How Does Reupholstering Compare To Buying New?

We’ve put together this handy guide to help you decide whether to reupholster your furniture or buy new.

Should you reupholster, or buy new?

If your old furniture is looking a little lacklustre and you’re exploring the idea of something new before you jump online or head out to the furniture stores, consider what might work best for you, reupholstering or buying new?

Both options can be beneficial for different situations; reupholstering is often a much easier process than buying brand new – it can save you time, hassle, and in many cases, cost – whereas buying new can be a better option if your current suite isn’t of a high quality and you want to change the size or style of sofa.

It’s probable that the furniture you bought several years ago is much better quality than the mass produced one you can currently get from a modern retailer. Typically, furniture frames that were made ten to fifteen years ago are generally better quality, so you can guarantee it’ll last. You also know that the furniture you already have fits perfectly in your home, so with reupholstery, you needn’t worry about measuring up, or squeezing in a new piece.

01 Options Comparison

If you’re looking to update and refresh your home’s interior without the hassle and inconvenience of buying new, then reupholstery is definitely the option for you.

How much will it cost to reupholster a sofa or chair?

With reupholstery, you can expect your money to travel that bit further. If you buy new, you can almost always expect to buy again a few short years later, so it’s actually more expensive in the long term.

The price of reupholstery is generally influenced by size, style, fabric, and whether or not your furniture is antique. You can expect reupholstery to cost from around $800, and that price will cover you for years to come. With reupholstery you’re making an investment so we want to ensure that it’s something you’ll feel proud of, and that’s why we’ll go that extra mile to replace any damaged springs or padding, completely free of charge. Unlike other companies who may just replace the fabric on your furniture we virtually rebuild your treasured piece from the inside out.

We’re passionate about providing the best possible reupholstery service – we want to give your furniture that “wow!” factor back – and our prices reflect that. The price will vary dependent on the suite, but we’ll be able to provide a more specific price once we’ve seen your sofa or chair during one of our free home consultations.

Reupholstery is a traditional craft, so if you’re investing in the service, you’ll be supporting traditional workmanship by local craftsmen and women, too.

Reupholstery isn’t the only option for you if you’re looking to revive an old suite… Our made to measure loose covers are great value for money, and still give your suite that new, fresh look. Loose covers start from around $200 – about a quarter of the cost of a new sofa! Our loose covers are also washable, which is a big plus point. Most fabrics are machine washable, so you can keep the fabric looking fresh and clean all year round. Our consultants will advise of any fabrics that are dry clean only.

What’s more convenient?

Reupholstery is a relatively speedy service, the whole process takes around 8-10 weeks with your sofa reupholstered and back with you in 2-3 weeks. When buying new, you can typically expect your furniture to arrive within 6-8 weeks. However, reupholstered items tend to use much higher quality fabric – and it’s sure to last you several more years. It’s worth taking this into account.

Reupholstery is a convenient option if you have a quality piece of furniture that fits perfectly within your home. If not, then it may be more convenient to look for a replacement.

With Jenso’ professional reupholstery service, a member of our helpful team will visit you in your home, for free, to chat with you about your particular furniture tastes and requirements. Jenso’ home consultants will take a look at your furniture and provide you with a quote right there and then. We’ll talk you through what materials and fabrics are on offer, providing large swatches and samples, so you can see exactly how it’ll match your home. Sounds quite lovely, no?

Our home consultancy team are committed to making the process as easy and stress-free as possible. From taking all the necessary measurements to educating our customers about the durability of different fabrics, we’re here to ensure your furniture looks beautiful again, providing you with an outstanding reupholstery service.

What’s the environmental impact of reupholstering and buying new?

Building furniture from scratch has a huge impact on the environment – it takes around 1000x more CO2 to make a new piece of furniture compared to refurbishing an old piece. Canada would save around 1.5 tonnes of CO2 emissions if we re-used our old furniture instead of throwing it away.

Reupholstering and reusing furniture is hugely beneficial for the environment – it reduces the effects of global warming, helps save our plants, trees and forests, and reduces the chance of losing some of the planet’s most endangered, and important, animal species. As it stands, only 17% of furniture is being recycled, and Canada landfill sites are filled with hundreds of thousands of old furniture pieces each year.

