam/core insert. They asked if I would come back the next week to pick up the seat cushions so they could use them over the weekend. I said yes.

I went back last week and "What the hell happened???" Absolutely nasty people and they gave me a sheet of paper that had specification for the foam (from off the internet). It said "MY REQUIREMENTS for the foam." What they were demanding was a foam insert that was even more firm than what I had originally made.

I told a friend about these people and he suggested that I focus more on all the wonderful customers I have.

I refused to work with a fabric last year because it was drapery weight and was made to hang in a window, not wrap around a chair. The ID showed me the internet print out where it said in big letters UPHOLSTERY WEIGHT FABRIC.

I understand medical doctors go through training to learn how to deal with patients and family members of patients who know more than the doctor because they read it on the internet.

It must be true if it's on the internet.

gene

[sofadoc]

IMO, I think it should be the ID's job to deal personally with the customer regarding such matters. After all, what else are they getting paid for?

I have a few decorators who send me out to personally interact with their clients. Then they get PO'ed when said clients bypass THEM on the next job and call ME directly.

As for the customer handing me a list of foam specs printed off the internet. I'm afraid that I'd be tempted to whip out 'Little Sofadoc' and urinate all over them.

BTW Gene: We all have varying terminologies. What do you mean by 'foam insert', as opposed to 'foam/core insert'?

[gene]

These particular cushions are 6" boxing.

A foam insert is 6" of foam with a poly batting wrap.

A foam/core insert would be 4" or 5" of foam with a thick poly batting wrap filling out the rest of the cushion cover.

(A down/foam core insert would use an envelope of down with a piece of foam inside, for example.)

There are many different ways to make cushion inserts. On this project, from what the homeowner told me, I thought that a foam/core insert would give her more "plushness, plumpness, and sinkability", than simply putting in softer 6" foam.

People go into furniture stores and feel how wonderfully soft the seat cushions are and they don't realize that there is a negative correlation between how soft and plump a seat cushion is and the amount of time that the cushion will maintain it's form. i.e. In general, the softer the cushion the less length of time it will retain it's form.

Any feedback that can help me learn more is certainly welcome. Thanks for asking the question.

gene

[sofadoc]

People go into furniture stores and feel how wonderfully soft the seat cushions are and they don't realize that there is a negative correlation between how soft and plump a seat cushion is and the amount of time that the cushion will maintain it's form. i.e. In general, the softer the cushion the less length of time it will retain it's form.

Oh so true. The customer sits down on a showroom sofa..........sinks into a 'whoosh' of softness......and says "Wow! This is GREAT!". They don't think about how little support all that softness will really provide long-term.

Around here, Fridays have become 'Foamdays'. A lot of people get paid on Friday. Or they're going to have company at their home over the weekend, and they want new foam for their 'less-than-year-old' sofa. They bring their cushions in on Friday morning, and pick them later that day so they'll have them for the weekend.
Sometimes, I make as much $ on Friday as I did during the week. And yes, I keep their used cores, and sell them on foam replacement jobs for used furniture dealers who just want to make the piece look presentable for re-sale.

I've been buying a lot more stitched Dacron for cushion wrap than I used to. I use it for re-upholstery jobs. But I still mostly use plain bonded Dacron for foam replacement jobs (most foam replacement customers simply want FIRM).