Upholstery Blog

[Peppy]

Here's a lady blogging while upholstering a fluted chair as a first project.

http://sittvancouver.ca/category/reupholstery/

One of you furniture folks should invite her here. Looks like she needs help.

[gene]

She said: "Have you ever thought about reupholstering that funky old chair you salvaged from your parents' basement, found at a second-hand shop or a leftover from your university days when "free" was the only price you could afford?  Only to discover that, damn, reupholstering furniture is expensive!  Then you decided to do it yourself, only to discover that upholstery classes are few and far between."

She should have said, "Then you decided to do it yourself, only to discover why it is so damn expensive!"

I give these ladies a lot of credit. They are interior designers who are interested in upholstery. What they learn on this project will absolutely help them sell more reupholstery projects.

These Vancouver, Canada ladies do have a bit of an 'attitude' about the good old USofA, but then, it you live smack dab between Russia's 11,500 nuclear weapons and the USofA's 8,500 nuclear weapons I can understand a bit of the attitude.

Cheers. Budem zdorovy.

gene

[byhammerandhand]

One of my daughters likes to watch HGTV, so when we visit, we are sometimes subjected to flip-that-house, and trading-places type programs.  I sometimes just quietly shake my head at their materials and construction.  I also notice that they never show close-ups of the wonderful bookcases made of MDF or the drapes made from blankets from the thrift store.

It's long been my impression that people are way more satisfied the the quality level of something they do themselves than what they would expect from a professional job.


One of my all time favorites was the guy who painted some plate joiner biscuits and Romex green and created an "ivy decor" on the kitchen cabinets.   Yuuuuuuuck.

[kodydog]

I give these ladies a lot of credit. They are interior designers who are interested in upholstery. What they learn on this project will absolutely help them sell more reupholstery projects.
gene

More likely she will say, WOW! I can do this myself and make a ton of money. Then when she sees the outcome It'll be off to the upholsterer to salvage whats left. At least that's what happened to me a couple months ago.

[bobbin]

I love DIY.  But I'm not your run ofthe mill "hack".  If I'm going to DIM I'll put in the time and effort to do it nicely.  I'm not particularly disturbed by a less thnt professional result because I'm not a professional, but I will do my best to turn out something I'll be proud of.  And I'm fussy enough to understand that it's the details that define the overall quality of the workmanship.  (I was very proud when my faux marble desk top actually fooled an interior designer!).

Like you, Hammer., I was appalled by the sorts of "make overs" that were routinely featured on HGTV (haven't had cable in years and so haven't watched lately).  Everything looked cheap, half-assed, and hurried.  Even as a rank beginner there is no way I'd be satisfied with that sort of work if I were to attempt it myself.  Drapery work and slipcovers were particular peeves, although shoddy painting was another one!.  Drapery work is not "from the neck down" unless you're simply running panels under the needle.  And a quality paint job requires considerable attention to detail... I can spot a s-itty paint job from 10' away... I have an entire interior under my belt (alkyd!).

I think that when you work in a field that actually requires hands on work your overall standards tend to be more exacting.  And I also think that you are more forgiving of "beginner" attempts when you decide to go for it in your own life.  However, I also think that working with your hands in one trade makes you more willing to look critically at your attempt in another.  Make sense?

[Peppy]

This lady's attempt will likely do a lot to build appreciation of the craft among her readers. And maybe they'll try to 'upholstry' thier own chairs But personally I can't wait till part 4 when she realizes she didnt have to strip it down so far. Hopefully there are plenty of thrown out sofas around for her to take springs from.

[bobbin]

I think the ripping down is a great lesson for wannabe DIYers.  Hey, we all look the same when we're stripped naked!  if a bare frame freaks you out... then don't "go there", deliver the piece to an upholstery professional.  But knowing what the bare frame actually looks like  is immeasurably helpful when you've never seen it before.  Seeing the bare frame is illustrative of how one can manipulate the upholstery to achieve different results (within reason). 

