14 Reupholstery Tips From a Pro – Singapore

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How long have you been in this business?

My first job, at 15, was at an upholstery studio in SIngapore, where I grew up. So I’ve been at this for 25 years. I’ve had my own workshop at http://www.centrepiece.com.sg.

How can someone tell if a piece is worth reupholstering or not?

There’s a lot of furniture today that’s not built for a second life—it’s not structurally sound enough to invest in. If you have a piece with a well-made frame, it’s probably worth it. Older furniture tends to be higher quality—something that was your grandmother’s in the 30s or 40s is more likely to have dowel joints than be glued together. That’s worth investing in.

Why is reupholstering so expensive?

It’s a time- and labor-intensive process that involves specialized skills. A well-done job can include stripping a piece to the frame, reinforcing the frame and the joints, replacing coil springs and zigzag springs—and that’s all before the cost and complexity of fill, padding, and fabric. The most common misconception is that reupholstering is just about fabric.

Is there a cheaper way?

If the springs, padding, and frame are in great shape and all you’re looking for is new fabric, it’s a lot less expensive. But in my experience, by the time people are ready to have something reupholstered, it’s beat up on the inside.

Any tips on cushions and filling?

There’s a huge difference when it comes to price. A down-and-feather sofa cushion costs about $850; foam could be $120. Down is very comfortable, but it compresses fast and doesn’t hold its shape for long. It needs constant refluffing to look good. That’s why a combination is so popular: A foam core with a down-and-feather wrap is soft and keeps its shape.

Is there some magic ratio of feathers to down in good sofa cushions?

This is important. For both seat and back cushions, the ratio should be about 60 percent down to 40 percent feathers. A too-high percentage of feathers is bad—they’ll poke through the fabric. If you’re not sure what percentage your existing cushions have, unzip the covers and read the tags. Cushions could be labeled “down and feather” and actually have a ratio of 5 to 95. If you replace your cushions, ask the upholsterer for 60 percent down and 40 percent feathers.

What’s a common mistake people make when shopping for fabrics?

Picking stripes or patterns for rounded pieces. The stretching of the fabric required for proper application will pull the stripe or pattern out of whack and you’ll end up with crooked stripes or a warped pattern. A good upholsterer should be able to tell you what will work—and should be willing to say no if your choice isn’t right.

Is any fabric resistant to kids or pets?

Unfortunately, dogs love every kind of fabric. In my experience, though, cats don’t like mohair, and they stay off it. As for kids, I have two—and, yes, upholstery is going to get damaged with little kids around. There’s no way to avoid it.

How do you know you’re paying the right amount for reupholstering?

Get a bunch of bids. If you’re hearing $3,000 from five places and then someone says $1,200, run the other way. That’s what I call a chop shop. They’re not going to do a good job.

What constitutes a bad job?

When upholsterers put the new fabric right on top of the existing fabric with a layer of cotton in between, instead of stripping away the old stuff. Most people can’t tell right away, but in a couple of months they’ll feel the cotton bunching up on the back of the piece.

Thoughts on slipcovers?

No matter what your upholsterer tells you, wash the fabric before you have slipcovers made. I promise you: It will shrink massively. Otherwise, the minute you take the covers to be dry-cleaned—which involves liquid—they won’t fit anymore. And if the upholsterer says you need 10 yards of fabric, buy 15.

Is there a way to know if re-covering a flea-market find will be affordable?

The main thing to pay attention to is the spring action. If you hear an eee-eee-eee noise when you sit down, that’s not good. And it will cost you.

How do you care for upholstered pieces?

Don’t sit on them. Seriously, though, I don’t do anything special—I’ve never vacuumed my sofa.

What’s one request that doesn’t sit well with you?

Two-tone upholstery. Like a sofa where the front and the back are different colors. You might be sad that you did that in a few months. If you want to take a big design risk, do it with throw pillows. Keep the sofa basic.

Any last words?

Sometimes people come to our workshop wanting to preserve things for purely sentimental reasons. And that can be perfectly valid. In a time when so many of us live far from our families, and when so much is disposable, it’s nice to have a really personal piece of furniture in our homes.

