Posted on: March 5, 2007

Long Live the Sofa

Why replace when you can resuscitate your favorite place to curl-up for some weekend recreation?

By Bev Bennett
CTW Features

Face it: Your sofa has seen better days. Its springs are sprung, the fabric’s threadbare and the cushions are kaput. And as fond as you are of that bundle of fiber and fluff, it may be time to move on.

How can you tell if it’s time to get someone to haul away your sofa? Or, if it can be saved, how do you do it?

You have a wide range of choices, from throwing a fitted fabric over your sofa to reconstructing what you have to buying new. You must weigh price, convenience and your seating needs and style to determine the best solution.

The Quick, Ready-Made Fix

The cheapest and easiest way to disguise an ugly sofa is to use a ready-made cover. There are two styles from which to choose.

Slipcovers, which are loose-fitting fabric sheaths, are constructed with bands of elastic that hold the fabric snug to a sofa at the arms, skirt and cushion. Throws, which are generally cheaper than ready-made slipcovers, have no elastic bands and are sized to cover the full front and partial back of standard furniture. You drape the throw over the sofa and tuck the fabric tightly around the cushions, molding it to fit.

Both are excellent quick fixes if your sofa is structurally sound but is scuffed, stained or worn.

“People may not look at ready-made slipcovers as their first choice,” says Liana Toscanini of Sure Fit, a maker of ready-made slipcovers based in Allentown, Pa. “They think ready-made slipcovers must be plastic or horrible polyester. But the ugly stuff from the 1970s is very different from what we’re making today.”

Ready-made slipcovers come in all the fashionable colors and fabrics that designers are using in homes, says Toscanini.

The most popular fabrics are denim – especially stone-colored denim, which resembles khaki – and cotton duck.

One of Sure Fit’s bestsellers this year is Utopia, a soft yellow botanical print with touches of muted greens, blues and reds. “It’s a big hit,” says Toscanini. “Yellow is a statement. It’s very fresh.” Prints have gained in popularity in the past season after taking a back seat to solid colors for several years, she notes.

Off-white slipcovers that imitate the look of the white furniture couples owned before they had families also are very popular. “Off-white slipcovers go with everything,” Toscanini says. “They look great with solid floors or oriental rugs.” Sage green, which Toscanini calls “the new neutral,” also has been selling well.

With even the most fashionable colors now available at ready-made prices, it’s mostly the fabric a slipcover is made of that determines cost. Sure Fit prices its fabrics in three tiers: good, better, best.

• Good … is a 70-percent polyester, 30-percent cotton blend. It’s a medium-weight fabric. The price for a sofa covering is about $69.

• Better … is 100 percent cotton duck or damask. It costs about $109.

• Best … consists of heavyweight fabrics: a 10-ounce denim twill, washable velvet, a woven Matelasse, plush chenille, damask. Expect to pay from $159 to $189.

One Step Up: Custom Covers

If you prefer gloves to mittens, you’ll probably prefer the better fit of custom-made slipcovers. You choose the fabric, someone comes into your home and measures your sofa and sews covers. Usually you get to keep your sofa during the six-week to eight-week process.

Custom-made slipcovers are expensive. You’re paying for materials and labor that can range from $400 to $1,000 or more. Custom-made slipcovers look polished and professional. Cleaning is the big drawback.

“Custom-made slipcovers can shrink. Even fabrics that are dry-cleaned can shrink; steam shrinks the fabric,” says Patricia Zamora Fieke, who does both upholstery and slipcovers in her business, Elite Upholstery in San Diego. “Ask that the fabric be prewashed and preshrunk before it is cut.”

There is some debate about whether ready-made slipcovers can go in the wash. Toscanini says yes. Jan Jessup says no.

“Even a loose-fitting slipcover should be sent to a dry cleaner, says Jessup, a spokeswoman for Calico Corners, a fabric and furniture chain based in Kennett Square, Pa. “A slipcover is so heavy when it gets wet, it puts an extreme amount of pressure on the seams. A slipcover will last longer if you dry-clean it,”

Do-It-Yourself ‘Custom’ Covers

If you like custom fit and the convenience of a throw, a kit from FittingPretty may be the compromise you’re looking for. The simple system of plastic grips can be used with any fabric or slipcover to hold the cover tightly in place. “I was inspired when I looked at my sofa and wanted to change its look,” says Paula Riley of Prescient Partners in New York, the company that invented the grip set.

“This opens all sorts of design possibilities. I can use a favorite quilt or use several fabrics for a layered look. I get an upholstered appearance with less cost,” says Riley, whose product is sold in linen and casual-furniture stores, including Pottery Barn. Expect to pay about $30 for a sofa kit.

The High Road: Reupholstery

“Upholstery is like an orthopedic surgeon for furniture,” says Jessup. A reupholsterer will retie springs, rebuild cushions, put new stuffings in the piece and do whatever is necessary to give you a rebuilt piece of furniture.

Be sure to check the general health of your sofa before you let someone operate, however. Reupholstering can be as costly as buying new furniture.

The upside of reupholstering is that the quality of virtually any sofa purchased 15 or more years ago is better than what’s being made now, Feike claims. “The frame will last longer [than that of a new sofa], and the sofa is worth repairing or remodeling,” she says.

Jessup suggests looking at the frame before you decide on reupholstering. “A hardwood frame is worth saving. It can be upholstered again and again,” she says.

Reupholstering will cost well over $1,000 (excluding the cost of fabric), depending on the local cost of labor and what you have done. For example, cushions alone can cost $80 to $100 each to restuff, according to Sharon Hanby-Robie, author of “My Name Isn’t Martha, But I Can Decorate My Home” (Pocket Books, 1998).

And you’ll have the inconvenience of doing without your favorite hangout for a few weeks. At this point you may decide it’s more practical to just buy a new sofa.

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Bev Bennett, a veteran food writer and editor, is the author of "Dinner for Two: A Cookbook for Couples" and "30-Minute Meals for Dummies"

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