1.  Is it worth Re-Covering my furniture? 

If your furniture was made by one of the ‘Famous Name’ makes: Parker Knoll, Cintique, Ercol, G-Plan, Minty, Multiyork, M&S, Tetrad, Collins & Hayes or Laura Ashley then almost certainly, Yes. 

There are of course many other smaller volume makers of high quality furniture and you will know from the price you paid, and where it came from, that it is of good quality. 

And ‘good quality’ means more today than ever.  In the last few years furniture manufacturing in the UK has virtually collapsed and much of what is on the market is mass produced in vast factories in the Far East and Eastern Europe.  It is design-lead and generally not built to last. 

Your good quality furniture will generally be made from Hard Wood which is increasingly rare – may have good quality polished show wood (which is even rarer!) and will be jointed with dowels rather than just glued and stapled. 

As an overall test of quality, weight is a fair guide – if the furniture is heavy then it’s probably made from hard wood, while very light furniture may well be cheaply made.  But a better guide is the condition it’s in.  If at 10 years old the joints were pretty good and it was still comfortable – then its good quality, worth re-covering, and very likely to last a lot longer than a lot of mid-market furniture on sale today.  

To gauge whether a particular piece is suitable for covers or re-upholstery we use the ‘knee test’.  Put one knee on the seat and grab the back with both hands and gently try to twist it side to side.  If the back moves a lot and the joints are loose, then it’s probably not worth putting covers on it, better to re-upholster (as long as the re-upholsterer will/is competent at knocking apart and re-setting joints). 

One last consideration – and one of the most common reasons for having Covers or Re-Upholstery of course, is that it fits your room just right, or you just like it! 

2.  What service is on offer and why is it important to know? 

We often talk about ‘re-covering’ furniture to mean a nice new look for the furniture in a new fabric.  But there are a number of ways of achieving this, each being suitable for different kinds or conditions of furniture and at different prices.  The main options are: 

• Loose Covers
• Tailored Covers
• Stretch Covers
• Re-Upholstery
• Re-Cover. 

The reason it's important to know what you are getting is that there are important issues of safety, cost and durability.  Unfortunately by being ‘economical with the truth’ an unscrupulous supplier can charge a lot of money for a sub-standard job.  As you only see the outer covering of the finished job, you may be none the wiser until something goes wrong. 

See the link to ’12 Questions to Ask Your Cover or Re-Upholstery supplier’ to put you in a better position. 

Briefly the options mean: 

   Loose Covers

The traditional loosely fitting cover, used to be made in a cotton print with a valance finish at the bottom.  My Dad always said – ‘the kind of covers the Queen has on her furniture when you watch the Christmas message’ (but probably not these days of polished image!).  They are very clearly a Cover, and all look pretty much the same whatever the design of the furniture underneath.  They are made to be easily taken off, washed and slipped back on.  See the link at the bottom of this page for Lifestyle Covers. 

  Tailored Covers

Invented by my father Richard Vipond who coined the term 'Tailored Covers', these are Covers which have been closely tailored to the original design of the furniture.  For instance, the first Covers he made were for Cintique furniture which were seats and backs consisting of complex cushions attached with studs to a frame.  The Covers exactly match the original cushions, including back flap and studs, and even the buttoning on the back. 

With modern Tailored Covers you can expect a Cover which is closely Tailored to the contours of your furniture and which as far as possible in a Cover, will reflect the main design features of the chair or sofa underneath.You can learn more about Tailored Covers from the link on the Home Page.  Unfortunately the term my father coined of ‘Tailored Covers’ is much misused these days with even stretch covers sometimes being passed off as tailored covers. 

  Stretch Covers

These are Covers made principally from knitted polyester.  They may have other yarns woven in such as cotton so that the supplier can say ‘cotton’ but the structure of the cloth is the same. 

They used to be made in a set of standard sizes and would stretch enormously to cover a chair etc but the stretch would mean seams appeared all over the place.  In more recent years the degree of stretch has been reduced and the fabric designs improved.  By cutting the cover more closely to the shape of the furniture they have improved the fit but the covers still rely on the stretch of the fabric.

A very important issue here however is one of safety.  When the government introduced the Fire Safety regulations in 1988 stretch covers were still very popular but it was impossible to make them comply with the safety standards of other fabrics.  So to protect the industry a compromise was reached whereby stretch covers had to meet a lower standard.  Unfortunately at the time nobody thought to require that customers should be made aware that a cover was actually stretch, (and so met a lower standard) or that it should be labelled as such.  An unsatisfactory situation which persists to this day, even though large numbers of stretch covers are still being made and sold.  For more on safety and furniture see the link to ‘How Safe is my Sofa?’ 

   Re-Upholstery

This is the full stripping down of your furniture to the springs and frame, and building up with new or re-constituted fillings.  When complete, the Re-Upholstered furniture should be as good as the original.  (Note however most upholsterers do not polish show-wood surfaces so there is a slight difference - Lynplan however does re-polish wood as part of the service). 