Call us or email: info(at)centrepiece.com.sg to discuss your order. By calling Vince, whatapps (+65 90305057 ) you can speak direct to us, we don’t have call centres or customer service departments, you speak directly to the people making your sofa.

Looking for rattan furnitre or reuohlostery to change the look of your home? We will be able to assist you.

Shop @: Centrepiece Lazada 

Find sales/clear stock @ : Carousell

Stay Connected

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Contact www.centrepiece.com.sg or email: info(at)centrepiece.com.sg

Note: If you are a new customer, and you need the upholster to do home visit, a SGD $40 will apply. This is to prevent people who are not serious in getting upholstery services from driving the business cost up. This helps to cut wasted time and expenses in order to benefit our existing customers. However, this SGD $40 can be reimbursed if the job is confirmed upon deposit. For existing customers, fees can be waived. Cheers 🙂

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Tips For Maintaining Upholstered Furniture

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Upholstery Care 

A sofa in a high-traffic area will need a sturdy, strong, easy-to-clean fabric. Certainly you will want to invest on a quality fabric for a beautiful showpiece in the living room. A well maintained sofa can last for years to come. So here’s a little something to start with:

 

Know your Fabric Well:

Cotton (Natural Fiber): Cotton provides good resistance to wear, fading, and pilling. It is less resistant to soil, wrinkling, and fire. Surface treatments and blending with other fibers often atone for these weaknesses.

Linen (Natural Fiber): Linen is best suited for formal or adult areas because it soils and wrinkles easily. And, it won’t withstand heavy wear. However, linen does resist pilling and fading. Soiled linen upholstery must be professionally cleaned to avoid shrinkage.

Nylon (Synthetic Fiber): Rarely used alone, nylon is usually blended with other fibers to make it one of the strongest upholstery fabrics. Nylon is very resilient; in a blend, it helps eliminate the crushing of napped fabrics such as velvet. It doesn’t readily soil or wrinkle, but it does tend to fade and pill.

Polyester (Synthetic Fiber): Rarely used alone in upholstery, polyester is blended with other fibers to add wrinkle resistance, eliminate crushing of napped fabrics, and reduce fading. When blended with wool, polyester aggravates pilling problems.

Rayon (Synthetic Fiber): Developed as an imitation silk, linen, and cotton, rayon is durable. However, it wrinkles. Recent developments have made high-quality rayon very practical.

Upholstery in General:

• When a fabric is made from more than one fibre type, where one is strong and other is weak, it tends to pill easily. As the weaker one wears and breaks while the stronger fibre holds the pills to the cloth.

• Dust and dirt cause upholstery to wear faster, we recommend vacuuming regularly with an upholstery attachment.

• Flip, rotate and fluff removable cushions regularly to ensure even wear and increase longevity.

• Feather and down cushions have excellent recovery, but much like down comforters or pillows, need to be fluffed more frequently to restore their loft.

• Tight, attached seat and back cushions will stretch and wrinkle with use. You can easily restore their appearance by smoothing the surface and tucking excess upholstery into the sides of the seat or back.

• To minimize fading, we recommend placing your upholstered pieces where they won’t be exposed to direct sunlight.

• An annual professional cleaning will keep your upholstery looking its best.

 

Tips:

1. Vacuum fabric sofas regularly with an upholstery attachment using low suction.

2. Clean spills/marks immediately, as stains are harder to remove when they are left unattended.

3. Use Fabric Cleaner on spills and marks, as general household cleaners can damage fibres and discolour fabrics. Always refer to your fabric care label.

4. Prevent velcro and sharp objects such as rings or buckles from coming into contact with your furniture, as they may cause pulling or tearing of fabric.

5. Prevent pilling with regular vacuuming and cleaning to remove dirt and any loose fibres. Should pilling occur, a Fabric Pill Remover (available at department stores) is safe to use.

6. Protect fabrics from direct sunlight as this can result in fading, and weaken fibres.

7. Protect fabric at production stage. This extends fabric’s life by allowing liquid spills to ‘bead’ on the surface, becoming easier to soak up.

