Plumbs Blog » Re-upholstery

Our new Bijoux Collection

admin — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 11:58:12 +0000

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.”

Competition to Transform Chair Live At BBC Gardeners’ World Live

Simon — Wed, 05 May 2010 11:07:20 +0000

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.

New photography of a reupholstered antique style Chesterfield sofa

Simon — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 10:36:19 +0000

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.

Reupholstery of a Queen Anne Fireside Chair

Simon — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 14:42:06 +0000

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

The success of a Plumbs Upholsterer

Simon — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 09:30:38 +0000

When Katy Hoskinson decided it was time for a change of direction, she didn’t do things by halves. Her position as an upholsterer with Plumbs, the soft furnishings specialist, is a far cry from her previous role as a chef in a busy kitchen. Yet the flourishing career that the 43 year old from Lincolnshire has stitched for herself is testament to her will to succeed in not one but two male dominated industries.

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.

A chair being re-upholstered

Simon — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 15:36:12 +0000

See The process of re-upholstering an occasional chair:

Transform your living room this Spring

Chris_Plumb — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 13:28:40 +0000

Transform your living room this Spring with loose covers from Plumbs. With hundreds of fabrics to choose from including cottons, linens, chenilles, easy care stretch fabrics plus luxury velvets, loose covers are ideal if you’re looking for a slightly more informal way to update your furniture.

Offering an alternative solution to replacing a tired sofa or chair, Plumbs loose covers are hand crafted from start to finish and made to measure, which means that they look, fit and feel as good, if not better, than the original upholstery. Plumbs even offer co-ordinating curtains!

From on-trend botanical prints and opulent purples and deep reds to countryside-inspired florals and natural fabrics, Plumbs diverse loose cover collections offer something for everyone.

If your furniture is over ten years old then re-upholstery could be the perfect way to bring a well-loved sofa or chair back to life. Re-upholstery allows you to keep all the original features of your existing furniture, including the shape, comfort and style, but in a brand new fabric.

Plumbs upholstering services range from standard recovering to complete reupholstery including any wooden features, studded work and button backs.

Ever wondered how upholstered furniture came about?

Simon — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 15:09:01 +0000

We’ve put together an article explaining a brief history of upholstery. For example, did you know that the term “upholder” is the archaic name for an upholsterer?

Read the article here…

You can also learn about the The Worshipful Company of Upholders, one of the very first Livery Companies of the City of London.

Visit their website here…

Re-upholstery or Re-covering Furniture IS Recycling

Simon — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 15:27:25 +0000

Latest government figures say we in the UK send more than half our waste to landfill. That is a huge 62 million tonnes a year in England alone. Now the aim is to reduce landfill by at least 50% over the next 10 years…..

5 Good Reasons To Re-upholster Your Furniture

Simon — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 08:33:19 +0000

1. Your furniture is looking tired and worn
2. Your furniture looks as though it never left the 1960’s
3. You have more padding than your furniture
4. Your furniture is cheaper to have re-upholstered than replaced
5. You want to be more creative with your furniture and decor

To read this article in more detail, please click here…