Lou Butcher’s Furniture Werks

ASID - American Society of Interior Designers, Inc.

A year ago one of the grand children spilled some strawberry pop on the sofa. It blotted up without any staining. It works!...more!

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Sinking Seats

Sinking seats in sofas and chairs are caused by either worn out foam or seat supports. Replacing the foam is the easiest and least costly option. In order to make sure worn out foam is the culprit, we have sample seat cushions that people can take home to see if there is any improvement.

There are two main grades of foam, firmness and resilience. HR or high resilience foam retains its feel and ability to bounce back much longer than non HR foam. From there one makes a selection of soft, medium or firm. This is where sample cushions are valuable. You get to choose which is most comfortable. If there is significant improvement to your comfort with the sample cushion, then a much more costly rebuilding of seat springs is avoided.

Due to the higher cost of HR foam, not all furniture manufacturers and/or upholstery shops use HR foam. One needs to rely upon the reputation of the factory or upholstery shop that you will have the quality foam in your cushions.

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Glass Tops

A number of customers like to have glass tops for end tables, dressers, and even desks. The glass does an excellent job of protecting against spills, both water and chemical from damaging the finish. Glass also prevents scratches from getting on the surface.

When ordering a glass top, you will be asked for thickness. Let the glass store tell you the thickness that will work best given the size of your top and the use you expect it to see. You will want all edges to be polished, and corners rounded to prevent against potential injury. Most glass stores will offer small disks to go between the glass and the finished top. This is to allow for a small amount of air circulation necessary to keep condensation from getting trapped under the glass and damaging the finish. While clear plastic disks are popular, I prefer cork disks. Plastic at times will stick to the finish, causing damage. I have yet to observe cork disks causing finish damage.

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Guidelines for Furniture Stripping

Stripper or paint remover works best in mild temperatures, from 60 to 80 F. Use a well ventilated area for your one safety. A basement or heated garage in cooler climates is not recommended. If the fumes from the stripper get into a heating system, they can cause premature damage.

Some stripping instructions advise a person to water wash the stripper residue from the piece being stripped. While water washing is more thorough and quicker, there are negative aspects. Water washing will raise the grain, causing extra sanding, can cause glue joints to fail, and it will change the natural color of the wood eliminating the patina. Solvent stripping will not cause any of the above. Check the label on the container to find out which solvent works best.

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Used Furniture

In today’s economy, used furniture can be a super cost effective way to furnish a starter apartment. But it can be a difficult chore to determine a good buy. Furniture like other hard goods, depreciates horribly after it leaves the store, even high end pieces. Before you go to flea markets and garage sales, do your home work first so you can recognize good bargains.

Go to the furniture stores, high end and low priced, both. Ask about the features of the different pieces. Look at the woods and construction. You should be able to see the difference and recognize features. Next go to the used furniture stores and antique malls. If two pieces are similar in looks, but have a price difference, study each piece to know why.

Now you are ready to hit the garage sales. Hopefully you will be able to recognize a very good piece at a huge savings from buying new. Remember that quality furniture can retain its useful functionality many times over the expected life of lower priced new.

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Fabric

People tend to equate fabric cost with durability. That is not necessarily so. I find there are two general classifications of upholstery fabric. Most common in upholstery shops are the supplier fabrics. They promote lower cost and have some decorative as well as durable designs. The less common decorator fabrics are usually higher in cost per yard, but do not necessarily wear better. These fabrics are more costly because they have designs that are unusual Produced in limited quantities, there are less rolls to carry the cost of development.

The label on fabrics will sometimes have a “wear test” number. Most common wear testing is the Wyzenbeek test. A piece of fabric is rubbed against itself then examined for wear. 15,000 double rubs is considered contract duty with 30,000 double rubs and up considered heavy contract duty. The majority of residential fabrics rate in the 12,000 to 15,000 range.

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Upholstery Choices

When discussing choices about upholstery, zippers on the back of cushions frequently come up. People like zippers because they want to be able to remove the cover for cleaning. That’s not the purpose of zippers. They are used to close a cushion after filling because it is much less time consuming to install a zipper than to hand sew a cushion.

A properly filled cushion is extremely difficult for a non-professional to fill. The filling should be oversize to the cushion in order to have a snug fit, thus the struggle with a cover. Some manufacturers have disabled zippers after closing the cushion to discourage removing the cover.

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Fabric Stain Protector

An after market add-on type of warranty that has proven worth while for the consumer is a fabric stain protector. This is a product that the retailer and some upholstery shops apply to the completed upholstered piece. The company selling the product issues a written warranty through the retailer. The warranty states for how long the warranty is in effect, what type of stains are covered and what remedies the consumer has.

The system we use for our customers is supplied by a firm in Grand Rapids, Michigan and warranted for 10 years. Their written guarantee lists what is and is not covered In our case, if a stain does not come out after recommended cleaning, that stained part of the upholstery will be replaced under warranty. If the fabric is unavailable, the company will work with the consumer to find a solution to the problem up to the amount paid for the item stained.

It’s best to become familiar with the policies of the sources you work with. I am aware that this type of service can be performed in the home after delivery of the furniture, but not all providers allow this. Some restrictions only allow for pre-delivered goods, others have restrictions on fabric, still others state residential use only.

How well does the system work? A good number of my customers told me that they had purchased this program with new furniture. They were very pleased upon learning that their reupholstered pieces could have the same protection.

A few years ago after our youngest left the nest, I reupholstered our family room sofa and applied the stain protector. A year ago one of the grand children spilled some strawberry pop on the sofa. It blotted up without any staining. It works!

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