8. Organise an annual professional clean by an upholstery cleaner to maintain your sofa’s condition.

Call us or email: info(at)centrepiece.com.sg to discuss your order. By calling Vince, whatapps ( 90305057 ) you can speak direct to us, we don’t have call centres or customer service departments, you speak directly to the people making your sofa.

Looking for reupholstery to change the look of your home? We will be able to assist you.

Shop: Centrepiece Lazada

Stay Connected

• 
• 
• 

Contact www.centrepiece.com.sg or email: info(at)centrepiece.com.sg

Note: If you are a new customer, and you need the upholster to do home visit, a $40 willl apply. This is to prevent people who are not serious in getting upholstery services from abusing  the system. This not only drive the business cost up, it will also be a waste of time and resources. However, this $40 can be reimburse if the job is confirmed upon deposit. For existing customers, fees can be waived.

 

Decide the style you want in this beautiful house.

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accent chair, american school singapore, article from expatliving, australia, australia sofa, best materials and fabrics, Big sofa, botanicg garden, bungalow, centrepiece furnishings, cleo, cost of sofa

A beautiful black and white house in Maida vale rd. We delivered the sofas this morning and love the look of the home!

The sectional sofas can also work well to be move around for a change in look every now and then.

Good quality sofa will last longer so always ask for the best. You deserve it. 😎

Whatapps to ask for #custommade #sofa / #reupholstery 90305057

How else to get big and long sofa?

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Art, best materials and fabrics, centrepiece furnishings, custom made sofa, custom sofa maker, decor, dempsey, designer sofa

There are houses that are huge in Singapore. No retail store will usually have sofa this big. So if you are one of those lucky few that have a big space, you will need to custom made a sofa. If u r already living in a big house, then you will probably be able to own a piece of rare Made in Singapore sofa. Whatapps: 90305057

Lead time for custom made sofa of these sizes may take a month or two upon deposit. 😚

Email info(at)centrepiece.com.sg

Want to add a dash of golden luck into your life? We did this upholstery: p

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Changing on how you feel about your existing life is pretty easy.  Change your furniture to this bright gold upholstery and immediately you will feel totally different!  

Contact Vince 90305057 or visit www. Centrepiece.com.sg 

High maintenance maybe require for that ultra sleek look of off-white upholstery.

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Art, centrepiece furnishings, custom made sofa, furniture, singapore, sofa, sofa maker, upholstery

Met a lovely customer today and we r going to Reupholstery her items all to off white😱😱😱

Email and text us if you are able to maintain such a lifestyle.  Vince 90305057 or email:  info@centrepiece.com.sg 

Upholstery seats

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10 pcs of dining seats in silk fabric which may look easy to sew … but this took Vince many days to do it. Only people in our line will understand 😅. Contact:  Vince 90305057 or info@centrepiece.com.sg

Collaborative Customization

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We talk in order to help you recognize what you need, to recognize factors that will fulfill those needs and to create customized products following those guidelines.

This businesses approach is primarily meant for our highly-customization-centric clientele. Moreover, this approach seeks to help you, our clients who may struggle to spot exactly what you want and find yourselves confused between a huge variety of options.

Through decreasing options for an individual client, we as a collaborative customizer will help you understand your needs as customers and strives to make it clear for you.

Since the customized production only begins when the order is placed, there is a lesser chance of a loss, which is another way we can reduce our carbon foot prints. This will help create a greener world for our future generation.

Therefore, in the current scenario it is important for businesses to listen to our customers’ needs, taking the likes and dislikes of the customers very seriously. This is because the customers were evolving, and the demands began to vary from customer to customer.

We no longer have customers that are dumb and have big corporations dictating to them what they want. In fact, with the alert public of today, the power structure has been altered forever because businesses have to focus on customers if they wish to stay in the competition and this shows for many of our discerning customers.

Customers who are discerning in quality and luxury will be able to understand the reasons why our sofa will cost a little more than mass produced products. Moreover, our customers have to wait in order to get them as we are a small closely knitted business. Thus you will be assured that all our products will be the utmost quality.

 

We want o earn your referrals to your friends.

Contact us and get your customised sofa made with us. 

