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Durb's avatar
Durb
Explorer
Oct 07, 2019

Upholstery needs to be redone

My bonded leather couch has become un-bonded and looks a mess. It is a special design incorporating storage and is 11 feet long so replacing it with store-bought furniture isn't an option. When having a piece of furniture redone, do you use a standard re-upholstery shop? Do they have the skills to remove the piece from the trailer, or is that something I will have to do and transport. I'm looking to see what others have done as this has to be a popular problem.
  • When I had the sofa in my Airstream reupholstered years ago, I just took it out and took the pieces to the shop. They would have to do the same thing anyway.
  • We found the auto upholstery shop about 1/4 the price of a furniture shop and much more willing to work on our couch.
  • It would probably vary on the shop if they could remove the sofa (have room for the RV). Any upholstery shop should be able to redo it.

    They do sell RV sofas online that are larger size. I bought a LazyBoy RV sleeper sofa for a RV project I'm doing.

    The big question is whether your old sofa is made as one unit and has to be taken apart to get it out the door. LazyBoy the back comes off the sofa to get it through the door.

    If I didn't need a sleeper sofa I would have replaced with two comfortable recliners. I took out the uncomfortable jack-knife sofa and dinette and replaced with a LazyBoy sofa and recliner.
  • Where are you located? Here in Upstate NY we have a company called Capabilities. They hire and train people with disabilities. Anyway, one of the services they offer is an upholstery shop that does very good work at a cheap price. I believe they are government funded, so their pricing is very reasonable. I've had them do some work on a buddies boat and the craftsmanship was very nice...and it was cheap. Maybe your area has a similar facility. I have no idea if this is a national program or just local.
  • I would think each shop is different as to the removal of the item. I would take pictures measurements etc. with you to the upholstery shop and see what they say. But yes a standard upholstery shop should be able to replace the fabric, just finding that shop could be a challenge.