Has anyone had an older sofa reupholstered and was it worth it?

[GatherlyGal]

We have a 12/14 year old Sofa.com sofa which needs new covers.

It is in pretty good condition save for the worn out fabric and chucking it out seems wrong. I also love the shape and can't find a new one I like as much.

has anyone done this? Advice seems to be that it's not worth it unless the sofa is really fancy / high quality.

I know Sofa.com quality now is not great but they definitely used to be better.

Has anyone done this? Was it £££? Were you happy with the result?

I did it with a vintage two seater I bought in a flea market. It looked great and lasted really well. it was a long time ago so I don't remember how much it cost but I don't remember it being extortionate. I didn't replace the cushions or anything though - just the cover.

If you love your sofa, just have it reupholstered and enjoy it. Reupholstry may be as expensive as buying a new one but you can feel good about not tossing it into a landfill somewhere. Plus, lots of upholsterers are independent, small businesses.
I had an old sofa reupholstered about 15 years ago and it was around £1,000. The upholsterers did a great job and were lovely.

I bought some fabulous fitted heavy duty washable cotton covers from Sofasofa that were almost the same size as my really good quality sofas. They needed a bit of tucking in to sit right but they were piped and looked really good. They are a couple of hundred pounds each though (I needed two) so you'd have to decide if it's worth it.
If you look under accessories on their website it shows you which shape replacement covers they do and you can check the size on the main sofa pages. The cushions were a perfect fit but the arms were a bit wider but I got another 10 years out of them.
I think IKEA also do replacement cotton covers for some of their standard shaped sofas if that's what you've got.
I've got eBay stretch covers on my current faded and shabby patchwork recliner sofa as a temporary measure which are a bit grim buts it's on the list to look out for a better solution. It's comfy and the right size for the room so I'm not getting rid of it.

I've not done this, but I would, purely for the feel good factor of not sending an old sofa to landfill. I upcycle as much as I can.

I heard reupholstering a sofa is nearly (eg 2 thirds or 3 quarters) the cost of a new sofa. If you like your old one so much I'd go for it. Better for the environment.

Mine turned out to not be worth it as it also needed some internal structural work so a new one even at two grand was a more sensible choice.

We did.
Our original one was about 20yrs old and had been made by a now non-existent furniture maker. So it had been made to fit our lounge.

We looked everywhere but DP and I couldn't find the right size, colour, comfort etc...

So I got an upholsteror who visited to check the sofa was able to be re-done (he said some cannot be done successfully if the frame isn't of a certain type).

I was anxious I was making a costly error.

But it was great. I got to pick the colour (huge choice, also huge cost variations). He added stuffing into the cushions where needed, added more contemporary feet to it.

I cannot recall the exact amount but we have no regrets. It is still fabulous, comfy, fits the room and I'll probably have it done again. I love our sofa.

Just get an upholsteror who loves their job and is recommended.
We had to wait months for ours to fit us in which was an irritation at the time (he had poor communication) but I can still recall going to pay the final cost and seeing it at his workshop - it looked so happy to be re-newed.

I bought a tatty two seater Ercol settee for very little and had it reupholstered. Worth every penny, fabulous quality and so comfortable.

I've had a large sofa bed for over 30 years, very good quality, and have had it reupholstered by a local firm twice. Expensive, but definitely worth it if you like the sofa and it fits well in your house.

Second time we got new foam for the seat cushions, but the feather back cushions are original and good as new.

These are all very encouraging !

Now we need to find someone to do it.

Thanks everyone.

I regretted it. I thought it was just that the fabric needed updating put pretty soon the springs started to go too. When I finally bought a new sofa I couldn't believe the difference. I was so used to sitting low down on the old one that I thought it was fine when it wasn't. I think that a 20 or 30 year old sofa is probably better made than a 10-15 year old sofa so it's possibly more worth re upholstering than a modern sofa is.