Monday, September 27, 2010

Here it is, the new couch, used!!

 OK so here it is, the frame is a 1963 Broyhill, solid wood eight way hand tied coil construction. This fabric is chenille and the camera really shows the print, but it is darker then it looks.
 Kelly at Allen's Upholstery on Harry st. in Wichita Kansas completely stripped this frame and raised the couch about 3 inches. When Wes first sat in it his knees came up to his chest.
 Kelly ordered more wood and the new feet for the couch we picked out the fabric and gave him a picture of a couch Wes saw online and he almost duplicated the design perfectly!! He also made all the new cushions as well, this is like a completely new couch. The original frame was added on to to make it taller and bring up the arms as well.
He built up the front of the couch there it used to be real short. This couch sits high but it is comfortable, sturdy and heavy as all get out. Probably weighs about 160 pounds. He used new wood to reinforce the frame and this thing is almost 7 feet long so even Wes can lay completely on it and not hang off the end!! The cushions are firm and the stitching is amazing. It took him about four weeks to build this and they delivered. If we have a problem we know where to take it for repairs, i think this thing will last for quite a while, the only thing we will need to do is re-upholster in about 10 years!!

In fact Kelly the owner of the shop gave us this frame he had there and only charged us for the labor and parts. So if you are in need of new furniture, go to Allen's Upholstery on Harry in Wichita Kansas, they will treat you right and do a great job!!
We kept this old couch out of a landfill, we helped out the local economy and got a great deal, this was about 1,500 all together, now remember we bought a couch set, 3 piece for 800 at Sam's, the thing had a one year warranty and it ripped i pulled out the paper work and read if i had scotch guarded it would have voided the warranty, i was told scotch guard could ruin the fabric. Kelly tells me Scotch guard does not hurt good fabric and we could scotch guard this no problem, then we went looking for a new couch, i got my money back on the old one, we went to a store that had a leather couch for 1,600 i liked it a lot and it had a 7 year warranty and the sales lady said if there were any rips they would come out and fix them. Wes did not want to spend the money on something made in china. Then we went to another store and he found a set for 900, i did not want another crap set. Then Wes went online and found a leather couch at Sam's for 1,200 and asked if we could compromise, so I said OK and we ordered it. When it arrived 3 weeks later the seams were ripped and it was already showing signs of wear, so Wes sent it back. In every store we went it didn't matter if it was a 300 or 1500 dollar couch they were all the same, so we went to the upholstery shop. i really liked his price because we had gone to a fancy store that had this style of hand made construction but the couch was 3,000 bucks. His advise was to find an old frame and bring it to him and he could reupholster it for around 1,500. Well we could not find an old frame, we were told to find one more than 40 years old because they stopped making them in the US about then and they changed the way they constructed couches then as well. today they even use cardboard on the arms and a poly fill for cushions, which do not last, they go flat in about a year. But then we went back to Allen's and they showed us a really, really ugly torn up old couch in the back that they found and offered the frame to us. i wish i took my camera with me so you could see, it was hard to imagine the couch looking anything but like crap. But Kelly and his team did a fantastic job and if you haven't noticed i am plugging Allen's Furniture and Re upholstery at 2621 East Harry in Wichita Kansas. you can visit them at www.allensupholstery.net they are local and manufacture their stuff right here in America!! So if you live near Kansas I recommend checking them out for you furnishing needs!!

Today's thought: "Quit shipping our jobs over seas you corporate bullies!!"- me

11 comments:

G-Man said...

Susie...Love the couch!

magiceye said...

lovely... it looks so lively!

Andrea said...

WOW...I love it and it will last. Then new frames are not made as sturdy as the old ones.

Blessings,
andrea

Akelamalu said...

WOW what a great job they did!

Brian Miller said...

very cool. looks comfy too!

Busy Bee Suz said...

Awesome. It will fit the whole family!!!

Unknown said...

It is amazing and gorgeous!!! What a wonderful "new" couch for you all to share!!!!

Jannie Funster said...

It looks awesome. Rebuilt to last, methinks.

Excellent that you recycled!

Xo

Eaton Bennett aka Berenice Albrecht said...

Susie, it's gorgeous...what a clever upholsterer Kelly is. Enjoy your couch lots and lots. :))

Syd said...

Really nice. It is a shame that nothing is manufactured in the US anymore. It is all crap from China.

Jess Mistress of Mischief said...

AWESOME Couch, the fabric and style is so much like the couch in my house growing up it gave me this cool nostalgic feeling. It really is beautiful!