Upholstery · Canterbury
Canterbury's Federation and Edwardian homes hold furniture built to the same standard as the houses themselves, and restoring it with the methods it was made with is the heart of what our Eltham North workshop does, about 20 km away by road.
Send a photo for a quote Call 0425 832 619What we do
Traditional restoration of period armchairs, settees, dining and occasional chairs, horsehair and spring work, French polishing of show wood and casework, plus everyday reupholstery, repairs and made-to-measure pieces for Canterbury households.
Local
Canterbury is one of those inner-east suburbs where the streetscape has barely moved in a century: wide, leafy avenues, Federation and Edwardian houses with their verandahs and leadlight intact, and the village shopping strip. It sits roughly 20 km by road to the south (south-south-west) of our workshop in Eltham North, with Camberwell to the south, Surrey Hills to the east, Balwyn and Deepdene to the north and Hawthorn East across the western boundary.
Houses like these tend to be furnished to match: a hallway built for a hall stand, a front room that suits a settee and a pair of tub chairs, a dining room with a proper timber table and a set of chairs with drop-in seats. Some of that furniture is as old as the house, some was bought later to sit alongside it, and either way it was made with a hardwood frame, webbing, springs and hair rather than a foam block and staples.
That is the work we lead with for Canterbury: bringing a period piece back to sound, usable condition without stripping the period out of it: the same construction the maker used, keeping what is still good, replacing what has failed, and leaving the piece looking as though it belongs in the room it came from.
From the bench
A proper restoration starts by taking the piece apart in the reverse of the order it was built. The top cover comes away first, then the calico, then the stuffing, until the springs, webbing and bare frame are exposed. At that point we know what we are dealing with, and any surprises are found on the bench rather than after the new cover is on.
The frame is checked joint by joint, and anything loose is knocked apart, cleaned and re-glued before a single tack goes back in. New jute webbing is stretched and tacked, the springs are stitched to it and tied off by hand, nine ways where the seat was built that way, and fresh hessian goes over the top. Original horsehair that is still dry and lively is teased out, carded and put back; hair that has broken down is replaced with new. Then the stitched edge, the second stuffing, the calico, and finally the cover you have chosen.
Timber is handled at the same time rather than afterwards. Turned legs, arm facings and any show wood are cleaned back and French polished by hand, so the finish matches the age of the piece rather than looking like a coat of something modern. Because the upholsterer, the machinist and the polisher share one room, a chair leaves as a single finished job.
Period-correct and comfortable
Age on its own is rarely the problem with furniture from a house of this era. Hardwood frames joined before the First World War are usually as sound as the day they were made. What gives up is everything between the frame and the cover: webbing that has perished and let the springs drop, hair compacted into a hard pad, hessian torn where the springs push against it. From the outside that reads as a sunken seat or a lumpy back, and all of it is repairable.
The judgement call is how far to take it. A settee that is going to be sat on every evening needs to be comfortable as well as correct, and there is a sensible middle ground: traditional springing and hair underneath, with a thin layer of high-resilience foam on top where a family wants a softer seat. We talk that through with you before we quote, so the finished chair suits how you actually live.
Dining chairs from these houses are usually the quickest win. A set of drop-in seats can be re-webbed, re-padded and recovered in a day or two with notice. Where the cover has to stand up to children, dogs and daily meals, we point you towards a fabric rated for at least 25,000 rubs, higher again with large dogs.
How we work
Ours is a family workshop at Eltham North. The restorer and French polisher has fifty years behind him, the machinist thirty, the upholsterer twenty-two, around a hundred years at the bench between us. That depth matters on period work, because there is no manual for a chair made by hand in 1905.
Where foam is the right call we use Dunlop HR35 high-resilience foam, 200 density for a firm seat or 165 for a softer one, with Dunlop's ten-year warranty behind it. Springs are tied by hand where the seat calls for it. Any hardwood frame we build new is guaranteed for thirty years on the frame itself, and we are fully insured, which matters when the piece on the bench is irreplaceable. You are welcome to visit and handle the fabrics before you decide; it is a residential address, so a call ahead on 0425 832 619 lets us have things out ready.
Worth knowing
Two quotes for the same Edwardian armchair can be a long way apart, and the difference is nearly always what one of them has left out.
A quote worth comparing should spell out the frame repair, the webbing and springs, what is happening to the stuffing, the show wood and the cover. We price the actual work in front of us using quality materials, aiming for a high-end finish at a mid-tier price, which lands us under some quotes and above others depending on the piece. If a figure comes in well below what hair, springs, webbing and a decent fabric cost at wholesale, something has been skipped, and on a period piece it is usually the part you cannot see.
Our guide on how to choose an upholsterer lists the questions worth asking before you hand over an heirloom.
Good to know
We do. Canterbury is about 20 km from the workshop, roughly 25 minutes by road, and we collect and return furniture across the suburb by arrangement, from the village end through to the Camberwell and Balwyn borders. Period pieces are heavy and often loose at the joints, so leave the lifting to us.
Take a photo of the piece in good light and either upload it through the form on this page or text it to 0425 832 619. You will have an answer within 24 hours, and the price becomes firm once you have settled on a fabric.
Because one upholsterer is quoting to rebuild the seat with hair, springs and new webbing, and another is quoting to pull the old stuffing out, drop in a foam block and staple a cover over it. Both get called reupholstery. Ask each quote what happens beneath the calico and the gap will explain itself.
Usually. The faults we meet most are foam pushed in over crushed hair, springs left untied, and covers stretched over frames that were never re-glued. Send a photo and we will tell you plainly what it needs; our guide on fixing a bad reupholstery job goes through the warning signs.
If the frame is hardwood and mostly intact, restoring it gives you a chair that will outlast almost anything new and keeps the character that made it worth holding onto. Our guide on whether reupholstery is worth it walks through the decision.
Where it is dry, clean and still has spring in it, yes. It is carded out to loosen it and stitched back in, which keeps the seat feeling the way it was meant to. Hair that has broken down or gone musty is replaced with new.
Yes, on the same bench as the upholstery. Chair frames, turned legs and standalone pieces such as sideboards and hall stands are cleaned back and hand polished, colour matched to the original where you want it left looking its age. See antique furniture restoration for more.
Within reason. Traditional springing underneath with a thin layer of Dunlop HR35 over the hair gives a softer seat while keeping the structure honest. We will not hollow out a good chair and fill it with foam, but there is usually a middle path that suits how the room is used.
A single armchair or settee is about a couple of weeks on the bench once the fabric has arrived; fabric lead times sit outside our control. Dining chairs with drop-in seats can be turned around in a day or two with notice.
Yes, and they are the most common piece from houses of this age. The seat lifts out, is re-webbed, re-padded and recovered, and the frame is re-glued if it has loosened; our dining chair guide has more.
Leather is sold by the whole hide, so recovering a single chair in leather can mean paying for more hide than the chair uses. For a period look we can source suitable leather; where the piece will work hard, a close-match Austex vinyl is often the practical answer, as our leather versus vinyl guide explains.
Nearby
Work in Canterbury is run out of the same Eltham North workshop as the rest of our furniture reupholstery work across Melbourne. For the full range of what we take on, start at the Dylberry Design upholstery workshop.
Local to Canterbury, send a photo of your sofa, chairs or piece and we'll come back with a rough price. Pickup & delivery by arrangement.
Send a photo of your piece and we'll come back with a rough price, no obligation, no pressure.
Send a photo for a quote Call 0425 832 619