Here at Hyde Evans Design clients often ask about the pros and cons of reupholstering furniture. While reupholstering might seem like an easy way to be kind to both the environment and your checkbook—it isn’t always the right decision.

First of all, it’s not inexpensive to reupholster furniture. Fabric and labor costs can add up fast. So if you have a Pottery Barn sofa and have tired of the fabric you’d be better off, financially, getting a new sofa rather than reupholstering. It is just not worth doing the work on a poorly made piece of furniture.

A good alternative to reupholstering a sub-par sofa, or purchasing a brand new high-quality sofa, is to find a high-quality used sofa at a consignment store. You can easily check what a new sofa from a high-quality manufacturer would cost you today and see if purchasing used and having it recovered makes sense. It frequently does!

Of course, if you already own an A. Rudin Sofa, or even a Lee Industries piece, then it makes perfect sense to reupholster and we say go for it. Remember, the cushion fill, and often even the shape of the frame can be changed. In other words, you can get a whole new look to your sofa (not just new fabric) for a fraction of the cost of purchasing new.