Having Our Couch Reupholstered

As much as China frustrates me sometimes, there are lots of things that are absolutely marvelous. Many of them relate to the services you can get. Having our couches reupholstered is a great example.

The craftsmen come to your home with all their equipment and long bolts of cloth to do the upholstery right there.

At the shop, I chose the cloth I wanted and had it ordered. We scheduled a date for the upholsterers to come. Then the owner made the zippered cushion covers at her convenience.

On the big day, this lovely lady came with a huge box strapped on her back. (See the green back pack straps?) When she opened the top, I realized it was her “portable” sewing machine. She sat on a short stool (what we would give a toddler) to work.

Her other tools were some newspaper, a piece of chalk,  and a measuring tape for making patterns.

She would measure, cut, sew, and drape the pieces over the couches.

Then once all the main fitted parts were complete, more helpers came to take the couches apart.

I realized the downside to not taking your couches to a workshop somewhere — your home becomes the workshop. It was a loud mess, but still worth it, of course.

It took two days in our home to do all the work. (But the entire process including ordering the cloth and scheduling the workers took a couple of weeks.)

What we thought was a gray couch all along was originally white! The parts that were concealed underneath tell the true story. So all that gray was… discoloration? smoke? filth? Yuck.

And the finished products…

They are now an inviting blue fabric instead of the cold, drab, gray vinyl.

I know. These chairs with the massive arm rests confuse me greatly. What a waste of space. But it’s a popular style here.

Tagged as: couch, living in China, reupholstery