Upholstery in
Camberwell

Camberwell is one of the suburbs where the furniture reaching our bench tends to be older and well made to begin with: a Chesterfield or wingback chair that has been in a family for decades, a set of dining chairs with proper joinery under the seat pads, an armchair with horsehair padding rather than foam. It is a suburb where people are used to good pieces and want them kept that way rather than replaced.

We are out in Camberwell often, several times a week between quotes, pickups and drop-offs, which is more than we can say for a lot of suburbs on our books. That regular run means a piece does not sit waiting on a special trip, it goes on whichever run is already heading that way.

Antiques make up a good share of what comes from here. Horsehair that is still sound gets kept and re-carded rather than stripped out and replaced with foam, and hessian and webbing that have had their day get replaced properly rather than patched over the top, the same methods the piece would have been built with originally.

A lot of what we see from Camberwell has already had one good life and deserves a second. An armchair bought decades ago from a maker who built it to last, a dining set that has outlived several dining tables, a chaise or a wingback that is more comfortable structurally than anything you would buy new today. The cover is usually what gives out first, well before the frame or springs need attention.

Because we are through the area so often for quotes and collections, a lot of this work starts with us simply looking at the piece in person rather than working only from a photo, which suits older furniture where the condition underneath the cover matters as much as what is visible.

French polishing goes hand in hand with a lot of this work. A show-wood arm or leg that has dulled or scratched over the years gets brought back properly rather than just touched up, at the same time as the upholstery.

The single biggest thing older, well-built furniture needs is respect for how it was made. Horsehair that is still resilient gets kept and re-carded rather than thrown out for foam, which changes both the feel and the value of the piece. Where foam is the right material we use Dunlop HR35, 200 density for a firm seat or 165 for something softer, backed by a ten-year Dunlop warranty. Where the frame calls for it, springs are hand-tied nine ways rather than swapped out for something quicker.

Leather pieces from Camberwell are usually the real thing rather than a bonded imitation, given the age and quality of what typically arrives, and a sound hide can be recovered in leather again or in a close-match vinyl where a full hide is not justified for the size of the job.

Joinery matters too. A dining chair or armchair frame from a good maker is often worth more repair effort than a newer piece, re-gluing joints properly and reinforcing where needed rather than reaching for a quick fix that will not hold.

Upholstery, machining and French polishing all happen under one roof in Eltham North, which matters for Camberwell's older pieces because a single chair often needs more than one of those skills at once: a joint re-glued, springs re-tied, a timber edge polished back. Add up the three of us and it comes to close enough to a hundred years on the bench, fifty in restoration and French polishing, thirty on the machine, twenty-two in upholstery.

Hardwood frames we build carry a thirty-year guarantee and we are fully insured throughout. You are welcome to see the workshop and look through fabric in person, it is a residential address so a call ahead helps us have things ready.

A proper quote for an older piece accounts for what is underneath the cover, whether the horsehair is worth keeping, whether springs need re-tying or the frame needs re-gluing, on top of new foam where foam is right and a cover cut and sewn properly to the piece. We price what the piece in front of us actually needs and use quality materials throughout, so we land above some quotes and below others depending on the job, never a flat number regardless of condition. A quote well under what good materials and proper joinery repair cost at wholesale usually means something has been left out or the piece has not really been assessed.