Gene, what was the basis for your comment about the bloggers, "... Vancouver ladies do have a bit of an attitude about the good old USofA"?  did I miss something important? or do I simply view another country's citizens' rights to speak their mind about our country as part of the "give and take" of the internet?  I saw no "attitude" at all, simply the honest observation of a Canadian viewing the pricing of companies with a large customer base in the USA.

I didn't feel that way, at all.  In fact, I find my own personal views more in line with our neighbors to the north than I do with the fools seeking elected office in our country!

[gatsby989]

Boy, I can sympathize with those bloggers. You guys have helped me so much with my wingback, but there's no doubt that I'm really basically in over my head.

And it has most definitely given me a new appreciation for upholstery work. I also learned a lot about how an upholstered chair ought to be built. For some reason, I had a hard time finding much information on this aspect of the woodworking when I built the chair.

So... next time I build a chair, I will hopefully put all the bars in the right places, and design it so it is easy... for someone else to upholster!  ;D  Just kidding. Well, maybe, maybe not. I don't know. I've learned a lot, and am mostly enjoying the process, but if I build chairs for people besides myself, I'll probably take them to a pro. Assuming I can find a good pro around here, that is.

[sofadoc]

One of my daughters likes to watch HGTV, so when we visit, we are sometimes subjected to flip-that-house, and trading-places type programs.  I sometimes just quietly shake my head at their materials and construction. 
I also notice that they never show close-ups

My wife likes those shows. It drives me crazy when they attempt a piece of furniture. The camera pans on the finished product from a great distance for a millisecond, then quickly moves on.

What amazes me about those "house-flipping" shows are the insane property values. 200 grand (or MORE) for 1200 square foot home in a seedy neighborhood?
I don't want to give anyone the false impression that Texas is the "Land of milk and honey", but a 150 grand will still buy you a nice 2000 sq. ft. home in a nice neighborhood.

[bobbin]

Nothing in life is as "easy" as it's made to appear on the internet, lol.  As I said, when you work with your hands in a skilled trade you have, I think, a deeper appreciation for the time, thought, practice required to deliver a quality job in any "trade". 

My brother and I own a "second" home.  When we inherited it, it was 50 yrs. old and its construction was that of a "camp", improvements to upgrade it to a "home" in the early '70s were minimal and half-assed (my parents were incredibly stupid when it came to long range planning, can you say, "pennywise and pound foolish?").  We have spent considerable time making necessary improvements and lamenting how difficult the "half-assed" construction has made it.  I loathe those "flip" shows.  They make it look so easy, but in fact nearly  everything they do is cheap, shoddy, and half-assed.  I say this because my late FIL was an architect and working with him on my present home gave me insights and a "way of thinking" that changed my life in many ways.  No kidding!

In my own situation, we have regular meetings about what "fire to put out", and we actually draw a timeline to determine if the most immediate fire is really the one we ought to pursue!  We've found that sometimes the fire that appears least important is really the one to tamp out, because doing so forces you to deal with greater systemic faults.  The very faults that will prove more expensive in the long run!

[kodydog]

Dave Ramsey, the financial guru, has the same attitude as you Bobbin. He says to becoming debt free, pay down the smallest debts first and this will start a snowball effect as you move up to the larger ones.

[bobbin]

Compounding interest is either your best friend or your worst enemy.  Go after the debt with the highest interest rate, but not exclusively.  Be patient and keep your focus on the long range goal, whittling away at the big one while making major inroads on the smallest one.  Get rid of the smallest debts and improve your credit rating! then go back and renegotiate the rates on the cards with the highest interest rates.  But make damn sure you hit the highest interest rate cards with some "payments to principal" you need to staunch the "bleeding" on that one.  

Dave Ramsey or Suze Orman(d?), have great advice to offer.  I never really understood the concept of "dollar cost averaging" until Suze Orman(d?) explained it.  But I really began to appreciate,  compounding interest by adding just under $10/mo. to my student loan payments ("rounding up" to the next even amount).  I paid them off over a year early...

DING, ding, ding!