We find with most furniture that years in centrally heated homes means the joints deteriorate and that they often need knocking apart and re-setting, so always find out if this is part of the service being offered.

The most important issue however is the word ‘upholstery’.  This actually means the fillings, and the way it is fabricated in the chair or sofa to give comfort and support (it doesn’t mean just the covering).  Unfortunately either by mistake of design ‘re-cover’ (see below) is often confused with ‘re-upholstery’.  There are enormous cost and quality differences between the two.  It can take a man at least a day to strip down a traditionally upholstered chair, re-web it, sew in springs, then apply layers of felt etc and stitch in hair and fibre with proper firm stitched edges.  You can expect such a re-upholstered chair then to last for many years – in fact many 10’s of years! 

Contrast this with Re-Covering, where the cover is simply removed and another cover sewn up and attached in its place.  This is probably the most common misrepresentation in the industry, which is why the Association of Master Upholsterers was moved to issue clear guidelines recently.  So beware, and ask the key question when being offered re-upholstery:  Do you mean Re-Upholstery or Re-Cover? 

   Re-Cover

This is the removing of the original fabric Cover and replacement with a new one.  A layer of fibre (commonly called ‘dacron’) may be added first to smooth out creases.  It is particularly suitable when you have furniture in good condition – maybe only a few years old and you have become tired of, or need to replace the Cover, but don't want a Tailored Cover. 

We would not recommend re-covering anything more than about 7 years old, as the fillings underneath are probably beginning to deteriorate and before long your nice new cover (which is unlikely to have been cheap!) will start to sag and bag.  As mentioned above it is important not to confuse re-cover with re-upholster.  

3.  What about Fabrics? 

The main things you should consider when choosing a fabric are: 

• Design – colour, choice and maybe can I use my own fabric
• Durability
• Washability or cleaning
• Safety (fire retardancy)

   Design

You will know what colour and general look that you want, and I’m sure that with the wide range of fabrics on the market today you will have a pretty clear idea of what you would like.

However bear in mind that not every fabric:

1. Is suitable for your furniture
2. Is suitable for Covers or Re-Upholstery
3. Complies with safety regulations

When choosing a fabric, be particularly aware of how different your furniture may look once covered.  For instance if you are making a major change from patterned to plain or vice versa your furniture will look very different  (which is what you want of course!), but seams for instance that were barely visible in heavy pattern will be clearly seen in plain fabric. 

You also need to be aware of how a particular desgin will work on your furniture.  Stripes for instance might not be advisable on furniture with a lot of curves, or a very large pattern might not suit a small chair. 

Another important design issue is ‘shading’ of fabrics.  With fabrics which have a ‘pile’ such as velvets and chenilles, when light strikes the pile at different angles you get different degrees of reflection, and so you get lighter or darker shades of the underlying colour.  This is of course a major part of its appeal and what sets it apart from a plain fabric – but not everyone is aware of this. 

It is also important that a fabric is actually suitable for Covers or Re-Upholstery.  That is, it has the required ‘give’ to go round curves and can be sewn without the seam coming apart under strain (seam slippage) and that it can take the strain of being pulled and stapled for upholstery. 

   Durability

A covering on a seat or exposed arm takes a lot of punishment. 

Standards have been set for the amount of abrasion a particular piece of cloth can take and this is measured with the ‘Martindale’ test and normally expressed as a number of ‘rubs’ e.g. 15,000 rubs (for more about the test - see the 'What you need to know about fabrics' link).  For ease of use this along with other information is then expressed as a usability classification: General Domestic, Severe Domestic, Contract etc.  Any fabric you look at should have this classification as a guide. 

   Washing and Cleaning

One big advantage of Covers is that they cane be removed for washing and cleaning – If you are choosing a light coloured fabric washability is a big plus.  However with Tailored Covers there will be very little slack, so any shrinkage will be crucial.  Many general fabric suppliers will label a fabric washable – what they mean is the colours will not run and it will not be damaged by washing, but there could be considerable shrinkage.  A reputable supplier of Covers will ensure that their own range of fabrics has very low or no shrinkage to overcome this problem.

If dry cleaning - we always say use a reputable dry cleaner,  The labels in the Covers will give the dry cleaner instructions on the right method to use.  Avoid self cleaning in launderettes as you are likely to damage your Covers.  

   Safety

All fabrics used for Covers must meet the Furniture and Furnishings (Fire Safety) regulations (as amended).  As mentioned above Stretch fabrics do not have to meet as high a standard as Cover and Upholstery fabrics. 

For Re-Upholstery fabrics everything supplied by the upholsterer must meet the requirements although fabrics supplied by the customer may not have to.  However we would strongly advise against using non-complying materials for your own safety and because it would significantly reduce the value of the furniture if you ever wanted to dispose of it. 

For more on fabrics see the link to ‘What you need to know about fabric’ .