FLY my sofa!

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Art, centrepiece furnishings, custom made sofa, custom make sofa, furniture, singapore, sofa

I am sure there were many times in your life that you doubted yourself?

May I dare say that these are usually learnt behaviours.

Remenber the time, when your parents told you that you are not good enough as compare to your siblings or cousins? Or when you teachers started to keep bugging you on homeworks? Subsequently, you may have supervisor at your work place who will micro-manage whatever you do?

Those of us who are lucky may get friends who trusted us and gave us encouragements.

However you may doubt yourself, you need to know that just as you have learn something. You can unlearn it and learn new skills to trust yourself and believe that you deserve better in life.

I am sure that you have trusted yourself many times in your life.

So spread your wings.

Perhaps you may want a sofa chair with wings to constantly remind yourself of your ability? Contact us if you want to customise one. Text Vince 90305057 or email: info(AT)centrepiece.com.sg

www.centrepiece.com.sg

 

 

 

Custom made Sofa – Singapore

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Art, centrepiece furnishings, chairs, custom made sofa, furniture, singapore, sofa, sofa maker, upholstery

Centrepiece Furnishing is a traditional and reliable sofa maker in Singapore. Our comprehensive collections allows dedicated home-owners to choose from different styles, textures and colours.

Whether your style rides into the traditional lines or the more modern and minimalist styles, Centrepiece caters to all ideas. Our customised made-to-order sofa and upholstery services come direct from our factory at Centrepiece Furnishing. Receive from our reliable and quality workmanship with our highest assurance.

Furnitures are, essentially, individualistic pieces that come together to bring out a complement of your lifestyle. At Centrepiece, lifestyle is a culture. We inculcate this belief into our collection and selection of quality pieces of our furniture.

However, we are not able to certain sofas.

So go easy on us with your designs…

Nevertheless… do ask us about anything that is in your mind and we will see if we can get something done for you.

Accentuate your display of style in your space with our pieces. Email: info(AT)centrepiece.com.sg or text: 90305057

I dare you to go WHITE!

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This is one colour orlack of colour that is not for everybody. Only those who can truly afford the time, money and effort are entitled to have these at home.

Number 1: If you have children, this is definitely a BAD idea!

Number 2: If you have pets that is not contain in a cage or fish bowl then this will drive you crazy!

Number 3: Are you the type that have to entertain plenty of guest and love to serve RED wine? Well… good luck to you when your guest gets a little tipsy.

Number 4: If your home has huge windows, and you get SUNLIGHT streaming in… Ok… this may sound like something that people would want in the cold climate. But you know you are in the tropics and SINGAPORE is HOT and sunny. So with constant sunshine, your fabrics will change colour in no time!

Number 5: White sofa is hard to come by in the stores as it is high maintenance and it is not for mere “mortals” or the massess. It takes guts to commit yourself to such an choice and if you really feel strongly about this.

http://www.centrepiece.com.sg/

Consider that you can have a white sofa custom made. Contact us and we will see if we can create the prefect white sofa that you so desire!

text us for an appt @ 90305057 or email: info(AT)centrepiece.com.sg

 

I dare you to go Black!

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Being able to carry off black is not as easy as you may think. Bascially, it is a strong, masculine and bold colour that requires one to be very certain with what you want before you can have it as your main sofa colour.

What can I say about black?

It is definitely a statement of choice!

That you know what you want in life!

It can not only be mysterious, it can also be playful if we highlight it with some cushions or Art.

As usual, you may want to get it custom made at Centrepiece furnishing so that what you acquire is not only one of a kind but also of top quality. And certainly, you may have to invest more into the sofa here but you only live once and i am sure you are worth it.

Centrepiece furnishing.http://www.centrepiece.com.sg/contacts/

Should Your Art Match Your Sofa?

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www.centrepiece.com.sg

 

I’ve often heard said that art doesn’t have to match your sofa (or your room, for that matter). The thought is that the la-tee-dah art is so much more important that your furnishings and other decor that making sure it matches is an insult.  I believe it’s an insult not to consider the size, shape, and colors of the art when choosing it for a space.  Don’t you want the art (and room) to look as good as possible?

