In all of my years in the upholstery trade, I have never had anyone tell me that they have regretted getting me to recover their lounge furniture. I have had many tell me that they have regretted getting rid of their old lounge. And they have regretted it even more with the new lounge suite that they purchased.
So why should you recover? When really at the end of the day, the cheap import will always be cheaper than recovering your old lounge. That is something that only you will be able to answer in the end. But, in the meantime, let me give you some thoughts to think about.
1 Style: Only you can decide on this one. However, if you like the current style of your existing lounge, then this could be a better option. Now, with style, I am referring to the shape and [once was maybe] comfort. The other thing is, does it fit in your room OK. Does it cater to all of your family members [ two and four-legged family members]? What is the environment like in your house? By this, I am referring to the usage. Is it to be used as an all-around purpose lounge, versus maybe say a formal lounge. Is it likely to get dirty or maybe even stained from everyday usage? Is this something that will concern you?
2 Comfort: I briefly touched on this in the previous paragraph. Most of the older lounges were usually of a high back style. They were more often than not of a larger seating area per person. Today they seem to be a whole lot smaller in size. This also could be to do with the fact that a lot of homes are a lot smaller. They are also mainly low backed, thus making it very hard to fall asleep on. This actually just reminded me of a couple of incidents in this regard. I think it has happened twice now. The lady of the house has rung me after a few weeks of the lounge been returned from getting recovered. She has then gone onto complain that the “man” of the house keeps falling asleep in his chair now! Not sure how to change this habit, but good to know it’s comfortable.
The other thing is that a lot of these new lounges are a lot lower to the ground now. This can make it difficult to get up out of at times.
You need to remember that even though your old current lounge looks and feels a bit ordinary, that will be fixed in its makeover
3 Frame: If only you were able to see the way these imported lounge suits were made The frames are just so cheaply put together today. I use to do warranty work for a large furniture retail store. I ended asking them to get someone else to do their work as I felt I was going into a depression mode by trying to fix this work.
You will simply not beat a good solid timber frame lounge.
4 Upholstery Fabric: This is generally where the female of the house gets excited, the male just curls up into his shell. There is an absolutely massive range of great designer inspired upholstery fabrics on the market today. And if a fabric isn’t your thing, then there are some great vinyl and leathers to choose from. Each one of these materials has a place on lounge furniture. It once again comes back to what the usage of your lounge will be. Vinyl and leathers are very practical to look after if you have a messy family. All you need to do is simply wipe it clean after the spillage has occurred. The downside is that it can become hot and sticky to sit on in the summer months, though you could always just throw a rug over it. Fabrics are great for comfort but maybe not so good if you have young children or four-legged family members who like to snuggle up to you.
Whilst there are some stunning linen and cotton upholstery fabrics available, these will not last in high humidity or heavy usage areas.
At the end of the day, only you can decide which is the better option for your situation. Whatever you do though, make sure you compare the two options fairly. One way is to get a price to recover your lounge. Then go to your local furniture store and find a lounge that you like. Then ask them how much it will cost in the same upholstery fabric you chose to recover your lounge in. You might be surprised at the price difference.
One other thing, whilst you may think that you can save some money by buying your upholstery fabric online, it may not have any warranty. Your local experienced upholsterer can best advise as what is best suited to your situation.
