Recovering your sofa, chair or suite is a happy alternative to buying new, and when you buy new covers, you’re getting a lot more than just a new look.  Recovered furniture has so much to offer, so let’s explore exactly what you get for your money…

Unique furniture

When our furniture stops giving us the comfort and ‘wow’ that we originally fell in love with, it can be all too easy for us to replace it with a newer model.  But with more and more furniture being mass produced, how will your new suite ever feel as special and unique to you and your home?  The choice in recovering furniture allows you to really stamp your mark on your furniture, with a fabric and style that fits in perfectly with your home and reflects your personality.  Loose furniture covers offer you a chance to make your loved furniture something very special and individual to you.

Remember, we have over 600 fabric designs and colours to choose from!

Fresher for Longer

One of my favourite things about recovered furniture is the ability to simply take the covers off, pop them in the wash and refit them for a fresh ‘out of the showroom’ look time and time again. Give your new suite a year and it may look just as tired as the old one you replaced if you’re unable to remove and rewash the covers.

The majority of Plumbs fabrics are fully washable!

The Furniture You Love

There will be a reason why you chose your current sofa in the first place.  It may be an interesting style or be just the right shape for your living room.  Often furniture is also handed down through families and takes on a special sentimental value.  Recovering your furniture allows you to keep its best qualities whilst making it look like new.  This really is a priceless benefit!

I am often asked about the cost of recovering furniture.  The answer is, it’s difficult to say.   Everybody’s furniture can be so unique and your tastes and choices will naturally differ.  This is why we offer a comprehensive in-home service, FREE of charge to make sure you get a bespoke price and the best deals for your particular furniture.  I can tell you that at various times of the year you can recover a 2 seater sofa from just £199!  Our offers do vary so be aware that these details can change.  For a list of our current offers, click here.

Remember, we also give you a completely FREE no-obligation home service, where one of our trusted consultants will visit you to show you our stunning range of fabrics and discuss your needs.  I cannot stress enough that this is a no-obligation service, with absolutely no sales pressure.  If you do decide to order your consultant will see you through the entire process, even returning to fit your new covers when they’re delivered.

Why not give it a try – remember it’s your free chance to view all of our fabrics in your own home and find out more about your recovering and reupholstery options.  Click here to request your free home visit.

Sometimes the thought of redecorating can seem all a bit much like hard work, especially this close to the festive season!  But this time of year more than ever your dining room in particular could benefit from a quick sprucing up!  And what easier way to do it than choosing a brand new set of dining chair covers!  You’d be amazed at what a difference they could make to your room!

Loose Covers are an easy and effective way to transform any room, and the dining room is no exception.  Take a look at just some of the ways you could create an instant new look with  these made to measure dining chair covers.

Co-ordinating your textiles can bring a whole room together.  We chose to combine the subtle tones of Elegant Rose – Soft Green & Cream, with Curtains in Strata – Sauterne & Francesca – Gold Blind.

A classic floral design is the perfect partner for a traditional dining room.  Opt for plain walls and simple decor to offset busier patterns like this Tamana – Blue/Cream from Crowson.

Rich, luxurious fabrics like this Mandalay – Rich Terracotta help to add a sense of occassion to your dining room.  Remember, loose dining chair covers don’t need to be permanent.  You could simply use them to transform your room for special guests!

Even simple plain fabrics can make a huge difference to your dining room.  You can even play around with the skirt options to transform the shape of your chairs.  We’ve chosen a half skirt to show off the beautiful wood.

Your dining chair covers need not be all the same fabric.  We had great fun mixing and matching these fabrics together.  The plain Hampstead – Fucushia helps to break up the striking stripes.

What’s your favourite dining room style?

For me a change in season always has me itching for a fresh new look in the home.  I like chunky blankets and warming tones in winter, and fresh zesty florals in the summer months.  One easy and effective way to get an instant seasonal update in the home is to choose loose furniture covers!  It’s a great idea to have an extra set of covers for your sofa or suite, making it easy to change the whole look and feel of your home!

Let’s see it in action.  Here we have the same sofa and chair with beautiful loose covers for a different look all through the year…

Autumn

Here we are at the most spectacular time of the year for colour inspiration!  The world is awash with stunning, rich and warm tones and I cannot wait to bring them into my home.  These loose covers would be my number one choice! Introducing the strong green and orange hues here gives this look a lovely warm feel.  Remember that you can swap and change your accessories to suit the season too; why not add a cosy blanket and an interesting footstool for putting your feet up on cool autumn evenings!

