When a hospitality interior is refreshed, replacing the furniture is often assumed rather than decided. Yet much of the furniture in a well-specified scheme is still structurally sound when its covers and finishes have worn out. Knowing when to reupholster, when to refurbish and when to replace lets designers direct budget where it makes the most difference, while reducing waste on projects where sustainability is increasingly part of the brief.
Start with the frame
The frame determines whether a piece is worth keeping. A well-made timber or metal frame with sound joints can outlast several sets of upholstery. Before deciding, each type of piece should be assessed for loose or failed joints, cracked components, damage to legs and bases, and any movement under load. Where frames are sound, reupholstering is usually the most effective option. Where joints have failed repeatedly or the structure is compromised, the cost of repair can approach the cost of a new piece, and replacement becomes the better choice.
What reupholstery involves
Reupholstery is more than a new cover. In contract seating, foams and fillings degrade with use and often need replacing at the same time, and new materials must meet current UK fire safety requirements for contract furniture. Taking a piece back to its frame also allows its comfort to be reconsidered, with changes to fillings or seat construction. Done properly, a reupholstered chair or banquette can perform as well as a new one and take on an entirely new look through fabric, piping and detailing.
Refurbishing timber and metal
Exposed timber and metal can often be brought back into good condition. Timber can be stripped and refinished, in the original colour or a new one to suit a revised scheme, and metal frames and bases can be restored. Combined with new upholstery, refinishing can transform a piece so thoroughly that it reads as part of a new interior rather than a survivor from the old one.
When replacement is the right answer
Some situations call for new furniture. A change of concept may require forms and proportions the existing pieces cannot provide. Furniture that was poorly made in the first place rarely justifies further investment. Pieces may no longer suit how the space is used, or may be unable to meet current requirements without excessive work. In these cases, investing in new, properly specified furniture is likely to deliver better value over its life than repeatedly repairing the old.
Combining the approaches
Most refreshes benefit from a mix of all three. Sound seating can be reupholstered and refinished, while pieces that define the new concept, or that have reached the end of their life, are replaced. Planning this mix early, with a clear survey of what exists and its condition, lets designers balance the visual impact of new pieces against the cost and waste of replacing everything.
Programme and logistics
Reupholstery and refurbishment come with their own logistics. Pieces usually need to come off site for the work, which affects how long spaces are without furniture and how a phased refurbishment is sequenced. Fabrics and finishes still need selecting and approving, and quantities need confirming against a full inventory of the existing furniture. Treated as part of the programme from the outset, refurbishment can be just as predictable as new manufacture.
The sustainable choice, when it is the right one
Keeping well-made furniture in use avoids the waste of discarding pieces that still have years of life in them, and retains the materials and work that went into making them. That only holds true when the furniture was built well in the first place. Quality built in at the outset is what makes a second, or third, life possible.
