How easy is it really to get an antique armchair or sofa reupholstered?

Recovering or reupholstering antique sofas and chairs is a brilliant way to bring character and patina to your interiors, but there are things you need to look out for if you go down this path, as Elizabeth Metcalfe investigates
 

Deconstructed armchairs in the sitting room of a house in Bath decorated by Anna Haines Mark Anthony Fox
‘Buy an old antique and get it recovered.’ It’s a piece of advice I’ve heard from countless interior designers when it comes to sourcing a piece of upholstered furniture. There is certainly lot of sense in it: for a couple of hundred pounds, you can pick up a nicely shaped armchair from an antiques market, skip lead times (at least until you come the reupholstering part) and have something that is rich with a patina it would be hard to get in a new piece.

But then to the upholstering part, which can prove more of a challenge. I found out the hard way a couple of years ago when I bought a deep-seated Victorian armchair from Kempton for £100 and thought I could just zhuzh it up in a heavenly Le Manach fabric that I’d been wanting for years. How wrong I was – the wobbly chair needed an entire rebuild and the money I’d put aside for fabric was quickly swallowed up having joints repaired and springs replaced. ‘Upholstering an antique piece is basically a three cost process – the piece itself, the upholsterer’s fee and the cost of the fabric,’ explains interior designer Anna Haines, who regularly has antique armchairs – generally dating from the 18th and 19th centuries – reupholstered for clients.

The first lesson to learn is that recovering and reupholstering are very different processes, and the condition of your piece ultimately governs the route you go down. The more affordable ‘recovering’ is exactly what it suggests, but it is only possible if the piece is in good nick and structurally sound. ‘To plump up and recover an armchair, you can expect to pay somewhere between £500-£900,’ estimates interior designer Rachel Allen, who rarely buys newly upholstered pieces for clients. ‘A sofa might be somewhere between £1000 and £1600.’ By contrast, a full reupholstery job – which is what my wobbly wreck ended up needing – is a more costly affair that might include everything from repairing joints to replacing webbing and stuffing. ‘The price can go up exponentially when there are problems with a piece,’ says Hertfordshire-based upholsterer and curtain maker Emma Stewart, who counts Salvesen Graham, VSP and James Mackie among her clients. ‘For example, if we’d stripped back an armchair and had to replace the horsehair and down seat pads you might be talking about £2000 or more.’

So how can you avoid a nasty shock when you get your chair to the upholsterers? ‘Have a really good look at the base and back and check for splinters, wood worm and the state of the webbing,’ suggests Anna Haines. I now realise the sagging bottom of my chair said it all. ‘It’s important to make sure the back is structurally sound, because while not impossible to restore, it will be very expensive,’ adds Rachel Allen. If you’re viewing a piece online, Anna suggests asking for photographs of every side and sending them to your upholsterer to have a proper look. ‘It’s really important to work with an upholsterer who is transparent and open with you from the onset about the potential scope of work,’ explains Anna. ‘It can sometimes be hard to know what will be unearthed when they take the existing cover off, so it’s crucial you’re aware of the worst case scenario.’ There are countless good upholsterers out there, but a few who are well known for whipping antique pieces into shape include north London-based John Haswell, Somerset-based By Anna Elizabeth and Wiltshire-based Larsen Oliver (Rachel Allen’s go-to).

A wingback chair in the sitting room of a house by Lonika Chande, who reupholstered it in a Soane stripe, with a seat cushion in a Colefax & Fowler mint linen, for the family dog to perch on. Milo Brown

MOST POPULAR

HOUSES
An 18th-century Gloucestershire farmhouse with a simple, relaxed interior
By Elizabeth Metcalfe

HOUSES
An antique-filled Provençal house brimming with natural materials
By Liz Elliot

NEWS
A rare flat on Bath’s Royal Crescent complete with a roof terrace hits the market – see inside
By Christabel Chubb

Emma Stewart, another go-to for those in the know, agrees about really interrogating the piece. ‘If you can get your mitts on it, try and twist the joints to check if they’re solid,’ she explains. ‘Can you hear squeaking? Does your bottom go straight through when you sit on it? Can you see springs hanging out the bottom? Are the arms dented and dipped? If so, it is likely that it is going to have to be completely stripped back and need significant restoration, which will be costly,’ she explains. Another key point to bear in mind is whether the piece is complete. One missing castor might not seem like a major issue, but, as Emma points out, ‘it will require rather a lot of effort and money to recast or find a similar one.’

If you’re thinking about buying an antique piece to reupholster, work out what shape and style of armchair or sofa you’re after and understand that while some small tweaks can be made during the upholstery process – arms for instance can be changed a little – you are choosing the piece because you like it as it is. ‘I usually look for Howard & Sons or Howard style armchairs, as well as open and wing armchairs,’ says Rachel Allen. Howard & Son chairs are particularly collectable and command high prices, but there are plenty more affordable options. Anna Haines suggests Georgian chairs – ‘their lovely proportions are hard to beat,’ she says. 19th and 20th century pieces tend to represent good value for money and French chairs tend to be especially lovely. Online dealer Modants (which has recently opened a studio in north-west London) has a steady stream of good quality French chairs that are often stripped back and perfect for reupholstery.

If you do find yourself in the unfortunate position I did where you have little option other than to embark on a full rebuild, it’s worth knowing that there are ways to reduce costs. ‘Opting for machine stitching rather than hand-stitching, or going for feather-wrapped cushions over full down cushions are both cost-effective compromises,’ explains Anna Haines. ‘I would always encourage clients to do proper down cushions if it was something like a Howard & Sons armchair but if it’s an everyday workhorse type chair, then it’s totally fine to think about doing feather wrapped foam,’ adds Emma Stewart.

Of course, the other element of upholstery is the fabric you decide to use – which is where you generally want to allocate a good chunk of budget, but often where you have to scrimp, especially if you’re faced with an entire rebuild. For a fully upholstered medium sized armchair, Anna suggests 5 or so metres should be adequate, while you might be able to get away with 2-3 metres for a slipper chair. ‘You always need more fabric than you anticipate and we always find it costs more than you’d expect,’ she adds.

For the particularly brave, another route to go down is to have a go at upholstering a vintage or antique piece yourself. One person demystifying the process is Hepzabeth Evans, who after 15 years of creating exquisite fabric walls for clients, has recently launched her online platform The Upholstery Studio, which shows people how they can do their own basic bits of upholstery and offers a £5 monthly subscription service via Instagram. Now her videos and easy step-by-step tutorials have attracted her more than 200,000 followers. ‘Start with something simple like a dining chair,’ advises Hepzabeth. ‘Don’t jump in at the deep end with something like an armchair, because it will probably put you off,’ she adds, with a laugh. ‘Stay away from anything sprung, because this immediately takes you to something a bit more intermediate – ideally you want something with simple webbing or a drop seat.’ Generally, suggests Hepzabeth, if you don’t feel any lumpy bits on a simple chair, it is likely that you can just recover it with a new fabric. ‘Then the trickiest part is learning how to use a staple gun,’ she jokes. ‘My top tip is to use an electric one and learn the art of putting temporary staples in before your final ones.’

While reupholstering an antique piece is not necessarily an easy, cost efficient option, it is something that is certainly worth the effort. As Anna Haines wisely puts it, ‘very often reupholstering an antique piece isn’t any cheaper than a new chair, but it’s the beauty and craftsmanship that means so much.’ Sitting in my rags-to-riches armchair, I couldn’t agree more.