In interior design, unlike in politics or presidential elections, it’s perfectly fine to plump for a cover-up if something begins to embarrass. This is why paint jobs, area rugs and judiciously hung paintings or mirrors are the star performers of the recession-struck home. It’s now also especially true of upholstery. If your sofa or armchair is a little on the shabby side, it’s time to change its outfit.
“We’re finding people are far quicker to reupholster these days than they are to go out and buy a new sofa or armchair,” says Jane Murphy of Murphy Sheehy, a specialist fabric shop.
The Dublin store sells upholstery fabric by the metre, and its best-seller is a linen union fabric — a linen and cotton mix — in tasteful neutral stone, costing €29 per metre and sold in a 20ft (6m) width. “Many Spanish and other European fabrics come with this double width, which reduces the cost of a reupholstery job by half, since most sofas require the 20ft length for full coverage,” says Murphy.
Other popular fabric choices include those that achieve the shabby-chic look: soft, girlish florals in duck-egg blues and soft pastel pinks, which work especially well on chunky, fluffy sofas for vintage charm in country homes and cottages.
There are bolder options, too. Sanderson has been in the fabric business for generations and its new collection, Colours For Living, is a little out there, but still easy on the eye.
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One of the firm’s strongest new prints is Bellflower, left, an abstract pattern of blooms printed on textured cotton and available in five colours. Another fabric, Rainforest, features bright tropical foliage on cotton basket weave in five vibrant variations. The firm says the pattern is reminiscent of designs by William Morris — if Morris had painted under the influence of hallucinogens, perhaps.
The prints can be used for curtains, but they make a loud statement so might be better for small, upholstered pieces of furniture. “We sell those strong, quirky fabrics to people for armchairs, since they can move them around the house if the look starts to get too overbearing,” says Murphy.
Harlequin, another fabric and wallcoverings company that is unafraid of the bold botanical and the zany geometric, also has a new range in stores just in time for a summer revamp. Called Folia, seen on the curtains below, it includes a series of complementary prints you can intermix in upholstery, cushion or curtain formats for a really lush, layered look.
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Akin (€45 per metre) is one of Harlequin’s more demure fabrics: it’s a wide-format tartan, left, but in a choice of colours, including duck-egg blue and warm red, that are unlikely to evoke the blare of bagpipes. And if you want to tone things down a little, consider the Flavia fabric, also €45 per metre, a dramatic leaf motif on a tasteful navy background.
Daring fabrics such as these work best tightly upholstered on to neat-lined furniture, such as 1950s feminine sofas and side chairs. Use sparingly on flouncy, loose-covered, deep-cushion sofas, or you risk creating a domineering, confusing look — otherwise smart, sassy botanicals can start to resemble oversized, ill-judged chintz.
For something plainer but equally chic, designer Sonia Rykiel has released seven new fabric designs for spring and summer 2012, each in a plain, unfussy colourway and named after a street in Paris.
As the larger design houses continue to churn out new fabrics season after season, there are bargains to be had in Irish stores. Murphy Sheehy is running a sale of past-season fabrics — in decent sizes and colours — at its shop in Castle Market, Dublin 2, with reductions of up to 60%. Linen voile, for example, can be had for €10 per metre, raw silk costs €25 per metre, and embossed damask costs €10 per metre. At Collette Ward Interiors, a stockist of big-label designer quality brands such as Sandberg and Osborne & Little, a March promotion is now on with a 15% discount on all designer fabrics.
When it comes to choosing an upholsterer, it’s a good idea to rely on word of mouth, and especially worth asking at a specialist fabric retailer, since most routinely use an upholsterer they can entrust their clients to — so they’re probably unlikely to do a hasty job and waste precious fabric.
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Prices for professional upholstery start at a couple of hundred euros for an armchair to closer to €1,000 for a full reupholstery of a tricky sofa — not including your fabric costs. However, for the chronically intricate diamond-upholstery of a Chesterfield, expect to pay more.
Whatever way you look at it, however, a change of fabric is cheaper and easier than dumping a tired sofa and shelling out on a new one. In any case, what hard-working, forgiving and comfortable old sofa doesn’t deserve a wardrobe change once in a while?
murphysheehy.com; sanderson-uk.com; harlequin.uk.com; soniarykielmaison.com; collettewardinteriors.ie
INNER VISION
Decked out from €75
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Foxford Woollen Mills has released its new Deck Chair collection for spring and summer 2012, inspired by retro bucket-and-spade holidays at 1950s beach resorts. The central piece, a lambswool throw, features lipstick pink, lime green, jade blue and canary yellow stripes.
foxfordwoollenmills.com
Great hall from €1,600
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Cillian Ó Súilleabháin is a Carlow-based craftsman who makes his own designs in a variety of hardwoods by hand, including Courtlands, an angular hall table made from native Irish cherry wood. His pieces will be on show at Project51 on South William Street, Dublin 2, on Wednesday and Thursday.
cosfurniture.ie and project51.ie
The frame game
Designist at 68 South Great Georges Street, Dublin, has invited 25 local artists to customise Klickity Scribble frames. Take part in a blind auction to get one.
designist.ie
Make a statement €25
Fergus O'Neill, the graphic designer behind the now-famous “Keep Going Sure It’s Grand” series of wall prints, has a new creation. It says: “Come to Ireland: the country shaped like a Teddy Bear” and is on sale at the Irish Design Shop at the Royal Hibernian Academy, Ely Place, Dublin 2. It will also be available to buy online soon.
irishdesignshop.com