card board area

Good sturdy frame and solid arm

Now a days they are using low-grade plywood, wood frames made with knots in the wood that will break on the knots with standard use, not abusing it, but even abusing it still should withstand some hard use. Cardboard on the arms as soon as you sit on it you start to break it down and the arm will look like it caved in. 

hollow areas is where that arms will cave in

Materials on the new furniture for the most part are low grade. A lot of  times they will say that it is leather, but in fact they are not leather. A simple test to tell if it is real leather, smell it. Does is smell like leather? If not it is not leather.  Leather furniture will cost more than what they call leather. If you are considering buying cheap quality furniture and sometimes the price is not so cheap, you will be disappointed not so far in the future. If you are buying on credit “no payments for 6 months to a year” your furniture will be ready for the landfill and you will still have to be paying for them or even in some cases before you make your first payment. I call them “Landfill Specials”. A real leather cover should last you 10-30 years and a quality built furniture should be able to pass it down to you children or grandchildren. 

They still do  make high quality well built furniture, but with a high cost to go with it and if you can afford it, it is worth it to buy them and you will have them for many years to come and they are worth being reupholstered.
Chair costing $2500+ and 7’ sofas $3800+ for the quality new furniture. 
 

Better cardboard, but it will still cave in eventually                cheap card board it will cave in on the top and sides

This is what they are calling real leather. They ask more for this material but it costs less than real leather and your thinking your are getting a good deal. Again real leather does not peel when it gets old. 

WHY SHOULD I RECOVER MY FURNITURE INSTEAD OF BUY IN NEW

# 1 Antique and Vintage furniture, Of course being that they are one of a kind pieces of furniture and you can’t buy them new or replace them easily with new. They become heirlooms something you can hand down to your children and grandchildren. 

#2 Older furniture was built better back in those days than they are built now a days. In the past 30 years or so furniture has not been built very well. Made in the USA furniture is the best built. 

#3 You can have your furniture upholstered in materials and designs that will complement your home, office, cabin etc...   Matching to your decor. 

Good sturdy furniture will be able to withstand your children jumping on it, you should be able to sit on the arm of a sofa-chair or even a recliner and it does not break.  I have repaired lots of  furniture that broke while the customer used it under normal use. I have done lots of work for rental furniture company’s or rent to own company’s. The furniture is such low grade, not to mention what I have already said. Materials pull apart at the seams, vinyl and so called leather peeling apart. Leather doesn't peel only vinyl will peel.

We bought this Kidney Shaped Love seat for our bedroom. It was hard to find one for a long and we paid a good price for it $70. So we bought custom made material for it. We wanted a Retro Atomic patterned  in a teal color.  We we made curtins to match. You can have the furniture that you desire. 

Yard Sales, Re-Sale shops on line Craigslist-Letgo-Newspaper etc...

How can you tell if it a good piece of furniture. 

1. Sturdy construction and solid piece. Shake the furniture on one end to see if it is loose. 

​2. If the furniture is heavy that usually means that hard woods have been used and hard woods are generally stronger.