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.

There are many things we associate with the build up to Christmas.  First come the dazzling shop windows, next the office party invites, perhaps even the odd jingle bells may start to be heard.  For me it’s the adverts on TV!  Every year Coca-Cola does not fail to insight festive spirit when their iconic advert plays out during an episode of Coronation Street, for example!

Another clear sign that Christmas is coming is the abundance of commercials advertising the benefits of buying a new sofa.  This time of year we are inundated with suggestions of buying a new sofa just in time for Christmas.  But is buying new our only option to true comfort this festive season?

Of course not!  Consider this.  You’ve shopped around for the perfect sofa or suite to fit your home.  It’s the right size, the right shape, the right style.  Over time the fabric has become worn or your taste has altered.  It happens!  No problem.  Before throwing your much loved furniture on the tip and going through the whole process again, you may be interested to know of a much better, hassle-free way of transforming your furniture.

Loose Covers can be tailor made in any fabric, colour and design of your choice.  You get to keep all of the benefits of your current furniture and can change the whole look and feel. You can even restore and repair any areas of your furniture with reupholstery – so it’s like having a brand new sofa!  Below are a couple of before and after transformations to whet your appetite.

So before you’re convinced to discard your furniture and buy new this Christmas, it could be worth considering all of your options.  You can click here to find out more information of how Plumbs can transform your furniture with Loose Covers, or click here for reupholstery.

Seasons are the best times of year to take inspiration for decorating your home, and Autumn is no exception.  With its beautifully rich palette of oranges, reds and browns you can create a stunning, warm look in any room.

Consider pairing bold red walls with neutral fabrics and gold accents for an understated warm glow.  For a more earthy feel, why not reverse the look, with neutral walls and a terracotta fabric.  Incorporating leaf designs or adding a vase of pre-lit twigs can really bring the outdoors into your living room.

Alternatively, with Halloween just around the corner, don’t be scared to indulge in more daring colours such as purples, blacks and greens.  Plumbs’ stylist Jenny Stirzaker says ‘Try combining pumpkin orange with a bright green for a contemporary fresh look. Or why not pair a deep purple with black accent features for a truly sumptuous room.’

Take a look at our Anastasia design, to get those Autumnal design ideas flowing.

Click here to find out more about Anastasia.

It is a little known fact that some reupholsterers will charge for reupholstery but actually they are just stapling a cover on top of what is already there!

This chair appeared on the Plumbs Reupholstery unit this morning to be reupholstered. It has been supposedly reupholstered before….or has it?

1. The new cover has simply been stapled on top of the old.
2. As a result the new cover has worn through on the side of the arm as there is no supporting padding
3. The customer was almost certainly of the impression that she was having her chair reupholstered.

Just a word of caution for anyone looking into reupholstery. There are lots of companies out there both large and small, who claim to be reupholsterers. Check exactly what work is actually being done before you make a decision. Stapling a cover on top of what is already there is not reupholstery. It is bad practice and gives the reupholstery craft a bad name.

What we offer:

Plumbs offer a comprehensive reupholstery service of the highest standard backed up by a comprehensive three year quality guarantee.

There are many processes involved in traditional re-upholstery techniques from the basics of pin stuffing to the complex, such as deep buttoning.

As different styles of furniture require different techniques we cannot always guarantee what will be used on your furniture. The first technique, which is performed on every piece we re-upholster, is ‘taking down’ and inspecting the frame.

During this processes we can identify what needs to be done to restore your furniture to its former glory. Re-springing, for example, is not always necessary depending on the condition of the springs. On the other hand, we may need to repair parts of the frame such as loose joints.

We can guarantee that whatever needs repairing, will be expertly carried out. The full reupholstery process carried out by Plumbs is described here:

http://www.plumbsreupholstery.co.uk/reupholstery/index.php

We have created a new collection of fabrics called the ‘Bijoux Collection’. It is a co-ordinated range of four differently styled fabrics, featuring textured tweeds and crushed velvets, which are colour co-ordinated together to offer mixed furniture groupings following current trends.

