Messages

I make a wooden box 10" x 10" x 10".

I glue 1" foam to the four sides making it 12" long x 12" deep x 10" high.

I glue 12" x 12" x 2" foam to the top making it 12" long x 12" deep x 12" high.

The 12" x 12" x 2" piece of foam on top is supported by the 10" x 10" wood box and the 1" foam (on all four sides).

My concern is can the 1" foam on the sides support the edges of the 2" top foam, or will the edge of the 2" top foam get beaten down if people occasionally sit on the ottoman?

Thanks,

Gene

It is amazing how it seems that every aspect of the furniture is manufactured for maximum efficiency in design/assembly and the cheapest quality of materials possible.

With all the technology they still cannot totally eliminate the human factor. A homeowner bought two club chairs around $1000 each and she and the designer thought there was something wrong but couldn't put their finger on it. The fabric had a non symmetrical geometric type pattern to it. I pointed out that the outside side panels were upside down.

gene

Any sources for ottoman feet?

I'm finishing a project where I will offer a custom made ottoman to IDs. One price, any size up to 23" x 23" x 23". 2" foam on top and 1" foam on all sides.

They give me their size and either 1 yard or 1 1/2 yards of fabric, (16" x 16" x 16 and up require the extra 1/2 yard), and I plug the size into my spreadsheet that tells me what sizes of wood to cut out, what sizes of foam, what sizes of poly batting, what sizes for the 5 fabric panels that I sew together, and what size of cambric to cut out. The idea is to minimize my time as much as possible.

I have sliders for the feet - plastic or carpet, but I want to also offer approximately 2" high feet that are either bare wood that I would lacquer finish or paint. Or the other idea is to just offer black, white, and maybe cream colored plastic feet.

What I'm selling is a custom size with their fabric. I can't compete against store bought ottomans.

So, any sources for ottoman feet?

Thanks,

Gene

The hole looks bigger than the dowel. Is this correct and do you do this to be able to match the two parts together if your holes are not plumb with each other? And then you fill the holes with epoxy? Thanks for your comments on how you fixed the headboard.

I've reupholstered a club chair and a sofa this year because dogs chewed up the corners on one and clawed the back panel on another. I always say "bad dog" when I'm talking to the homeowner. I then slip the dog a doggy treat when the homeowner is not looking. :-)

About two years ago I made arm guards for a sofa where their new puppy chewed a big hole. The owner had kept the remaining fabric from when I had reupholstered to sofa about 5 years ago so I was able to use the same fabric.

gene

How do you fill in the cracks and match the stain? Are these cracks all the way through? Do you do anything to keep the cracks from happening again?

---------------------------------------------
"cracks in H/Bs that the patients use in the rooms when they stay over night"

Do all Veterans Hospitals have free porn channels or is that just the Veteran Hospitals in the Bronx?

----------------------------------------------------
"I showed her my Trump  card"

And if Hillary had won the election you would have shown your Hillary card. Even though all those government bids are sealed by law, it is amazing how the winners all voted for whoever the president is at the time of the bidding.

-------------------------------------------------
I hope it turns out to be a good source of repeat business.

gene

I think that's a good idea from your link. I wonder how many RV people use that kind of service. Do you see vendors offering that service at the RV shows you go to? That would be a great time to take measurements to make sure the customer is getting something that fits.

On a side note: I find the Christian stuff on their web site to be very inappropriate for a business. I support their right to put that kind of stuff on their web site, but I would never do business to them.

gene

In general, we do not share the same values as our grandparents. We do share the same values as our parents, but we are removed enough from our grandparents that we have different values.

When we get old enough we can see our grandkids' generation and how much more different they are from us. They do not value privacy as we do. They do not value the achievements of the individual and self sufficiency as we do, and instead, they value a big government that takes care of all the needs of everyone.

Being different from our grandparents is true for every generation. It's what keeps the world changing and evolving - and not always for the better.

Just my 2 1/2 cents. (2 cents adjusted for inflation.)

gene

Many skills require time to get over a "learning curve". DIY videos do not eliminate this requirement, even though most DIYers think it does. DIY videos also do not tell you what to do when you screw up some aspect of a project. I put a nail through the water line, now what? I got hot melt glue on the velvet fabric, now what?

I enjoy watching Buckminster Upholstery videos. He does authentic upholstery restoration. His last posted video is 4 1/2 minutes. The total time he spent on making that edge roll was probably over 1 hour, even with his years of experience. Most DIYers see a video like that and they think they can do the same thing in 4 1/2 minutes. https://www.youtube.com/user/BuckUpholstery/videos

I've watched a lot of woodworking videos on youtube. They often will speed up the video showing repetitive tasks, such as using the table saw to cut multiple strips of wood. I wonder how many people watch those videos and do not realize the video is speeded up and they think they can cut wood just as fast?

Recently a guy bought a dining chair from a junk store for $15. He was going to use it on his back porch. He asked me what I would charge to recover the slip seat. I told him and he said he would do it himself. I saw him a few weeks later and he said he put a plastic bag over the chair instead of redoing the slip seat and it works just fine for him. Most DIYers are not looking to spend money for their project. That's why they are DIYing. So how much of my time do I want to give to them for free?

My favorite: A DIYer can't figure out how to do something. They ask me and I tell then what to do. They then want to argue with me that there is a better way to do it. This always gives me a laugh and this always ends our conversation. LOL

I don't mind answering a few questions for DIYers. I too enjoy learning new things and occasionally will ask someone who knows more than me.

gene

I rarely have someone try to match the color. It does happen though and I've seen fabrics that are very close. I'm usually working with a high end furniture piece that has a high quality fabric on it. If you get close you can add toss pillows made from the new fabric also to the furniture piece to help the new fabric fit in nicer.

I also have done a few chairs where I've taken the back out panel and used that for the seat cushion cover. Usually I can do the top panel and front boxing of the seat cushion panel but not usually the entire piece. I put a second fabric on the rest of the seat cushion cover and on the back out panel. I just did a sofa like this with 3 seat cushions and we got the top panels OK but the boxing and bottom panel was a complimentary color. It looked very nice. I made toss pillows out of the secondary fabric also.

Most new cushion covers I make have all complimentary fabrics or occasionally contrast fabrics. I've had customers dry clean the old seat cushion covers and I will make toss pillows for the furniture to tie in the primary fabric to the new fabric.

I own two older pull out sleeper loveseats that have the original vinyl on them from the 1970's and I was amazed that I got the red vinyl so close when I made new seat cushion covers. No one can tell the difference.

gene

I had a nice talk with an Interior Designer who's retiring after being in the business 40 years. He said young people with money no longer tend to buy high end furniture for two reasons. They tend to move every 4 or 5 years for their jobs and furniture that looks great in a cape cod in New England doesn't look so good in Texas or California. Second they don't entertain in their homes as much as the older generation did.

We talked about "brown" furniture, and how younger people don't like the brown stained antiques and traditional style of furniture. He said there's a furniture company in NC that has survived by making traditional furniture and then painting to order the wood a pastel color, cream or light gray for example. Younger people tend to like this look.

Custom work of all kinds if shrinking, I think. There will always be people who want and are willing to pay for custom woodworking, upholstery, Interior designing, airplanes, swimming pools, cars, etc., but I don't see any growth in any custom type work areas.

I've thought for a long time now that I've been staying busy because other upholsterers are either dying or retiring and there are no new people coming into the business.

And of course everyone wants custom work as long as it comes with Walmart prices.There's a reason why Walmart prices are "Walmart" prices.

Crocs live in Florida and prefer salt water. I'd hate to be eaten by a croc and everyone think it was just a regular alligator.

https://www.naplesnews.com/story/news/local/environment/2018/07/02/rare-american-crocodiles-sanibel-cape-coral-naples/752914002/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zL7QzIb7cRg

Here's my idea on the crap in that chair.

The upholsterer lives someplace where he pays according to how much garbage he throws out. Maybe he's allowed one garbage can and then he pays extra for a second garbage can. So, he gets rid of most of his shop garbage by stuffing it inside furniture. Just be thankful KodyD that he didn't reupholster that chair when his children were still in diapers. :-)

Finding potato chips under the fabric done by the previous upholsterer was the worst thing I've seen.

I still have that diamond ring I found a few years ago. I have no idea what furniture it came out of. I hate to have it appraised because if it's really expensive I'll feel even worse than I do now. I think I would feel so bad that I would have to sell the ring and use the money to go on a cruise to see if that would help me feel better. And yes, as soon as I got back from my cruise a customer from 5 years ago will call and ask if, per chance, I found a diamond ring in her sofa when I reupholstered it 5 years ago.

gene

Great job. Those are difficult chairs to do. A lot of time involved, at least for me.