Suzanne O’Connor’s Bargains LA

Upholstery Savings

When mom passed away a couple of years ago, I kept several pieces of furniture besides the family heirlooms. Despite the difficulty of storing them, I held on to two upholstery pieces that Mom loved and meant a lot to me because of that.

One was a small love seat/ settee that she adored. I stored it in a friend’s garage for a couple of years, hoping it could be used later on. The other was a 1960’s rather unique Bergere chair.

Since our current sofa and chairs really didn’t work in our new living room, I pulled out these saved pieces and took them in to Valley Upholstering. I wouldn’t trust these much beloved pieces of furniture to just anyone. Around for decades, Valley Upholstering is where the top interior designer take their clients pieces and where upscale department stores subcontract their upholstery work.

I supplied the fabric.. These were my labor costs at Valley Upholstering:

Bergere Chair:
For just $200 in labor I got a nearly new chair redone in a high-grade fabric (Total of $27 from Home Fabrics).
A new reproduction Bergere chair runs from $600 on Ballard Designs to $2400 at Neiman Marcus.  A very similar antique chair at Lifestyles antiques was $1900.  Based on what I‘ve seen and the quality, my chair is now worth around $900-$1000.
Me thinks I got a great deal. Mom paid $180 for this older chair in 1991.

Before After

The Settee:
The settee was re-upholstered in 14 yards of a blue cotton velvet ($126) with additional brown and blue velvet stripped accent pillows ($24). The labor was $450. It’s quite a unique piece.

BeforeAfter

Mom picked this piece up at a favorite consignment shop (now closed) for $200 in 1993.  Now I have a wonderful settee for that’s worth $1200 -$1500 that I paid $700 to redo. Plus it has family history to it. Sweet.

Bench:
I also had a 1940’s bench which I had reupholstered in the same fabric I used on the Bergere chair at $100. Fabric was $16

BeforeAfter

All that’s left is to recover my old 1940’s King Wing Chair. Another old time family piece that I’ve had for ages. It’s 4/1/2 feet tall with 12” deep wings. It’s a mammoth job with over 9 yards of fabric needed. Almost got rid of this exceptional piece cause it’s so overpowering.

None of these furniture pieces are newer than the 1960’s. That’s why the quality was so good and it was worth it to re-upholster.