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Financial Friday #5 | {DIY Upholstery}

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Spring is here.

At least it kind of is, for those of us in northern New England, the weather is milder one day with snow the next.

But the birds are chirping in their spring songs and soon, yes, very soon, it will be yard sale season. Hooray!

I recently met with a friend who wants to figure out the mystery of upholstery. I don’t have all the answers. But I have upholstered plenty of furniture. Not brilliantly. And every time I show one of my pieces I can’t help but show to the visitor the flaws that seem so glaring to me.

No one sees these problems.

They only see a room in which they feel cozy and welcome.

Below is an excerpt with my vision of the awesomeness and the cost-saving of redoing your own furniture from my first book, Real Deal: Making Big Changes with Small Change.

blue and green upholstered chairs

‘There are many ways to make changes and additions to living rooms, and all their many sibling rooms, in cost-effective ways.

How about furniture: couches, chairs, side tables, etc. If you don’t have adequate seating there are several inexpensive ways to add seating to your room, from the really cheap to new, but frugal, options.

Resale shops, yard sales and auctions are great places to find upholstered furniture. Styles available usually include tub, club, wingback and occasional (these are typically a chair that has a upholstered seat and a wooden or upholstered back) chairs. Because these are used pieces of furniture, but they are usually very inexpensive. I’ve generally paid less than $75. (Actually that was the price that I paid for a chaise lounge at auction. I bought another one at a completely different auction for $50.)

Updating this furniture can be done with slipcovers. Even if you buy the slipcover, there are plenty of simple covers that don’t cost as much as a new couch but when used they can radically update the look of the piece of furniture and your room.

DIY upholstery

I’ve learned to reupholster – and not well, so don’t be so darn intimidated! What the heck? If you only pay $25 for the chair what real trouble can you cause? I started with occasional chairs since it was a simple matter of stapling fabric to the bottom cushion after you have unscrewed it from its holding place. I also got books out of the library to try to figure out what I needed to know, and like I said, I was willing to do this even if I wasn’t great at it.

Part of this whole renovation idea is you have to be willing to DO IT. You won’t be experienced for a while, and you will only BECOME experienced when you do it a few times. Don’t you remember your first painting, or bicycle ride, or piano lesson? It wasn’t great. If you had only accepted perfection even at your beginning, where would you be now?

All I see when I look at completed pieces are the imperfections. Except that isn’t the reaction of friends who think that I’m brilliant, which is why I love my friends. My earlier chair projects were not very good, but I use those chairs in my bedroom. As I got braver and chose more complicated pieces of furniture, I made mistakes, but I started to see the basic pattern of the job. I really don’t enjoy the reupholstering or making slipcovers, but I like the result: furniture at a great price and plenty of places for people to sit. Not everyone has $600 for one chair. And while I become more prosperous I am creating pretty furniture that is much nicer than plastic crates or folding chairs.’

DIY upholstered chairs

So, start with simple pieces. To learn more watch a video on what to do at each step. Or speak with a friend who has had some experience and can demystify the job.

My mother in law, God rest her soul, knew how to reupholster very well. The detail of her work was perfect. My work is much less perfect. Do I upholster anyway? Yes, I do. Do I explain how to do it for others? Yes, I do. And I include the disclaimer that I am not very good at this.

What does the distinction between an excellent upholsterer and a mediocre upholster mean to you? I think it means whatever level your ability, you should go for it, my friend. Accept mediocrity, if that’s your best effort, while striving for excellence. While you learn and try and grow in this skill, speak to yourself with the same kindness and affection that you use with your friends or your darling children.

You want furniture to sit on and your budget is tight? Get thee to a yard sale, my friend. Do some simple refurbishing within your growing skill level and make your house even more of a home.

wicker-upholstered-bench

 
 
Marion Syversen is owner and president of Norumbega Financial and appears every Tuesday on Bangor, Maine’s CBS affiliate, in her segment, Finance is FUN! Marion is the author of Real Deal: Making Big Changes with Small Change and is working on a new book, Real Deal: Tying the Knot without Getting Tangled. Send questions or feedback to Marion. Marion@norumbegafinancial.com or visit her website at www.NorumbegaFinancial.com
Marion is accepting new clients.
 
 
Only securities and advisory services offered through Wall Street Financial Group, Inc. WSFG Registered Investment Advisor Member FINRA/SIPC. Norumbega Financial and WSFG are separate entities. They are independently owned and operated. Opinions expressed are those of the author and not necessarily those of WSFG.
 

 

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