Article:
Upholstered Furniture
By Shelley Anderson
March 2007
After the flooring and walls, it's the look of upholstered furniture that can really make or break a room. Fill a room with mismatched pieces, and it will look as if you've just done a round-up from local garage sales. By choosing the right fabric and coordinating the pieces of furniture with one another, the upholstered furniture can be what makes the whole room come together.
Upholstered furniture is no small thing; it's the upholstered pieces in a room that convey your design style. You can change wall color and add or change accessories fairly inexpensively when designing your room, but the upholstered furniture is an investment. Selecting it should be done with care, not by purchasing what's available right now off of the showroom floor for a "quick fix". Upholstery is the base of the room. From these pieces, you design the room itself.
For many people, it's difficult to see how upholstered pieces might fit into a modern or contemporary room design. Using upholstered furniture well in a contemporary room is most often a matter of choosing the right fabrics and accessories.
Most of us would define our design style as eclectic-a blending of two or more styles. We will use traditional pieces with contemporary. As long as the room is color-coordinated, anything goes!"
For many people, having upholstered furniture that suits their style and taste is a matter of getting older pieces reupholstered. The cost of new versus reupholstery can be the same; however there are several factors to consider. Is the piece just the right size or style? Was it an expensive piece originally, and hard to replace? Do you simply enjoy the basic style of the piece? The fabric you select to reupholster your furniture with can dramatically change the look of the piece.
Whichever way you choose to acquire your upholstered furniture, quality in construction should be high on your list of expectations. Your purchase is an investment, and you should be informed on the construction and warranty on the furniture. I would say that the average customer should stick with a trusted designer/store if they want to keep the furniture for any reasonable length of time.
So if you're designing or re-designing a room, don't hesitate to bring in the upholstered furniture; it will soften the room's lines, and with clever recovering can be updated to suit any style.
Shelley Anderson has been creating interiors in the greater Seattle area since 1990.You may contact her at (206) 719-6814 or email her at
shelley.anderson@shelleyandersoninteriors.com.