Winter

When the days are cold and short, I like nothing more than curling up on my sofa, so to be surrounded by beautiful fabrics is a must!  I tend to lean toward darker shades to give a cosier feel to the home.  I love the wintry feel created by this aquamarine and snow combination.  A great look for a winter wonderland!

Spring/Summer

As the weather warms up I often like to invite fresh, light colours into the home to bring some vibrancy and life after the winter period.  Pinks and greens are a popular choice and a classic floral like this is the perfect way to reflect the blossoming world outside!

Last month we told you about a special event whereby installation artist Alice Francis would be attemping to cover an entire Galloway Cottage as part of the country’s premier open studios arts and crafts event – the Spring Fling.  The extraordinary feat proved to be a huge success, with the specially made loose covers fitting snugly around the contours of the building, including its three large chimneys.

Alice even went to the lengths of covering herself in the same floral fabric as her cottage covers.  She wore a suit made from the Plumbs’ Rose & Scroll fabric, standing out from the crowd and merging into her latest arts piece.

Helping to cover an entire building was a great challenge for us and to have achieved it with such success proves our motto to be true, that Plumbs really can cover almost anything!  It has been a true delight to work with Alice on this project and we wish her every success in her future ventures.

It may not seem like it, but summer is just round the corner and May is the perfect time of year for preparing your home for the months ahead! As the days grow warmer (fingers crossed that will start soon!) and the sun shines for longer, think bright, clean and fresh and you’ll soon be on your way to discovering an island paradise in your very own home!

Amongst the mundane rituals of painting fences, sweeping out cobwebs and scrubbing down patio furniture, get your home ready for summer by breathing a whole new lease of life into your main entertaining rooms.

Whether you want to bring the outdoors into your living room, or spruce up your conservatory for its grand reopening after the cooler months, consider how small changes can really boost the appeal of your home.

Living Room

Bring the sunshine into your living room with a bold yellow colour scheme. Choose accents of red for maximum impact, but remember to offset with simple furniture.  We’ve mixed our classic Elegant Rose design with the fun, bold pattern of our Jacobean Opulence cushions.

Conservatory

Having stood abandoned and unused through the winter months, your conservatory deserves a little TLC this season.  Updating your conservatory furniture is the best way to give the room a dramatic uplift! Opt for a fresh new look with cool, plain covers or be inspired by the garden with a classic floral like Vicentio.

Dining Room

For those not so warm summer nights, bring the al fresco feel into your living room with a fresh, new look.  Use natural tones of brown and green to bring the outdoors in!  We love this Strata – Sauterne curtain which looks beautifully fresh againt the plain, Francesca blind.

How do you like to prepare your home for summer?  We’d love to hear your tips!

The US will be celebrating Earth day this weekend (22nd April): a day for pledging your efforts for a greener planet! But who says we should leave it all to our friends over the pond? We can all do our bit to help the environment, and here at Plumbs we’re keen to push the message of recycling and reusing old furniture! With landfill space in the UK expected to run out by 2018, now is a great time to think outside of the box and see how you can make your unwanted furniture useable again.

Our primary concern is, of course upholstery. 10 million items of furniture are thrown away in the UK every year. 3 million of these items could be easily re-used; more could be repaired. You’ll be pleasantly suprised to hear of the transformations that loose covers and re-upholstery can do to your old furniture. Bringing a fresh new look to saggy sofas or sprucing up your conservatory suite, recycling, or in many cases up-cycling your favourite furniture in this way is great for the environment and great for your home!

Here are some of our recent transformations…

Remember, it’s not just upholstery that can be kept and made new. Think about other household objects you could renew or repurpose, such as turning old cupboard doors into lap trays, or making a quirky shelf unit from unused drawers as seen on Decorology blog:

Re-purposing, re-cycling and re-upholstering is a win win for you and the environment! So, before considering buying a new suite, sofa or chair, why not arrange your free home consultation to see how Plumbs can help you save your sofa and the environment!

*Environmental statistics sourced from Bulky Waste Collection Services.

At the beginning of the year Pantone announced their colour of choice for 2012 as Tangerine Tango and since then we’ve seen it cropping up everywhere!  A few months into the year and you can deck your whole house out with Tangerine Tango inspired products and designs.  And what better colour to bring some fun and vibrancy to your home.