4.  My cushion interiors have collapsed, can they be replaced? 

To make the best of new Covers the cushion interior should be nice and plump.  A lot of furniture in recent years has been sold with fibre filled seat cushions.  Although lovely and soft and comfortable at first these generally doesn’t last very long and soon needs replacing.  You can change to a medium-soft foam to get a similar feel (but not so squashy) or get new fibre filled seats.  (available from Lynplan) 

If you have feather cushions these need plumping up regularly and generally last quite a long time.  New replacement feather cushions are available, or you can have feather wrapped foam which gives the luxury of feather but with the recovery and resilience of foam.  (Replacement feather or feather-wrapped foam cushions are available from Lynplan) 

If you are having your furniture Re-Upholstered, as mentioned above this does mean new fillings, so you will get new cushion interiors anyway – but beware: if you have feather or fibre check exactly what you will be getting – feather cushions ‘topped up’, new feather cushions, new fibre or replacement with foam. 

5.  What standard can I expect? 

Standards of workmanship vary enormously.  But as far I am concerned a re-upholstered chair or sofa should look like it did when it was new, and Covers should be of the standard we describe in the link on the home page. 

Sitting for many years on the Board of Directors of the Association of Master Upholsterers, unfortunately I have seen some pretty poor workmanship in re-covering, and in new furniture.  The Board has to make final decisions on serious complaints which have been referred to the AMU and which cannot be resolved by other means. But I'm glad to say that by far the majority of complaints we deal with are not for our members work, but concern outside companies.

Given the amount of work that is undertaken in the UK the complaint rate is pretty small.  I don’t wish to appear to be recommending the Association of Master Upholsterers above any other organisation, but they are the only furniture trade body which both regularly vets and re-vets members, and has an arbitration and complaint resolution service.

As such you should expect a better standard of work from a member – although there are also some good upholsterers who for various reasons are not members. 

Having read this text you will be far better prepared than most to make a good choice, and if you are sure to ask the ’12 questions to ask of your Cover or Re-Upholstery supplier’ and get satisfactory answers you will be rewarded for ‘doing your homework’. For more on the Association of Master Upholsterers see the link at the bottom of the left hand panel.

6.  What will it cost? 

With thousands of designs of furniture, countless methods of construction, a myriad of fabrics and a choice of Covers, Re-Upholstery etc its impossible to say.  Ideally the company you are dealing with will be able to give you a price list for your particular furniture (which Lynplan can do for ‘famous name’ furniture Covers and Re-Upholstery but this is almost unique). 

With simpler designs such as Loose Covers some websites can give you prices as the amount of work does not vary much between types of design, but as the job gets more complex you will probably need a quotation. 

Again the most important thing is to be sure of what you are being offered for the money.  If you are looking at competing quotes, be sure you are comparing like-for-like and that you have taken into account such things as guarantees etc. 

7.  What if it goes wrong? 

Most important - Check the Guarantees you are being given – the best of course is a money back Guarantee with plenty of time to make up your mind.  (Lynplan is almost unique in offering a money back guarantee on custom made covers and was the first company ever to offer such a guarantee). 

For Re-Upholstery or a Re-Cover make sure you are getting a clear guarantee for the workmanship and materials (Lynplan gives 3-years) and make sure there are no unreasonable ‘ifs and buts’. 

If something does go wrong (and with a custom made product made by craftsmen in a wide variety of materials, occasionally it will) contact the company and tell them the problem.  You should expect your complaint to be responded to within 24 hours and a resolution to be effected promptly. 

If you can't get a satisfactory outcome from your suplier then refer to the relevant Trade Association such as the Association of Master Upholsterers (AMU). (note, I don't recommend the Guild of master craftsmen: nothing against them but in my opinion it's more of a club for traders from all sorts of trades than a trade body with support for customers). 

The AMU as a principal trade association has a Code of Practice as is now generally required, and they also have their own dispute resolution scheme and inspection service.

To find out what services are available to you from Lynplan in your area, enter your postcode in the box on the homepage.  Then select the service you want and complete your details - we'll ensure you receive the information you need promptly.  

LINKS

Loose Covers:  If you would like to know more about Loose Covers as opposed to Fully Tailored Covers or Re-Upholstery visit our sister company Lifestyle Covers.These Covers are designed for simple club style furniture – and are made in the ‘Shabby Chic’ style – easy to remove wash and slip back on.  For more go to:   www.furniturecovers.com

Parts for furniture:  A range of replacement parts such as Castors, Webing, springs and Recliner electrics are available at our Furnifix site:  www.furnifix.co.uk 

Important:  Comments about the Furniture and Furnishings (Fire) (Safety) Regulations 1988 (as amended) on this page and on this site are my opinion only, and no liability can be accepted for the information given.  Due to it's nature the Regulations and the interpretation of them by Trading Standards are complex, so if any issue is critical to you it is important you consult the regulations themselves or the very useful guide to the regulations published by BERR (formerly the DTI).