Guide · upholstery in Melbourne
For a home with pets or young kids in Australia, choose a tightly woven performance or solution-dyed synthetic fabric rated at least 25,000 Martindale rubs, or genuine leather. A tight, flat weave stops claws snagging, and solution-dyed fibres, where colour runs through the yarn, let you spot-clean and even use diluted bleach on some fabrics without fading. Avoid loose weaves, looped textures like bouclé, untreated linen and delicate silks on hard-working pieces, and favour mid-tone flecks and patterns that hide hair, crumbs and marks far better than flat dark or pale solids. The single most useful step is matching the fabric to how the piece is actually used before you commit.
Last updated: September 2026
Get a free quoteCall 0425 832 619Four traits do most of the work. A fabric that has all four survives claws, spills, jumping kids and daily wear far longer than one chosen on looks alone.
For a family sofa that takes daily use, aim for a fabric rated at least 25,000 Martindale rubs, and higher if you have large dogs or several children. The Martindale test rubs a fabric until it shows wear, and the number, quoted in rubs or cycles, is the standard Australian and European abrasion measure. Note that US suppliers quote a different test, Wyzenbeck double rubs, which is not directly interchangeable.
Rub count is only one factor. It does not measure fade, stain resistance, pilling or weave tightness, so a very high rub count can still be the wrong fabric for a sunny room or a clawing cat. There is more detail in our upholstery fabric guide.
These handle real family life best, in rough order of practicality:
Some fabrics look wonderful and wear badly with pets and kids. Keep these for low-use or formal pieces, not the main couch:
Fabric choice is half durability and half disguise. The colour and pattern you pick decides how much daily mess actually shows between cleans.
Both are strong choices and it comes down to your household. Leather wipes clean in seconds, shrugs off spills and odours, and lasts decades, which suits homes with dogs and young children; the trade-off is a higher upfront cost and visible scratches, so it is less ideal with cats that claw. Performance fabric offers far more colour and texture, a warmer feel, and now rivals leather for cleanability, while costing less; the trade-off is that it wears faster than quality leather and cheaper versions do not last. For clawing cats, a tight performance weave or leather-look vinyl often beats both. We bring samples to your home so you can test them against your actual room and light before deciding.
To a point, yes. Fabric protector sprays add stain resistance to fabric that does not already have a performance finish, and are worth applying to a new recover in a family home, though they wear off over time and need reapplying. They cannot turn a delicate fabric into a hard-wearing one, and they do nothing for abrasion, so protection is a helpful extra on the right fabric, not a fix for the wrong one. If you are recovering a family piece, the better investment is choosing a genuinely durable fabric from the start and putting quality high-resilience foam underneath it, so the whole piece lasts. You are also welcome to supply your own fabric, and we will tell you honestly whether it will hold up on the piece you have in mind.
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Buying your own fabric (COM)? Get a rough idea of how many metres your piece needs before you order. This is a planning guide only, so always confirm the exact quantity with us before you buy, especially for patterned fabric.
A rough planning guide, not a cutting order. Railroading, buttoning, fluting and pattern matching all change the amount, and the only accurate figure comes from measuring your actual piece. We are always happy to confirm the exact metreage before you buy.
COM means "customer's own material", where you supply the fabric and the workshop does the upholstery. It suits people who have found a specific designer or specialty fabric. Before buying COM, check the fabric is upholstery-weight and suitable for the piece, confirm the metreage required with your upholsterer first, and ask about the fabric's rub count and any backing needs. A good workshop will tell you honestly if a fabric you love is not durable enough for how you plan to use the piece.
Weighing rub count, fade resistance, fibre type and fire rating is exactly the kind of judgement a specialist workshop makes daily. Dylberry Design, a family upholstery and furniture-restoration workshop in Eltham North servicing Melbourne, is one example of a business set up around this. It runs an in-house team, including a machinist, upholsterer and restorer, with around 100 years of combined craft, carries a broad fabric range, and gives honest advice on what will actually last in your home rather than pushing a single option. It holds a 5.0 rating from 44 Google reviews, offers free quotes from a photo, and prices each job individually and fairly on its scope and materials. The wider point is that the best fabric is the one matched to your piece, your room and your household, so it is worth talking through before you commit.
Good to know
For an everyday family sofa, aim for at least 25,000 Martindale rubs. Lighter-use chairs can be fine around 15,000, while pets and constant use point to 25,000 or more.
Not necessarily. Rub count only measures abrasion resistance. Fade resistance, stain resistance, pilling and weave tightness also matter, so a very high rub count fabric can still be a poor choice for a sunny room or a pet household.
A tightly woven performance fabric or solution-dyed synthetic with a high rub count, or genuine leather. Tight weaves resist claw snags, and solution-dyed fibres allow easier cleaning without colour loss.
Quality full-grain leather and top-tier performance fabrics both last many years. Leather wipes clean and ages well but scratches and costs more upfront. Avoid bonded leather, which wears poorly.
Solution-dyed acrylics and polypropylene resist UV fading best. Natural fibres like cotton, linen and silk fade faster in direct Melbourne sun. Mid tones show fading less than deep saturated colours.
Yes. Commercial and hospitality seating should use contract-grade fabric that meets Australian fire-safety standards. Always confirm the fire rating before ordering for a venue.
As a rough guide, a two-seat sofa needs around 10 to 14 metres and a three-seat around 14 to 18 metres. Patterned fabrics with a repeat need more. Confirm the exact amount with your upholsterer before buying.
Yes, this is called COM (customer's own material). Confirm the metreage and suitability with your upholsterer first, and check the fabric is upholstery-weight with an adequate rub count for how the piece will be used.
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Yes, and we would rather do that than have you choose from a screen or under workshop lighting. Colour behaves differently in every room depending on which way the windows face and what time of day you look at it, and a fabric that seemed right on a small swatch can read completely differently across a whole sofa. We bring a selection to you, look at them against the actual piece and in the actual light, and talk through weight and durability at the same time. It costs nothing and it saves the mistake that cannot be undone once the fabric is cut.
Yes. Once the fabric is settled and ordered, we arrange collection and delivery as part of the job. If you are within a reasonable run of the Eltham North workshop and the piece is something one person can manage, we generally just collect and return it ourselves and it does not appear on the invoice. Larger pieces, full lounge suites or addresses further out go on a carrier, and we write that transport cost into the quote from the start so there is nothing added at the end. Tell us about stairs, narrow halls or a first floor room when you send photos and we will plan the lift properly.
Send a photo or the dimensions of your booths, banquettes or venue seating and we'll come back with a rough price and turnaround.
Send a photo of your piece and we'll come back with a straight quote, no obligation, no pressure.
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