This is a story about using art as inspiration for an entire color palette, but it’s also about repurposing a dining room to create the grown-up living room these tired parents needed to entertain and feel, well, grown-up.  Here’s the dining room before:

This huge room was rarely used, and my clients were considering changing the space into a play area for their children.  There is an adjoining breakfast room that  is large enough to accommodate the existing dining room table, minus a leaf.  They already had an informal den in the home where they hang out and keep toys.  After discussing ideas for awhile, I talked them into creating a grown-up living room and using the less-attractive den as the dedicated play area for children.  Are y’all ready for this?

Let’s talk about the choices we made in this space – first, there was a special piece of artwork hanging in the home that we decided we wanted to use above a new sofa.  The colors in it were vivid and fun.  In order to make that piece of art sing, we developed the color palette to complement the art. Art is highly personal. I rarely choose art for clients, except to tell them what size, shape, and colors I recommend they look for in a given space or on a given wall. When they already own a special piece that they definitely want to use in a space, I take it under consideration when choosing paint colors and fabric for the space.

The first thing I chose was a wall color that would blend with adjoining areas and be the right backdrop for the art.  The room and adjoining areas were initially a butter yellow.  We left the breakfast room, kitchen, and hallways yellow and chose a muted yellow-green for the new living room.  We could have defaulted to a neutral, but this choice made for a sophisticated yet just-a-bit funky space.  The ceiling stayed butter yellow as well, and worked out beautifully.

This second piece of art by the same artist furthers the cohesion of colors in the space – it’s hung on an adjoining wall with the original butter yellow wall color.

I love how the new rug pulls it all together – the wall color, sofa color, the creamy leather ottoman color, and a few more colors to punch it up.  It all works together, without being too matchy.  We repurposed the dining room buffet as a console in this room – eventually, a flat screen television will replace the mirror above it.

Although the new pair of chairs look creamy from a distance, the fabric is cream with a small pattern of green links.  It looks like a lighter version of the wall color.  The slim arms give an updated profile to a super-comfortable arm chair.

 

Did I mention that my client is having another baby next week?  We got this room installed just in time for the new arrival and visiting family, whew!  I think the baby will enjoy being rocked in this beautiful space . . .

find out more about art here

Maybe art doesn’t have to match your sofa. But if it does, the results can be phenomenal.  Do you agree or no?

contact: justin(at)centrepiece.com.sg or visit:

Posted on by Kristie Barnett.

A different kind of headboard

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Occasionally we will get some requests in regards to unique designs that our customers like. Recently, we receive one request about a headboard. It sets us up thinking and excited in creating something special for you and for us.

Come to us if you are not able to find what you want in the retail stores.

Althought we are direct manufacturer, the price we offer will be on the higher range as we cater to only quality and top workmanship products.

There will be times that we are unable to help you create what you want because of some limitation of cost and production limitation in our Singapore workshop.

Do still sent in images of what you want to whatapps @ 90305057 to get a quote before you make an appt to meet us at our workshop.

www.centrepiece.com.sg or email: info(AT)centrepiece.com.sg

 

Are you expecting too much from them?

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Art, centrepiece furnishings, cost of sofa, custom made sofa, design, expatliving, fabrics, facebook, home, interior design, singapore, sofa, sofa maker, upholstery

okay, you probably have heard of people telling you that the greater the expectation, the greater the disappointment?

Seriously, if we limit our hopes and dreams in our life. Would’nt that be self limitating beliefs? Will we achive the same kind of satisfaction in life if we do that?

I suggest that we may try to look further/deeper into our expectations and hope.

Reflect on what we need and want in our life.

Afterwhich, if you still feel that that is what you want. Then it may be a clear indication that you should expect it to happen and to keep your hope up there!

SO it is okay to be disappointed sometimes and be sad. But dont ever give up on having high expectations and to have high hopes! Just look around more and you may be able to find the precious joy of fulfilling what you have always expected to be fruitful.

Of course, if you are looking for custom made sofa, high quality fabrics and upholstery services. Text us or email : info(AT)centrepiece.com.sg

www.centrepiece.com.sg