The new range of fabrics have been manufactured using the very latest technology with the highest quality raw materials to offer beautiful, timeless fabrics.

The four fabrics are:

Bijoux Weave –a richly textured tweed effect combining similar tones
Bijoux Slub – a smooth textured random slub effect for perfect simplicity
Bijoux Velvet – a sumptuous crushed velvet with the very latest design trends
Bijoux Hopsack – s simply styled contemporary tweed with tonal shades

Colourways include: Grey, Mulberry, Pearl, Coca, Chocolate, Teak, Charcoal, Mist, Duck Egg, Pear and Cherry

Chris Plumb of Plumbs said, “Our new collection offers some stunning fabrics with lots of different colourways. Use them to transform a sofa or chair with loose covers or reupholstery to brighten up your room for the summer.”

In conjuction with the BBC Gardeners’ World Live 2010 on 16th – 20th June, we are giving a lucky winner the opportunity the chance to have a one-seater chair REUPHOLSTERED LIVE AT THE SHOW.

This fantastic prize is worth up to £1,000. Your chair would be collected from your home, reupholstered live at the BBC Gardeners’ World show, in your choice of fabric (from a selection of our top 30 fabrics) and then re-delivered back to your home.

To be in with a chance of winning this amazing prize and seeing your chair transformed live at the show, upload a picture of the one seater chair you would like re-upholstered on the BBC Gardeners’ World show:

Enter here….

Closing date for entries is May 21st 2010. Two runners up will receive tickets to BBC Gardeners’ World Live.

I thought I’d share some new photography we have done that show’s off our very popular Deco Antique fabric in a natural colourway.  The sofa is an antique style Chesterfield that has been reupholstered. As you can see this sofa looks as good as the day it was first made.

Watch some of the basic techniques our expert upholsterers use to reupholster a Queen Anne Fireside Chair:

The time-honoured skills of upholstery have long since been a masculine domain, with the traditional crafts passed down over the years from master to apprentice. Routes into the industry for a woman embarking on a second career are few and it is only Katy’s sheer determination and genuine love of her craft that have enabled her to achieve what she has to date. With a glowing record behind her and a future specialising in antique restoration ahead, Katy has proven that a bit of grit makes all the difference when breaking into a new industry.

When speaking about her role, Katy’s enthusiasm is clear:

“I love working on all the furniture that comes through the workshop but I get a particular buzz from the older stuff and the antiques. It’s my chance to give it a second life and make it look as good as the day it was first produced. As an upholsterer the challenge is to unravel and convert the designer’s idea and make the piece look beautiful again, and I get a lot of satisfaction from that.”

And yet things could all have turned out very differently, as it was only by accident that Katy discovered her talent for upholstery. Faced with the prospect of finding a new career, with no formal qualifications and no experience other than as a chef, she stuck a pin in a City & Guilds course book and came up with upholstery. After doing some research on the subject, she undertook an access course at York College and was well and truly bitten by the bug.

Several years later and Katy has added a BA Hons in furniture restoration and conservation to her impressive record, as well as the first pure MA degree in upholstery to be awarded in the UK. She also spent time refining her specialised training at the Ecole Boulle, a highly respected Parisian school dedicated to the arts, where her skills have been honed to perfection.

“My life has turned around since I started to learn about upholstery, it’s really become a huge part of my world,” Katy says. “My partner is also a furniture maker and restorer, so our whole house revolves around a love of the craft. I just get such a sense of achievement when I see the finished piece that it makes all the effort it’s taken to get to this place in my career worthwhile.”

The skill, workmanship and passion that a Plumbs craftsman puts into reupholstering your treasured piece of furniture is next to none. Plumbs offers all the benefits of a well established national company, offering furniture repair and reupholstery services, combined with a personal level of service that can only be achieved on a local level.

See The process of re-upholstering an occasional chair: