About 8 years ago I bought a sofa/loveseat/recliner combo from Barcalounger. My mistake at the time was purchasing the "Leather Plus" instead of all leather. Basically, they use real leather on all the surfaces that are "seen" and vinyl on the backs and sides of the cushions.

Other quality issues aside (and there are plenty), the vinyl sides to the seat cushions are now cracked and/or peeled pretty severely. Can anyone recommend an upholsterer who could replace the vinyl with leather. We're talking 12 small panels of vinyl (about 8 inches by 2.5 feet) that run along the side of the cushions that need to be replaced. Obviously the color matching won't be perfect, but he the torn vinyl looks like crapola.

And for the record, don't buy Barcalounger!

quote:

And for the record, don't buy Barcalounger!

Seems obvious unless you are decoratively challanged.

quote:

Originally posted by Fish:

quote:

And for the record, don't buy Barcalounger!

Seems obvious unless you are decoratively challanged.

Hey, I got the Artisan set, which I think still looks pretty damn nice. Us poor folk in the YMCA District can't exactly afford the extravagances of the nouveau riche.

While they look good, their construction and reclining mechanisms are for sh#@

i threw out a 3 year old barcalounger about 2 years ago...what a piece of junk. while i hate to recommend you think about new, i did end up replacing it. i got my leather sofa/chair(NOT a recliner...very comfortable when you use an ottoman) from dania on roosevelt road at finley. about a year after i got it a leg was loose and i called them...get this: LIFETIME service on the furniture from them! check them out: reasonable leather prices, great service. it may cost you less than trying to repair that barcalonger garbage. good luck.

I agree, howdy. It's been my experience that it's cheaper to buy new than reupholster. I got a quote of $3000 a couple of years ago to reupholster a couch at the place on Main where the bike shop now is. Needless to say, the couch ended up in the garage sale and I bought myself a nice new couch at Dania for less than a grand.

If you need a good upholstry place try:

Chase's Upholstering
4S005 Lorraine Ave
Warrenville, IL 60555-3900 View Map
(630) 393-1640

We just had two Stickley chairs re-done and they did a GREAT job, very professional and at a fairly reasonable cost. They will even use your fabric, which is unusual since most places don't allow that because they make most of their money on selling the fabric.

Also, if you decide to go new, try the Tom's Price Warehouse Sale. They do it two times a year now. We have bought some great things here the last day of the sale, when stuff is marked down even more.

I used to work at a company that supplied components/parts to the furniture industry. I was able to visit some of our customers, most of them are out of the south-eastern part of the US, with the exception of La-Z-Boy which is out of Michigan. A couple of years ago, the cheap chinese imports were just starting to roll in and the industry was have a hissy-fit because of the super low costs. I remember, we reverse engineered a 'leather' recliner from Wal-Mart that sold for only $200. It was a lower-end mechanism that would 'untuck' your shirt from your pants when you reclined and the only leather on it was in the seating area and even then, the leather was very thin. Unfortunately, the quality of some furniture will continue to decline due to the fact that although they will still assemble the product here in the states, they will still source the mechanisims from China. Anyway, I guess my point is, not all furniture, especially mechanisms are the same...

i did reupolster(SP?) some living room couches a few years ago, but they were 20 year old drexel heritage, and i now know that if you have any old furn. hold onto it because the new stuff is such Cr-p. the couches from dania were from italy, and the italians still seem to make a quality product. gotta love toms price...they are now selling small wood pieces with some kind of Baker lable on it...and made in china stamped on the back. and you can sure tell! oh well. check out dania!