Ask Joshua - Beautiful Chair, Ugly Fabric

Hi Joshua,

I inherited a chair that I absolutely love the shape and style of. It’s a bit traditional, but it holds a lot of sentimental value to me and I want to use it in my home. My problem is the fabric is terrifying…it’s been reupholstered before and it is some faded yellow and brown splotchy pattern. I want to reupholster it, but I’ve never done this kind of thing before and I’m a bit nervous. Any advice?

Thanks,

Kim, Madison, WI

California casual style sitting area designed by Joshua Jones, JJones Design Co. It was rendered by Stuccco.

Hi Kim,

I applaud you for wanting to make the effort to reupholster your chair and have it work for your home. Too often perfectly lovely chairs are discarded or, if they have emotional value, relegated to storage, instead of given the love and attention they deserve to continue to be a standout piece in your space.

You’ve got a lot of avenues you can pursue in your reupholster project. I know it can be a bit overwhelming, so I’ll lay out some options for you that I hope will be helpful.

Firstly, the easiest way to handle this is to have an interior designer manage it for you. This is my plug here! You’ll work with the designer, who will present you curated fabric selections that they feel will work with your space, and you pick which one you like, and they can take care of the rest. You get a beautiful new chair, easy-peasy. This might be the best option if you feel you’re color-challenged or have no idea what will look good in your space as fabric choices are numerous.

Doing the work yourself can be very rewarding and is great if you have a feel of what you’d like to see…it’s a matter of finding the fabric. Plus, a lot of people love perusing fabric selections as there are so many out there, you can lose yourself in the array of beautiful designs. Here are a couple suggestions on how to go about doing this.

You can go to some of the big-box retailers like West Elm, Pottery Barn, Williams-Sonoma Home, etc that will actually sell by the yard most of the fabrics they use on their own furniture. This option is appealing because you can walk into a store and probably actually see in person and test out fabric choices, on a life-size scale. You also know that all these fabrics are going to be upholstery grade, durable, and you’ll have sales associates educated enough, (hopefully), to talk to you about pros and cons of each fabric.

Selections, and patterns especially, from these retailers are going to be limited as they are working with mass-market appeal fabrics. If you want to give yourself more options, you can check out local fabric stores or online fabric warehouses like Decorator’s Best. When going this route, ensure you are actually looking at fabric that is labeled appropriate for upholstery. You might also see the fabric listed with a number and “double rubs”. This is a rating for the durability of the fabric and can give you a general idea of how much wear the fabric can withstand. In general, furniture is recommended between 9,000-20,000 double rubs while 30,000 is the minimum required for fabric in a commercial or hospitality setting. Even for your home, if your piece is going to be used by kids or you have pets that sit on furniture, you very well may want to consider 20K+ fabric. If you fall in love with a printed silk with 5000 double rubs, don’t even think about it for your chair unless you plan on never sitting on it.

Unless you are going to do the actual upholstery yourself, you’ll also need to find a shop to do this for you. Most shops also carry selections of fabric they like working with and can help guide you in a selection.

For any of these routes, always, always get a sample of the fabric. You’re going to be living with it and you need to see it in person, in your space up against other major pieces in the room. You’ll also want to feel it to make sure it’s texturally appealing.

I hope this has been helpful and good luck on bringing new life to your beloved chair!

Have interior design related questions? You can ask Joshua here.