The Problem with Vintage Sofas...

I have a love for furniture....old vintage furniture to be exact.  All kinds of vintage furniture too.  I don't discriminate, I'll take it all as long as I like it.  (Here's my latest desire coming up at an auction tomorrow that I won't be able to attend due to the stupid snow storm coming our way...BOO!)

 

Is that not just breath taking?  How cool, how rare, a dogbone sofa!!! 

 Now for the problems with vintage sofas... you can have to many, yes you really can!  I already have a sofa set with a matching chair.  Do I really need another sofa like the one pictured above? The other problem... with very old upholstered furniture most of the time it will need reupholstered and that's expensive.   My old furniture set, seen below in pictures from like 10 years ago at DeluxeVille, is in need of reupholstering.  The cushions have begun to disintegrate and is causing quite the stink. Yuck!! Have you ever noticed that most old furniture smells like cigarette smoke or is really stinky in general...well yeah because pretty much everyone smoked back then. Oh those bygone days when even smoking was made glamorous! 

 

I really love this old furniture set!   It's a great neutral color and I definitely think when I get it reupholstered I'll be sticking with a similar color.  So, is it a good investment to reupholster your old furniture?  I think so!  We all know that furniture made back then was made really well, not like most of today's put it together yourself crap.  So paying to get things spruced up is always a good idea over buying brand spanking new!  But how do you afford to do it?  Well, this has been something I've been thinking about for a while.  Some people take classes to learn how to reupholster furniture themselves, which sounds like an awesome idea to me, but I couldn't find a class near me.*Insert Mary sad face here*  However,  what I did find in my research was the only prison in the whole state of NJ (which is just a 20min hop skip and a jump down the highway from me) that runs an upholstery trade program for women inmates!  And because the program is run by the prison, all the labor is done for FREE ....the customer is only responsible for buying all the needed supplies such as fabric and foam or whatevers!  Well, hello!  That's just what I was looking for!  I spoke with one of the prison guards who helps with the program (he guards the women as they work...no I'm not shitting ya) and was told lots of interesting information about the program.  For instance it takes longer to get your work done there as all those pesky lock downs take away from valuable work time.  If I come to visit the program director to talk about fabrics and such, don't wear a bra with an underwire and don't wear beige.  Really, I'm not making this up, these were the important things that he shared with me in our 20 min phone conversation!  I also found out he's retiring soon and planning on moving to Vegas...apparently the housing market is really hot out there...and compared to the property taxes in New Jersey, you can live like a king in Vegas...well ain't that something Little Mama! 

I guess the point I'm trying to make is simple....reupholstering vintage furniture is a great idea and is probably cheaper than going to buy something new. Oh, it's also most likely better built!  If you're like me and can't afford to spend a lot of money on a professional to do the work for you, there are lots of other resources out there that can give you the same results but at a better price. 

I'll keep you posted on the progress...something tells me it'll be fairly interesting. 

~MaryDeluxe