Upholstery · Richmond
Richmond's mix of Victorian terraces, converted warehouses and busy hospitality strips calls for everything from terrace lounges to venue booth seating, and our Eltham North workshop is set up for all of it, with the piece collected and returned by arrangement.
Send a photo for a quote Call 0425 832 619What we do
For Richmond we reupholster sofas, armchairs and dining chairs, repair frames and mechanisms, restore antiques, French polish timber and take on commercial booth and banquette seating for local venues.
Local
Richmond sits closer to the CBD than most of the suburbs we cover, a dense mix of Victorian terraces, converted warehouses and newer apartment buildings, with its main shopping strips running through the middle carrying a heavy load of cafes, restaurants and shopfronts. That density brings a wider spread of work than a purely residential suburb, homes and hospitality both.
It sits south west of our Eltham North workshop, across the Yarra from Hawthorn and Kew, next to Cremorne and Abbotsford. Being close to the city does not change how we work, we still collect, take the piece back to the bench, and deliver it home again by arrangement.
Terrace living and apartment living both bring their own version of the same problem, limited storage and a piece that has to earn its place in a smaller footprint, which often means repairing and recovering rather than replacing with something that will not fit any better.
From the bench
Richmond furniture tends to fall into two camps, residential and commercial. Residential means terrace and apartment lounges, dining chairs and any older piece that has been inherited into a smaller inner city home and needs to keep working there. Commercial means booth seating and banquettes for the cafes and venues along the main strips and the laneways behind them, and the workshop is set up to take on either kind.
Commercial jobs get scheduled around trading hours wherever we can manage it, so a venue can keep serving customers while its seating is being redone rather than closing its doors for the work. Residential jobs move at their own pace, generally set by how quickly the chosen fabric arrives.
Across both, the approach is the same: strip the piece back far enough to see what is genuinely wrong, repair rather than mask it, and finish with materials built to handle daily, heavy use, whether that is a family of four or a venue serving hundreds of covers a week.
Terraces and warehouses
A piece from a Richmond terrace or a warehouse conversion tends to have had a harder working life than one from a quieter suburb, more foot traffic, smaller rooms, sometimes a run as rental furniture before it landed with its current owner. What fails first is rarely the frame, it is the springs, webbing and foam sitting on top of it, plus a cover that has simply worn through.
We rebuild seats with Dunlop's high-resilience foam, 200 density where a seat needs to hold its shape under constant use or 165 for something softer, backed by a ten-year Dunlop warranty. Commercial and venue seating gets fire-rated foam as standard, available on request for residential pieces too, and springs go back nine-way hand-tied wherever the frame was built for it.
For fabric, Richmond's mix of family homes and high-traffic venues both point the same direction, tougher rather than delicate. We recommend at least 25,000 Martindale rubs for a family sofa and more again with dogs, and commercial seating is generally specified well beyond that. Our dining chair guide has more on choosing for hard use.
How we work
Upholstery, machining and French polishing all happen under one roof in Eltham North, so a job that needs a re-glued frame, new springs, fresh padding and a polished timber trim is not split between three different trades and three different waits. Combined, the team carries close to a hundred years of experience, fifty years of restoration and French polishing, thirty of machining, twenty two of upholstery.
Hardwood frames we build come with a thirty-year guarantee, and the workshop is fully insured, which matters as much for a commercial venue fit-out as for a family lounge. Richmond visitors are welcome to see the space and the fabric range in person, it is a residential address, so call ahead first.
Worth knowing
A quote is only useful once you know what it actually covers.
Ours accounts for stripping the piece back, repairing any joints, renewing springs and webbing where needed, correctly specified foam, and a cover cut and sewn for that exact piece or venue seat. We price the work itself, not a flat rate, so we are sometimes the sharpest quote a Richmond client gets and sometimes not. A number well below the cost of proper materials at wholesale has usually left something out of the job.
Before comparing quotes, our guide on choosing an upholsterer in Melbourne is worth ten minutes.
Good to know
Yes. We collect from and deliver to Richmond by arrangement, and the work itself is done at our Eltham North workshop before your piece comes back to you.
Yes, both sit right next to Richmond and pickup and delivery by arrangement covers them the same way, along with Hawthorn and Kew just across the river.
Yes, booth and banquette seating for venues is part of what we do, and we schedule it after hours or around trading times so the business does not have to close for it.
That is exactly the kind of thing pickup and delivery by arrangement is for. We plan the collection around the access, tight stairwells and narrow terrace hallways included, so you do not have to worry about it.
Upload a photo through the form on this page or text it to 0425 832 619. We reply within 24 hours with a free quote, and it is firm once you have chosen a fabric.
Because the scope behind the number usually differs. Ask what is included, frame work, webbing, springs, foam, before comparing quotes. A figure well under proper material cost at wholesale has generally left something out.
Often, yes. Common faults are loose covers, padding that has gone flat early, and webbing that was wrong for the piece. Send a photo and we will tell you plainly, our guide on fixing a bad reupholstery job covers the common issues.
Yes, it is one of our standard commercial options, alongside the fire-rated foam we use on venue and healthcare seating.
Very often, yes. It is wipeable and hard-wearing, priced close to entry-level leather, and because leather is sold by the whole hide rather than the metre, vinyl suits both venue seating and smaller repairs better. Our leather versus vinyl guide explains why.
Drop-in dining seats can often be turned around the same or next day with notice. A full lounge is about a couple of weeks once fabric arrives, and fabric lead time is the one part outside our control. Commercial jobs are scheduled around the venue's trading hours, so timing is agreed with you at quote stage.
Yes. An older terrace is exactly the kind of house where a genuinely old piece tends to be found, and where the frame is sound we restore it using traditional methods rather than treating it as a straight recover.
Yes, both. It is a common repair on its own, and just as often paired with a full recover when a recliner's leather or vinyl has started to peel.
Nearby
Work in Richmond 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 Richmond, 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