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Thread: Reupholster B-Y sofa, loveseat, chair/ottoman?

  1. #1
    mbrady Guest

    Default Reupholster B-Y sofa, loveseat, chair/ottoman?

    I have an 8-year old B-Y set, Paxton 774, including sofa, loveseat, chair, and ottoman. The leather is worn -- 4 dogs and two college-aged young adults have gotten the best of it over the years. Is it worth reupholstering? If so, any recommendations on type of leather?

  2. #2
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    Default Re: Reupholster B-Y sofa, loveseat, chair/ottoman?

    Nope - its done. Cost of re-leathering a sofa is about twice as costly as buying new. Give it to the kids for their first apartment or donate to Goodwill, etc. and get a tax write-off.

    Your sofa should absolutely not have been used up in 8 years. I have B-Y in my house that I bought in 1986, 25 years ago - and its still going strong. I'll wager a guess that you never cleaned or conditioned the leather since it was new?
    Duane Collie
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  3. #3
    mbrady Guest

    Default Re: Reupholster B-Y sofa, loveseat, chair/ottoman?

    Yes, unfortunately, it's true ... never cleaned or conditioned. We thought the wear and tear was due to the dogs. Wish we knew then what we know now :-). Funny you should mention giving it to the kids. Our daughter just asked us last night to hold on to it for her. How about leather repair or redye? It's in great condition otherwise. Or possibly reupholster in fabric of some sort?

    Do you have a recommendation for a new leather sectional. I really like some of the Hancock & Moore sectionals. It's going in an 18x22 family room.

  4. #4
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    Default Re: Reupholster B-Y sofa, loveseat, chair/ottoman?

    You can do a re-dye, its relatively easy and the results are usually impressive. However, re-dyes are for sun-fading only, if you've gone through the topcoat or have leather cracking then it won't be of any help. Let's see some photos of your leather (post here on the forum) and assess the condition of the hide. You can absolutely re-cover in a fabric. In fact, you can even just do a portion of the sofa. For example the cushions and the arm panel. Leave the back, kick panel, side panels in the original leather. That cuts down your overall upholstery cost considerably and if you pick the right fabric can give you a good look, too.

    H&M builds the bests sectionals on the market. My personal favorite for one that floats in the room is the Sundance, as its the only one where the back of the piece is as handsome as the front.
    Duane Collie
    Straight answers from thirty-six years in the business.
    My Private Messages are Disabled - Please ask questions here in the forum.

  5. #5
    mbrady Guest

    Default Re: Reupholster B-Y sofa, loveseat, chair/ottoman?

    Finally getting back to dealing with the furniture...the seat cushions and the arm panels need to be replaced, but the rest of the leather is in very good condition. I'm thinking about just recovering these portions. My question is should I replace the cushion cores as well? I saw in other posts that I need to go through a dealer. Any advice on how to proceed? Should I replace the cores first?

  6. #6
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    Default Re: Reupholster B-Y sofa, loveseat, chair/ottoman?

    You can do that (leather recover), but you'll not be able to match hides with what you already have. You may be shocked at the price to do that in leather. Seat cushion cores - if you are the original owner - BY will generally do that at no charge (you pay the shipping) but you will need proof of purchase or contact your original selling dealer to get that.

    Buying new cores and re-covering will quickly get you near the cost of a new sofa.
    Duane Collie
    Straight answers from thirty-six years in the business.
    My Private Messages are Disabled - Please ask questions here in the forum.

  7. #7
    mbrady Guest

    Default Re: Reupholster B-Y sofa, loveseat, chair/ottoman?

    Okay...I am the original owner...have the paperwork, but it was ordered through a company in North Carolina. I was thinking this approach would be significantly less -- it's a sofa, loveseat, chair/ottoman combo -- I originally paid $4,300 for the set. I suspect replacement value is more, and honestly, it just fits our room. I could probably get away with just redoing the cushions on the sofa and loveseat, plus 1/3'rd of each arm -- if we can get a reasonable match. The arms are rolled, stitched into 3 sections, and it seems as though the leather just goes around the arm, the rest is a separate panel. The leather cushions are just the top, side, and a small portion of the bottom.

    I do have a local company in mind for the leather repair. Pictures on their website look great, but I still need to ask them directly what can be done. I thought I saw somewhere on this site that shipping for the replacement cores was about $120 -- maybe that's just for the sofa, and I'm looking at double? A local reupholster tells me that it would take 7 hides to reupholster the entire set, so I'm thinking more like 2-3 hides for what I'm after. I haven't looked into the differences in the quality of the hides, so that could be a gotcha! I was hopeful that I might be able to put together a solution that is about half of what replacement would be, but I have to say I'm a novice here, and likely to be overlooking actual cost for quality materials. Essentially, I've looked for some time now... see a lot of sets that are much lower quality for $5K or more. When I look at mine, if the cores were new, and I had new covers for the seats and some parts of the arms, it would look brand new and be a much higher quality. If we took proper care this time around, it's a set that would serve us well for years to come.

    Ultimately, this set will land will one of our college-aged kids as a starter set. I just need it to look reasonable and hold us over until college costs dwindle and I can get the Hancock and Moore sectional that I really want!

  8. #8
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    Default Re: Reupholster B-Y sofa, loveseat, chair/ottoman?

    Your original selling dealer can get the cushion cores for you if you like. For the seats, you just pay shipping. Backs have a charge at H&M.

    I think a patchwork upholstery job is just asking for trouble. I wouldn't do that myself unless I had the exact same material to recover with. But, if you're not very particular and just want it done as a utility fix to make it functionally useful then that will probably work. Your local upholstery guy is saying 7 hides for a sofa/loveseat/chair/ottoman? He must know of some REALLY big cows, like the size of trucks!

    A normal hide is ratioed at 5 yards fabric = 90 s.f. Since folks understand yardage requirements easier than hides, lets do the math..

    Average Sofa = 15 yards to recover.
    Average Loveseat = 12 yards to recover
    Average Chair = 8 yards to recover
    Average Ottoman = 3 yards to recover

    These all assume exposed wood. medium size frames. 38 yards material for the project.

    That computes to 684 s.f. of leather and then you need to allow for a 30% waste factor on the hides so lets make it 890 s.f. for your project. Average size per hide is 50 s.f. that means 18 hides, not 7 ! That's quite a bit of difference. The issue can become getting into a project and the upholsterer comes back to you and says 'I don't have enough'. Make sure you work with someone experienced in leather upholstery so you don't run into unexpected surprises like that. Sounds like your upholstery guy is not skilled in leather to me, or at least how to figure how much material he needs for a full recover. You're making the assumption of how much leather you would need for a patchwork fix based on what he tells you are the hide requirements. The difficulty will be that you will have to go back to the well and get more leather during the project, more expense and they may not have the hides depending on your leather source.

    I'll be curious to see the end result. Good luck!
    Last edited by drcollie; 05-30-2012 at 12:20 PM.
    Duane Collie
    Straight answers from thirty-six years in the business.
    My Private Messages are Disabled - Please ask questions here in the forum.

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