Not Happy With a Reupholstery Job?

We are a family upholstery and furniture-restoration workshop in Eltham North, servicing all of Melbourne, with close to a hundred years of combined craft between our upholsterer, machinist and restorer. Helping people get their furniture to where they hoped it would be is a normal part of our week, and there is never any awkwardness in it. You do not need to explain who did what. We just look at the piece as it is today and go from there.

The niggles we hear most

Any of these sound familiar?

The seat has gone soft already. Comfort that fades within months usually means the foam was not up to the job. Quality high-resilience foam holds its shape and support for many years, cheaper grades do not.
The wrong webbing, or webbing over tired springs. The support under the cushion matters as much as the cushion. If the seat feels bouncy in the wrong way, saggy in the middle or just not like it should, the platform underneath is usually why.
The chair is still wobbly. If a frame was loose before the work and is still loose after it, the joints were never opened up and reglued. New fabric cannot fix a frame.
Puckered, wrinkled or loose fabric. A well-cut cover fits like tailoring. Fullness across the seat, wrinkles at the corners or a cover you can pinch away from the foam means the fit is not right.
Piping that wanders, patterns that do not line up. Careful work shows in the lines.
It is just not comfortable anymore. Sometimes everything looks fine and it simply does not sit the way you hoped. Comfort can be tuned: firmer foam, softer foam, more crown, better support.

The good news: it is nearly always fixable

Whatever the issue, the piece underneath usually still has plenty of life in it. Sometimes the fix is small: a seat re-foamed in quality high-resilience Dunlop foam, webbing replaced with the right type and tension, a frame opened up and properly reglued. Sometimes the honest answer is to strip the piece back and rebuild the foundations so the good fabric on top finally has something worth sitting on. Either way, you get a clear, no-obligation explanation of what it needs before anything happens.

If you are weighing up whether the piece deserves it, our guide on whether reupholstering is worth it applies here too: if the frame is sound, it almost always does.

Why comfort fades early

Nearly always it comes down to what you cannot see. Stripping a piece to the frame, regluing joints, renewing webbing and springs and using quality foam takes hours and materials. Skipping some of that keeps a quote low, and both jobs look much the same on handover day. The difference only shows up over the months that follow, in the sitting. That is why we always suggest comparing quotes on what is included rather than the number, wherever you take your furniture.

What to ask before you choose anyone

The best fix is not needing one. Before you book any upholsterer, including us, ask:

What happens under the fabric? You want to hear about stripping to the frame, webbing, springs and foam, not just fabric choices.
Can I see before and after photos of recent work? Real photos of real local jobs. See our recent work.
What foam do you use? Quality high-resilience foam has a name and a grade. We use Dunlop high-resilience foam and say so.
How long do you stand behind the work? We back our frame work with a thirty-year guarantee. Anyone doing it properly can be specific.
What do your reviews say? Read the detail, not just the stars.

There is a fuller version of this checklist in our guide on how to choose an upholsterer.

How it works with us

Send us photos of the piece, including close-ups of whatever is bothering you, along with your suburb. We will tell you honestly what is going on, whether it is worth fixing, and what it would take, usually within 24 hours, with no obligation. We service all of Melbourne from our Eltham North workshop, including Warrandyte, Templestowe, Doncaster and the surrounding suburbs, and we arrange pickup and delivery so the piece never has to be your problem to move.

Good to know

Questions

My reupholstered couch is already sagging. What can be done?

Almost certainly the support under the cover needs attention: the foam, the webbing or both. We renew the seat with quality high-resilience Dunlop foam on properly tensioned webbing, and the comfort comes back. The fabric on top can very often be kept.

I am not happy with part of a reupholstery job I had done. Can you help?

Usually, yes. Maybe the foam has gone soft too soon, the wrong webbing was used, the cover is not sitting right, or a chair is still wobbly. Whatever it is, send a photo and we will tell you honestly what it needs and how to put it right, with no awkwardness about where the work was done.

The chair I had repaired is still wobbly. Is that fixable?

Yes. A wobbly frame means the joints need to be opened up, cleaned and properly reglued, which is careful work but very doable. Once the frame is solid, everything above it works the way it should.

Will putting it right cost as much as reupholstering from scratch?

Sometimes it is a small, targeted job like re-foaming a seat, and sometimes it means rebuilding the foundations properly. Good existing fabric can often be kept, which helps. We will always tell you the honest position before you commit.

How do I avoid the problem next time?

Ask what happens under the fabric, ask to see before and after photos of recent local work, ask what foam is used by name and grade, and ask how long the work is guaranteed for. Compare quotes on what is included, not just the number.

How do I get a quote?

Send photos of the piece and what is bothering you, along with your suburb, through the form on this page or text 0425 832 619. We reply within 24 hours with an honest assessment and a clear written quote, no obligation.

Can you match a cheaper quote?

We will always be straight with you: usually not, and here is why. Some quotes we are asked to match are lower than what our materials alone cost us at wholesale. The only way to reach a number like that is to use different materials or skip work under the fabric. We would rather tell you honestly what a proper job costs, show you exactly what you get for it, and let you decide. If budget is tight we can sometimes stage the work or focus on the seats first, done properly.

How long does it take to put a bad job right?

Usually longer than doing it properly the first time would have taken, and it is worth knowing that going in. Undoing someone else's work is its own task before any rebuilding starts, and if tacks or staples have been driven into the wrong parts of the frame there is repair work before we get to the upholstery at all. Once the extent is clear we give you a firm timeframe in writing. If fabric is being replaced, lead time on that sets the start date.

Can the existing fabric be reused, or does it all have to go?

It depends why the job went wrong. If the fabric itself is good quality and simply badly fitted, sometimes it can be taken off and re-set correctly, and we will tell you if that is realistic. More often the problem is that the cover was cut short, cut off grain, or the pattern was not set out properly, and none of those can be fixed by refitting the same piece of fabric. In that case you need new material, and we will show you the evidence from the strip so you can see why rather than take our word for it.

Do you collect the piece?

Yes. This work is all done at the workshop, since assessing what was done wrong means having the piece on the bench and stripping it back. Full size sofas go on transport we arrange, quoted up front. Single chairs and smaller pieces close to Eltham North we generally just collect and return ourselves without charging separately. Photograph the problem areas before we come, because it helps to have a record of the state it arrived in.

Not Happy With a Reupholstery Job? We Can Help