Upholstery & reupholstery
in Diamond Creek

Diamond Creek is one of the suburbs closest to our own workshop, and the work that comes from here is honest, practical stuff. Mostly it is dining chairs, drop in seats worn through from years of family meals, and repairs to furniture that has a few good years left in it if it is looked after properly. People here are not chasing a look. They want their chairs to sit right, hold up, and not need doing again in twelve months.

That suits how we work. Before anything is quoted we look at the piece properly and say plainly whether it is worth the spend. If a frame is cracked beyond a sensible repair, or the cost of doing a job properly is close to what a new piece would cost, we will tell you that rather than take the job anyway.

Because we are close by, a set of dining chairs from Diamond Creek can often be dropped in, done and back home again faster than furniture coming from further out, and plenty of local households make use of exactly that.

The bulk of what arrives from Diamond Creek is dining chairs, and there is a good reason for that. A dining chair takes more day to day punishment than almost anything else in the house, in and out several times a day, elbows on the table, kids climbing on and off, and the seat pad is usually the first thing to go. It is also one of the most sensible repairs there is, a worn seat pad on a sound frame is a small job with a real payoff.

Alongside that we see a steady run of general repairs, a wobbly dining chair leg, a recliner mechanism that has stopped locking, an armchair with a broken spring. These are not glamorous jobs, but they are the ones that keep a household's existing furniture doing its job instead of ending up at the tip before it needs to.

When a lounge or armchair does come in for a full recover, it is usually because the family has already decided the frame is worth keeping. That is a call we are happy to help with. If the frame is not up to it, we say so plainly.

Dining chairs need two things above all, a seat that holds its shape and a frame that does not wobble. We rebuild worn seats with Dunlop HR35 foam, usually the firmer 200 density for a dining chair that gets used every day, and any loose joints are reglued and clamped properly rather than just tightened. Both are backed the same way regardless of the size of the job.

For general repairs the same rule applies across the board. Springs that have dropped are retied or replaced, webbing that has perished is renewed rather than patched, and recliner mechanisms, manual or electric, are serviced so they lock and release the way they are meant to. Small jobs get the same care as big ones.

When it comes to recovering, we will talk through fabric that is genuinely built for daily use rather than just something that looks nice. A family dining setting should hold up to at least 25,000 Martindale rubs, more again if there are dogs in the house, so the new cover earns its keep rather than wearing through again in a couple of years.

Every repair goes through the same workshop, whether it is one dining chair or a full lounge suite. Upholstery, machining and French polishing are all done in house in Eltham North, so a chair with a wobbly joint, a worn seat and a scuffed leg is one job, not three. That is backed by close to a hundred years of combined trade between the three of us, a restorer and French polisher who has done it for fifty years, a machinist with thirty behind him and an upholsterer with twenty two, and any hardwood frame we build carries a thirty year guarantee.

Diamond Creek is close enough that dropping a set of dining chairs in yourself is often the easiest option, and you are welcome to see the workshop and have a look through the fabric while you are here. It is a residential address, so a quick call first means someone will be free to help.

We quote the work a piece actually needs, what is being reglued, what springs or webbing are being replaced, what foam is going in and at what density. We aim for a high end finish at a price that reflects the work involved, using proper materials rather than shortcuts, which is exactly what makes a small dining chair repair worth doing well. If a piece genuinely is not worth the spend, we would rather say so up front than let you pay for a repair that will not hold.