Upholstery
Furniture upholstery in Abu Dhabi
Upholstery is mostly invisible work. What you see is the last two hours of it: the fabric, the piping, the line of buttons. What decides whether the chair is still good in ten years happened before that, when the frame was checked and the seat was rebuilt.
We do that work with our own upholsterers in the UAE. The two X-frame stools in the gallery below show the finishing end of it, one in teal silk and one in gold damask, both with bullion fringe and hand-tied buttoning on a carved frame. The corner seat is buttoned across two cushions that meet at a right angle, which is a fussier job than it looks. Having our own joiners close by helps here more than you would expect, because a frame that needs a new rail goes to them rather than out to a stranger.
Process
How we work
- 01
Look at the frame first
We strip a piece back before quoting the covering. A loose joint or a broken rail has to be fixed underneath, and no amount of good fabric hides a frame that moves when you sit down.
- 02
Rebuild the seat
Webbing, springs and padding get replaced rather than topped up. This is the layer that decides whether the chair is still comfortable in five years, and it is the layer people are most often tempted to skip.
- 03
Cut and cover
Patterned fabric is cut so the pattern runs true across the seat and the back. Buttoning, piping and fringing are hand work, done by our own people.
- 04
Back to you
We deliver and place the piece. If it was collected from your home, it goes back where it came from.
Gallery
From this part of our work
See the full gallery
Questions
Questions we get asked
- Is reupholstery worth it compared with buying new?
- It depends entirely on the frame. A well made hardwood frame is worth rebuilding and will outlast most new furniture at the same price. A stapled softwood frame from a volume retailer usually is not. We will tell you which one you have, including when the answer costs us the job.
- Can you work with fabric I supply?
- Yes. Talk to us before you buy it. Upholstery fabric has to take tension and abrasion in a way that curtain fabric does not, and we would rather flag that in advance than after you have bought forty metres of it.
- How much fabric will I need?
- We measure the piece and tell you, including the extra needed to match a pattern across the panels. A large repeat can add a surprising amount, so it is better to know before you choose the fabric.
- Do you re-cover antique furniture?
- Yes, and it is treated differently. On an older frame the aim is to keep as much original structure as possible and to use methods that can be undone later. See antique restoration for the fuller version of that work.
Related services
Next step
Tell us about your project
Send a floor plan, a photograph, or just an idea. We will tell you what it takes and what it costs.