Our Family Upholstery Business

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The customer had asked us to refinish his couch to match two early Victorian chairs we were also covering for him. studied the color and tried to duplicate it by mixing clear varnish with a little maple stain, a little fruitwood and a very small amount of mahogany. Then we sanded the piece again, treated it with wood filler and applied our varnish mixture. The dried coating matched the chairs perfectly.

Next we installed webbing, tied the springs, added burlap and padding . . . and turned our minds to the problem of hr to recreate the cover without a pattern. Our strategy was find a picture of a similar couch in an antique book and the tufts and channels in the elaborately upholstered backrest. Then we measured the piece we were salvaging and figured out how wide each section of its design would have to be to create the same effect. It took us one whole day just to make our calculations and draw a pattern to fit, but at last we were able to finish off our masterpiece with a cover of green antique velvet

We made $100 on that job on top of the cost of materials . . . and our salesman told us later that in Dallas the charge for labor in restoring such an antique would have been twice much. It's true that the prices we ask are less than we could get in a large city, but we enjoy life in a small community prefer to raise our children away from crime and violence.

Here are some examples of our current rates for various types of furniture:
Early American chair (with ruffle) . . . . . . . . . . $45
Early American couch (with ruffle) . . . . . . . . . .75
Large overstuffed chair (without ruffle) . . . . . . .40

These figures include a recent increase to cope with the growing cost of our supplies. We used to ask $50.00 for a sofa bed, $30.00 for a studio couch with wooden arms and $20.00 for a matching chair, but now charge $5.00 to $20.00 more depending on the findings we use.

The cost of material is figured separately. We have a selection of fabrics available through our shop, and must pay a 5 percent sales tax on all we sell. If the customer doesn't buy cloth from us, we charge $2.00 extra for each yard it takes to cover his furniture (some firms levy a much higher surcharge). This payment covers necessities other than yard goods: welt cord, staples, tack strip, cotton, burlap , thread, dustcover and cutting time. Some days we net $50.00 on labor and material.

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