Buy New or Recover

Dear Melissa:

We just moved into a new house and our living room furniture looks really tired. It was fairly expensive when we bought it. We don’t know whether we should reupholster it, have slipcovers made, or just start over. We need a professional opinion. P.T., OH 

Dear P.:

This is really a question of budget and the condition of the chair frames. I don’t know how old your furniture is, but if the pieces are wobbly, the webbing beneath the seats is sagging, and the fabric is shredded, you should consider replacing them. Often, you can get a good buy during a local retail store’s seasonal sale.

You don’t have to buy new furniture, however; I have made some great purchases at auctions and consignment stores. Don’t be a snob about used furniture. You already own some. And let’s face it, what are pricey antiques anyway, but really used furniture? This may be the only way you can afford a fabulous piece of furniture, like a china cabinet.

I rarely suggest reupholstery to a client unless the piece of furniture has either a sentimental or an appraised value. Reupholstery, done properly, can be as costly as buying a brand new piece of furniture. This is because the workroom IS creating a new piece of furniture on the original frame. And trust me, craftsmanship counts here. So use the best, not the cheapest.

If the chair frames and seats are still good and provided that you select a reasonably-priced fabric, the least expensive thing to do is to use slipcovers. You can even change these seasonally.

Regarding secondhand furniture, one of my favorite things to do is to buy a $75 chair with fabulous lines, and slipcover it with $600 worth of fabric and trim. It looks like a million bucks while costing far less than a new custom chair. You can afford to be more extravagant with an inexpensive used chair. After all, no one has to know what’s under the skirt.

Once you know how far your budget will stretch, you might use a combination of strategies. M.A.K.

Buying Quality Furniture

Dear Readers:

With so many furniture stores coming and going lately, a lot of people have been asking me about buying quality furniture. Okay, here are some basic guidelines to consider:

1) What do you need furniture for? How many people must you seat? For what activities?

2) What size will you need? Can you fit it through the doorway? Up the stairs? (I can’t tell you how many people forget these last two.)

3) Do you need built-in or movable furniture? Built ins are neat and efficient, look more contemporary, and can be very versatile. On the other hand, where you place them is where they stay.

4) Can you reuse any of your current furniture? Consider slipcovers and reupholstery first.

5) Must your furniture be custom designed? Obviously, built ins must be. Get references.

6) Address safety concerns - Are there sharp corners where children can be scratched? Will the chair tip over? (A possibility with 3 legs, or casters.) Will the fabric be too close to a heat source? (Especially bedding.) Can you see the glass top on the cocktail table?

7) Does the piece come with a warranty? For how long? Will the store repair problems?

8) What is the cost vs your available budget? What is the lifetime cost (initial cost + maintenance cost + cost of disposal + cost of replacement)? Often, the more expensive piece that will last for 20 years is a better buy, even if the initial cost is high.

9) Does the style fit in with the rest of the décor? Here I must interject a word of caution about “eclectic interiors”. Everyone thinks they have one, which apparently makes whatever they’ve done to their rooms okay. The definition is to juxtapose at least 2 styles in a pleasing way, while mixing old with new. Is it just me, or does that imply something deliberate? I don’t think it means: Fill a room with a hodgepodge of every style under the sun, kind of like the “Old Curiosity Shoppe”. One should use both restraint and some sort of a plan. Two good solutions are to have one style predominate, and use a second one for accents; and make the really disparate pieces more compatible by using similar colors and upholstery.

10) Are you purchasing the furniture from an established store with a good reputation or from a discount supplier with little history and no customer service (and therefore, questionable customer satisfaction)? As always, Buyer Beware.

Nuff said. M.A.K.