What Is Reupholstery, and What It Is Not

Reupholstery is the process of stripping an existing piece of furniture down to its frame, repairing or replacing what is underneath, and building it back up with new padding, new foam and a new cover. It is not cleaning, it is not surface repair, and it is not a slipcover. The frame stays. Everything on it is replaced.

The word gets used loosely, often for things that are not reupholstery at all. Here is the whole family of terms, because knowing which one you need is the difference between a quick job and the wrong job.

The 5 terms people mix up

A few practical consequences.

If the fabric is dirty but sound, you want cleaning, not us. Upholstery cleaning is a separate trade with different equipment. Recovering a piece because it is dirty is an expensive way to solve that problem.

If the problem is underneath and the cover looks fine, you want repair. Sagging seats, flat cushions, creaking joints and seized recliners are all repairable without recovering.

If the wood shows and the finish is tired but the fabric is fine, you want refinishing. Many pieces need both, and on a show-wood chair the refinishing happens while the frame is stripped, which is the efficient order.

If you want to change the look seasonally or protect a piece you like, you want slipcovers. Nothing on the original is altered.

What actually happens to the piece

Reupholstery is more work than most people expect, because most of it is invisible once it is done.

1. Strip down. Every staple, tack and panel comes off, usually several hundred fixings. The old cover, the old padding and often the old foam all go. The frame is exposed.
2. Inspection. This is the first moment anybody knows what the piece really needs. Joints are checked, rails are checked, the suspension is checked.
3. Frame work. Loose joints re-glued and pinned, corner blocks replaced, split rails repaired or replaced.
4. Webbing and springs. Slack webbing replaced, springs re-tied or replaced. On 8-way hand-tied pieces, retying is skilled bench work.
5. Decking and padding. The platform under the cushions is rebuilt. Burlap, cotton or foam over the frame is replaced where it has broken down.
6. Foam. Cushions cut fresh, to a specified density, with wraps chosen for the feel you want.
7. Patterning and sewing. Every panel is cut from your fabric to your frame, not from a generic pattern. Welting, piping and boxing are sewn here.
8. Fit and finish. The cover goes on, is pulled true, and trim, skirt or nailhead detail goes on last.

The frame is the only original part that remains, and that is the point. A hardwood frame with doweled, glued and corner-blocked joints has already proved it lasts, and it will carry another 15 years or more.

What reupholstery does not change

Worth being direct about this, because it disappoints people who did not ask.

• Size and proportion. Depth, height, width and arm shape stay exactly as they are.
• Comfort profile, unless you ask. It can be changed, by specifying different foam and fill, but only if you raise it. Tell the workroom how you want the piece to feel.
• A failing frame. Particle board construction that has already loosened does not become sound because new fabric went over it.

When a piece is worth reupholstering

The short version: when the frame is solid wood with joints that are doweled, glued and corner-blocked, and the piece still sits square when you lift 1 front corner.

Furniture built more than about 20 years ago, and good furniture built since, is generally built this way. A lot of modern volume furniture uses particle board and bolt fixings, which does not hold staples or stress the same way.

Lift 1 front corner about 6 inches off the floor and watch the opposite corner. If it rises too and the frame stays square, the bones are good.

The vocabulary, briefly

Terms you will hear in a quote, in plain words.

• Deck. The platform the loose cushions sit on.
• Webbing. Woven strips stretched across the frame that support the springs or the deck.
• 8-way hand-tied. Springs individually tied in 8 directions. Labour intensive, long lasting, a marker of a well-built frame.
• Sinuous springs. S-shaped wire springs. Common, perfectly good, quicker to fit.
• Welting or piping. The covered cord sewn into seams.
• Boxing. The side panel of a cushion, between the top and bottom.
• Dacron. Polyester batting wrapped around foam to soften edges and fill the cover.
• COM. Customer's own material. Fabric you supply rather than buy from the workroom.
• Railroaded. Fabric woven so the pattern runs across the roll, letting a wide piece be covered without a seam.
• Yardage. How much fabric your piece needs. Driven by piece size, and by pattern repeat.

Talk to us

We reupholster residential furniture, marine interiors, hotel and restaurant seating and commercial furniture across South Carolina, coastal Georgia and into North Carolina, from workrooms in Hilton Head Island, North Charleston and Myrtle Beach.

Send photos and we will tell you which of the 5 things above your piece actually needs, including when the answer is none of them.

Request an estimate or call 843 785 4002. Full scope on our furniture reupholstery page. Boats sit under marine upholstery, and cushion-only work under custom cushion replacement.

Frequently asked questions

What is reupholstery?

Reupholstery is stripping a piece of furniture down to its frame, repairing or replacing the webbing, springs, padding and foam underneath, and rebuilding it with a new cover. The frame is the only original part that stays.

What is the difference between upholstery and reupholstery?

Upholstery is the padding, springs and covering on a piece of furniture, and the trade that makes it. Reupholstery is replacing all of that on a piece that already exists, keeping only the frame.

Is reupholstery the same as upholstery cleaning?

No. Cleaning treats the existing fabric in place and replaces nothing. It is a separate trade with different equipment. If your fabric is sound but dirty, cleaning is what you want.

What is the difference between reupholstery and furniture repair?

Repair fixes a specific fault with the cover left on, such as a sagging seat, flat cushions, a loose joint or a seized recliner. Reupholstery takes the cover off entirely and replaces everything above the frame.

Does reupholstery change the size or shape of my furniture?

No. Depth, height, width and arm shape stay the same, because the frame does not change. The feel can be changed by specifying different foam and fill, but only if you ask for it.

How do I know if my furniture is worth reupholstering?

Check the frame. Solid wood with doweled, glued and corner-blocked joints is worth recovering. Lift 1 front corner about 6 inches off the floor: if the opposite corner rises with it and the frame stays square, the structure is sound.

What does COM mean?

Customer's own material. It means fabric you supply yourself rather than buying it through the workroom. Confirm yardage and pattern repeat with the workroom before you order, because a pattern that has to be matched across seams uses noticeably more fabric.

David Quintanilla is co-owner of Palmetto Upholstery & Fabric, which has run upholstery workrooms on the South Carolina coast since 2004, in Hilton Head Island, North Charleston and Myrtle Beach.