 06 Environmental Impact

So, it’s safe to say that reupholstering has many more environmental benefits than buying new furniture does.

What level of quality can I expect?

All of Jeno’s customers receive a quality workmanship. Jenso have over 30 years of trust and experience in the reupholstery business, so quality craftsmanship and expertise are at the heart of what we do. Our extensive network of over a hundred master upholsterers means that your furniture couldn’t be in safer hands. Reupholster with Jenso and there’s a good chance the fabric will outlive that of a brand new sofa.

Reupholster Couch

Our reupholstery experts are dedicated to the trade. Jenso ensures that every piece of reupholstered furniture has been beautifully restored to its full potential, with no detail overlooked. The best quality service is what we aim to provide for all of our customers, and to make this all the more apparent, we go that little bit further, replenishing any damaged springs, joints or padding – so it really is as good as new!

As a family business, we understand as much as you do the feelings of nostalgia and warmth that a piece of furniture can evoke, and how hard it can be to part ways with something that’s been a part of your home for many years.

What fabrics are available?

Shopping for a new sofa or chair, whether it be online or in-store, can be an overwhelming task, with considerations such as; size, style, shape, fabric, and colour/pattern, as well as how it’ll look in your home. With reupholstering you only need to think about what fabric will suit your home.

If you’re a little unsure what fabric and style to opt for, Jenso have a huge range of styles to match any kind of décor, and with 800 fabrics on offer, there’s bound to be one that’ll make you fall in love with your old sofa all over again!

After a quick catch up on the telephoneJenso’ home consultants will get to grips with your style, tastes, and requirements. We’ll then carefully curate a few of our beautiful fabric samples and bring these along on your home visit. As well as pattern and colour, there’s also fabric durability to consider. Our home consultants will work together with you to determine what kind of fabric you’ll need, so you can get as many years out of your new, reupholstered sofa as possible!

Sofa Upholstery

Alternatively, you’re free to browse the JENSO Upholstering Inc. fabric range and select a handful of samples from there, too. The choice is yours, entirely.

Summary

Reupholstering your old furniture reaps huge benefits. You may think buying a brand new sofa is the most hassle-free option, but usually, that’s not the case. Jenso’ reupholstery service takes the stress away from refreshing your home’s interior – we’ll bring everything to your doorstep, so you don’t have to spend hours traipsing around the shops or the internet. So many beautiful, good-quality sofas are thrown away every day, all because people are simply unaware of the ease and advantages of reupholstering!

Before you head online or in store to look for a new sofa, seriously consider reupholstery, particularly if you’ve had your sofa for a few years – why throw away something that has served you so well? It still possesses the same character and charm as when you first bought it – it just needs a little tender-loving-care to zap it back to life, and that’s exactly what reupholstery offers. Restoring the beauty and comfort of your timeless suites.

If your sofa’s back and seat cushions are fully intact, but the fabric on the arms of the sofa has suffered a little wear and tear, then check out Jenso’ made-to-measure loose covers – a low-cost alternative to reupholstery.

Buying new might be a better option if the sofa you’re looking to replace was bought for a low price initially, and doesn’t have a sturdy, quality frame. In this case, it’s probably wiser to replace it with a new, high-quality sofa – we’d recommend checking out second-hand shops, too, as you’ll usually find that the sofas are a few years older, and have been crafted to be more durable and hard-wearing.

Sofa Repair

Reupholstery is the best option if your suite or sofa fits perfectly in your home. It’s worth reupholstering regardless of whether you think it’s the cost-equivalent of buying new as finding the perfect fit furniture for your room is a difficult task – it requires a lot of shopping around, and a lot of measuring, and then re-measuring!

Another great plus point of reupholstering your old sofa is that our team of experts will help you select specific fabrics that are tailored to your lifestyle requirements – this means that your reupholstered sofa will hold up a lot longer than a brand new suite. If your sofa is used a lot, then you’ll need more hard-wearing fabrics than you would need on an arm chair that is hardly used. Our home consultancy team will consider all kinds of lifestyle factors to ensure that your reupholstered sofa is of the best possible quality.

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