With that in mind, we thought it would be fun to see what we could find on the high street and online.  It seems the heart of the home, the kitchen, has most fully embraced this year’s hottest colour trend with a wealth of appliances, utensils and culinary bric a brac all available in Tangerine Tango…

1. Colour Scheme inspired by Pantone Colour of the Year: Tangerine Tango (17-1463 TCX)

2. Orange Poppy in Glass Vase – Matalan

3. Made-to-Measure Blinds in ‘Katie – Autumn’ fabric – Plumbs

4. Rainbow Orange Cafetiere – La Cafetiere

5. Gmundner Ceramics Selection Orange – porzellantreff.de

6. Made-to-Measure Dining Chair Covers in ‘Turin-Honey’ fabric – Plumbs

7. Colourworks Accessories Reversible Chopping Board – Kitchen Craft

8. Smeg 28yo1 Orange Refrigerator – Comet

Happy New Year…again!  As China sets to welcome the Year of the Dragon today, be inspired by the Orient in your own home.  Carrying on our theme of the feature wall from last week, there are an abundance of great designs which can really give that relaxed, Eastern feel to your home.  We’ve opted for a simple trailing floral design with subtle leaves, paired with a modern red and black palette.  Turin – Claret is a great, plain fabric choice to compliment the look.

For that wow factor you could be a little more daring and opt for a vibrant pink and soft yellow colour scheme.  We’ve used our very own Elana – Lipstick fabric to create these striking curtains.  Accessorise with exotic orchids and simple straight-lined furniture.  Adding a few Oriental design ornaments, such as the lantern featured will bring the whole mood together.

Paint manufacturer Dulux have unveiled their colour trends for 2012/13.  Their six distinct palettes are set to take interior design by storm, so here at Plumbs we’ve been busily preparing ideas for how you can stay on trend this year!

The great thing about colour trends is that you can pick and just choose exactly which hues you want. You could utilise the entire palette or choose the shades that will be right for you and your home.

Appropriately named Carnivale, this pretty selection of pink and lilac will give an ultra feminine feel to your room. For a more subtle approach, you could leave out the darker pink shades. Plumbs’ fabric choice: Sorrento Stripe and Summer, Soft Aubergine.

A more masculine palette can be found with Re-set, a contemporary monochrome set of blacks, whites and greys. Try patterned fabrics to break up blocks of solid colour when adopting this trend. Plumbs’ fabric choice: Chelsea Velvet – Steel with Jacobean Opulence – Black/White.

A warmer look can be created with Time-Honoured. Twinned with dark wood, these orange and red hues are sure to brighten any room. We’ve added a dash of green here to bring out an earthier feel. Plumbs’ fabric choice: Vista – Terracotta.

If the natural look is more for you, take inspiration for Dulux’s zesty Nurture trend. Mix vibrant greens with soft creams for a fresh, Spring look all year round. Plumbs’ fabric choice: Lily – Pistachio.

Raw is the slightly subtler version of this outdoor trend. Combining slate and grey/green tones gives a softer,  more neutral approach. Plumbs’ fabric choice: Fiore Check – Linen.

Finally, Immerse yourself in relaxing blues. No longer a colour scheme set aside for bathrooms, the calming tones of blue can bring tranquillity to your living space. Plumbs’ fabric choice: Floral Brocade – Turquoise.

With so much inspiration it’s time to  get the sample paint pots and the wallpaper clippings and browse Plumbs fabrics online by clicking here, or click here to arrange your Free Home Visit to see our whole range of fabrics in your own home!  We’ll be back soon with more decorating inspiration.

6 days to go – who’s excited?  With Christmas looming and the sound of sleigh bells circling our neighbourhoods it’s time to get prepared!  And I don’t mean putting the finishing touches on the Christmas cake or wrapping those last few presents.  We need to prepare our homes for the inevitable high traffic of family and friends coming and going, (not to mention Father Christmas and his reindeer!).

The hallway is likely to see the most increase in footfall over the festive weekend, so protect flooring with long runners or assorted rugs.  If weather is particularly poor, you could also ask your guests to remove their shoes.  If you do however, ensure that you have a shoe rack to hand and that your home is lovely and warm to invite cold feet!

Ensure that there is plenty of space to hang coats to prevent them being strewn across your furniture.  Similarly, make a designated space where umbrellas can be left to dry.  If you have a porch, this is ideal.

Prevent any spills by having side or coffee tables within easy reach.  If though, during the jollity of Christmas, there happens to be a spillage, clean this immediately.  It is more likely to stain if left to settle into your carpet.  To be on the safe side, ensure you have plenty of kitchen roll, stain remover and sponges on stand-by.

Use blankets or throws to protect soft furnishings whilst adding a cosy feel to your home.  For more permanent protection, consider loose furniture covers that you can remove, wash and re-fit with ease, as often as you like.  At Plumbs, we also offer a range of anti-macassars and arm covers for added protection for your furniture.  You could also use loose covers to protect your dining chairs.

To find out more about loose furniture covers, click here. Now that your home is protected, you can sit back and relax with a mince pie.  Why not browse the blog for more great tips!