Furniture Re-Upholstery in Port Alfred
Re-Upholstering furniture in Port Alfred, South Africa? Visit Anne's Upholstery where furniture re-upholstery from the bare frame to the fabric is carried out by professionals. Where your old furniture is exclusive. Where only one job at a time is worked on. Where upholstery is done with pride and craftmanship.
Why Anne's Upholstery?
Simply, Anne's Upholstery is genuine about re-upholstery. We take great pride in the quality of our workmanship because of our genuine care we have with each piece of furniture we work on. Our standards are extremely high and our quality control procedures particularly stringent. We use traditional upholstering skills and modern materials to provide you with results that are even better than the original. We enjoy the one on one interaction with you, our valued customer, without interruption. Our re-upholstery is thorough. We do not just recover your furniture by replacing your new fabric over the old. We strip your furniture to the frame and begin the upholstery process. Furniture repair and re-upholstery is what Anne's Upholstery does best. Are these not important factors?
Re-Upholster Furniture or Buy New?
Should you re-upholster your furniture, or buy new? This is one of the most frequent questions that all of us in the upholstery business have been asked. The easiest answer is yes, but it is not always the most practical nor the most truthful.
Is it cheaper to re-upholster? Many people are under the impression that re-upholstery is an inexpensive alternative. This is not necessarily accurate.
This website has been inspired by the many people, such as yourself, who want answers to questions such as the ones above, and our desire to provide those answers. There are no shortcuts, so information is the key. With this information you will be armed to answer the questions above and making your decision will be easier.
To help you make an informed decision, let's take a look at the basics of your furniture.
Frame Structure On Your Furniture
So what's a good furniture frame? The frame structure is the most important factor in re-upholstering your furniture. Quality furniture frames are made of hard, heavy wood and are usually joined with dowels and screwed and glued with corner blocks, and have web and coil foundation. These will hold fast and firm for a long time. In the age of mass produced furniture, the frames are usually made from low quality wood with metal braces, or, staples are used in place of dowels. This is generally not the best. These newer frames will often break, need repairs and have lesser quality foam and springs, and, very importantly, are light in weight.
You can tell a good furniture frame by its weight. They're heavy compared to most modern pieces. This is generally a good initial indicator of the quality. There are however manufacturers that conceal the true identity of the wood by using wood chipboard, which is also heavy. So if you have a lumpy old couch, or a frayed chair thats beginning to show its stuffing, take another look before dismissing it as junk. It could be a beautiful new couch ......please read our article on Frame Contruction.
Many chairs have outside frames and are often delicate and finely made. These frames are worth strengthening and are usually valuable. Even more so, if it's old. Some of the furniture have beautiful embellishments and some are part of the design of the furniture. Whether it's original antique furniture or a good reproduction, these pieces of furniture are worth strengthening and re-upholstering.
Furniture Re-upholstery means working from the furniture frame - up, is labour intensive and done by one or two people. Unlike most new furniture, our furniture re-upholstery is not created on an assembly line.
In a factory environment , the average turn-around time to complete one couch, from beginning to end, is 30 minutes. One Chair, 10 minutes. When you look at such a piece of furniture, it looks fine on the outside. What you don't see, is what is hidden beneath the fabric. If you lift the chair, you'll find it's light in weight. Not a good sign.
So if you decide to buy new furniture, then please check for motion, especially the arms and back support. If it moves - even slightly - our advise is to look for something else.
If your old couch or chair has lasted 10 years or more, it's probably good or it wouldn't have lasted that long. If it has a good frame, then it is worth considering having it re-upholstered because there can be a significant initial saving.
Furniture Re-Upholstery Gives You The Advantage
A significant advantage in re-upholstering your furniture, is fabric selection. The selection and variety of fabrics is almost endless. Re-upholstery gives you the advantage of choosing a good fabric, which, when figured into the total cost of a refurbish, can come to considerably less than today's price for an expensive assembly line product.
To receive a free estimate on the costs of re-upholstery on your furniture, click here.
Fabric for Wear
How do you judge fabric for wear? The tighter the weave, the longer the wear. One square centimeter of fabric with 10 to 15 thick threads does not have the strength of one square centimeter densely packed with 30 to 40 thin threads. For example: a woven cotton tapestry, where the colours and pattern are tightly woven in with coloured threads, wears better than a cotton with colours printed on.
Here is a simple check for you. Hold a piece of fabric up to the light. The less light that shows through, the tighter the weave.
Another way to tell the fabric durability, is the number of "rubs" the fabric has endured. The number of rub cycles undergone before the fabric shows an objectionable change in appearance is counted and determines the fabric's abrasion rating. For Example:
15,000 - 20,000 rubs = light contract upholstery.
30,000 - 40,000 rubs = heavy duty upholstery.
Furniture Re-Upholstery....How we do it in Port Alfred
* First, we remove old covering and filling to the bare frame.
* We check the frame for motion in the joints and repair them.
* We inspect springs or webbing and replace them if required.
* We retie coil springs using the traditional method of the 8 way hand-tie.
* We replace the fillings and padding with new if necessary.
* We trace, cut and sew fabric components and apply to your piece of furniture.
* We add finishing trims.
* Finally, each piece is personally inspected for quality workmanship.
If you only wish to have your old cushions recovered , we will gladly make new covers for you as well.
And if you have a holiday home in Port Alfred, we can collect, re-upholster and return your furniture before you arrive on holiday.
Our furniture re-upholstery is pure hand craftmanship. Anne's Upholstery, Port Alfred are here to help make your furniture look young and healthy again. Please don't hesitate to call us for any furniture re-upholstery query that you might have. Simply click Furniture re-upholstery - Port Alfred for our details. We will be delighted to hear from you.