Reupholster chairs NYC: four rebuilt chairs in a Manhattan penthouse at sunset with the Empire State Building behind them

Seat height

A chair is measured against something else.

A sofa only has to fit the room. A chair has to meet a table, a desk, or the chair standing next to it. We reupholster chairs NYC homes and offices already own, and they go back at the height they arrived at.

Send photos for a quote All furniture

Still done by hand

Three things on a chair are still made one at a time: the seam that closes the cover, the welt that turns each corner, and the buttons pulled down into the foam.

Seam, welt, buttons

Hand closing a leather chair seam with a curved needle and waxed thread — **The seam**Closed by hand

Green jacquard chair arm with a matching self-welt cord along the top edge — **The welt**Turns the corner

Cream boucle chair back with deep button tufting — **The buttons**Pulled to depth

Start with the type

Twelve chairs, and twelve different numbers to hit.

Every one is reupholstered the same way and measured against something different. We reupholster chairs NYC buildings are full of, and the type decides the number we have to hit.

Grey fabric dining chair on tapered walnut legs

Dining chairs

Ten to twelve inches of knee clearance under the apron.

Cream linen side chair with a plain back and tapered wood legs

Side chairs

No arms to hide a mistake. The seat edge carries the look.

Burgundy velvet wingback chair with rolled arms and turned front legs

Wingback chairs

Arm height has to match the sofa beside it.

Cognac leather club chair with a curved back and wood legs

Club chairs

Deep seats hide a lot of foam. Depth changes before height does.

Cream boucle lounge chair with a low back on splayed walnut legs

Lounge chairs

Low on purpose. Half an inch of foam changes its character.

Brown ribbed leather executive office chair with chrome arms and a five-star base

Office chairs

Cover thickness, not the cylinder, changes how the seat feels.

Black leather conference chair with padded arms on a chrome sled base

Conference chairs

A whole room at one fixed height. Any odd one shows.

Cognac leather recliner chair in the closed position with rolled arms

Recliners

Cover it too thickly and the footrest stops closing flush.

Slate blue channel-back armchair with a curved barrel back and tapered legs

Armchairs

A barrel back is one curve. The channels land where they did.

Green velvet accent chair with a shaped wing back on dark tapered legs

Accent chairs

Bought for a corner, and the one people most want re-covered.

Carved walnut antique armchair upholstered in cream linen with cabriole legs

Antique chairs

We copy the old dimension exactly, faults included.

Cognac leather bar stool with low arms and a wood footrest frame

Bar & counter stools

Counter and bar are two different heights, never interchangeable.

Massage chairs, salon chairs and fixed commercial seating are their own problem, and we treat them separately: massage chairs, salon and spa chairs, commercial chairs and waiting room seating. On those, the answer starts at the base rather than the cover.

Reupholster chairs NYC before and after: a wingback in faded floral chintz, then rebuilt in burgundy velvet with nailhead trim — Left, the chintz it arrived in. Right, the same silhouette in burgundy velvet with nailhead trim. The halves are shot from opposite sides, so the trim reads along the arm on the right and is turned away on the left.

What is actually in the job

A quote covers eight things, and you rarely need all eight.

A quote to reupholster chairs NYC homes send us is built from this list. The lines are priced separately because they fail separately, and most chairs need three or four of them, not all eight.

Full reupholstery

Everything off, everything new. The only version that rebuilds the height.

Coil springs hand-tied over black webbing inside a stripped wooden chair seat frame

Seat only

The seat lifts off on its own. Webbing re-tied, one panel of cover.

Green velvet chair back panel with a welted seam running around the camel back

Back and outside panels

The sunlit face and the one that rubs the wall. Seat untouched.

Corner of a linen boxed seat cushion showing the welted edge and boxing band

Cushion and foam

New core, same cover, or both. This decides how the chair feels.

Brown leather chair seam crossing at a corner with cream contrast stitching

Seams and welts

We open the split, re-cut the welt, close it in the same thread.

Linen chair back with hand-pulled diamond button tufting

Tufting and buttoning

Pulled by hand to a measured depth, because buttons add thickness.

Beige linen armchair seat with a welted waterfall front edge after reupholstery

Material matching

When one chair has to meet seven that are staying: weave, sheen, direction.

Brush staining a turned chair leg with a brass ferrule on a canvas drop cloth

Frame and leg work

Loose joints re-glued, legs re-stained.

Underneath

Six layers, and five of them are height.

A chair opened up along its length. Nothing here is decorative — change any one and the seat you sit on moves.

Cutaway of a green wing chair showing the hardwood frame, webbing, coil springs, foam and cover, beside leather and fabric swatches — Left, a wing chair cut through the seat and the back. Right, the cover options that go over it.A wing chair cut through the seat and the back, down to the frame.

Hardwood frameThe only part we expect to keep. Joints are re-glued and doweled, not replaced.
WebbingJute or elastic bands across the seat rails. Stretched webbing is why a seat sags without looking damaged.
SpringsCoils tied down to the webbing, or a serpentine wire on newer frames. They set the travel.
FoamDensity chosen for the use, not the price. A dining chair and a lounge chair should not get the same block.
Fibre wrapThe soft layer that stops the foam edge printing through the cover.
CoverLeather, fabric or vinyl. The one layer you picked, and the thinnest of the six.

The ergonomics people argue the same numbers from the sitting side rather than the building side: white papers from Herman Miller, seating specifications from makers like Humanscale.

The parts you pick

The details are where a chair stops being generic.

Every one is a decision made before the cover is cut, and most cost nothing extra to specify. When we reupholster chairs NYC designers send in, this is the longest part of the conversation.

Green velvet chair back with narrow vertical channel tufting — Narrow channels

Grey velvet chair back with wide vertical channel tufting — Wide channels

Taupe velvet chair back with deep diamond button tufting — Button tufting, velvet

Navy velvet boxed chair cushion with a welted edge and boxing band — Boxed cushions

Cream linen chair corner with self-piping running around the curve — Self welt

Burgundy leather chair welt with cream contrast saddle stitching — Contrast stitch

Brown leather chair arm with a close-set row of brass nailhead trim — Nailhead trim

Tapered walnut chair leg under a welted linen corner on a wood floor — Exposed legs

Carved wood crest rail above a linen chair back panel with welt — Show-wood backs

Pleated linen skirt covering the base of a chair down to the floor — Skirted bases

Ornate cast brass ferrule at the foot of a chair leg on burgundy velvet — Brass ferrules

New grey drop-in seat pad in a green wood-framed settee, back cushions unchanged — Drop-in seats

Before you spend

Only one of these three touches the height.

Not every request to reupholster chairs NYC owners send us turns out to be a reupholstery job. People ask for the first and leave with the second or third more often than you would think.

Green velvet channel-back chair newly reupholstered in panelled light

Worn brown leather chair arm with brass nailhead trim and heavy patina

Striped fabric chair arm with brass nailhead trim along the scroll

If the fault is in the cushion rather than the cover, start at leather cushion repair or custom cushions — both are cheaper than a recover.

The range

Chairs we are sent, and chairs we send back.

Different materials, different rooms, same sequence of work. We reupholster chairs NYC restaurants cannot spare for long, and chairs that have stood in one apartment since the 1970s. One below is shown as it arrived.

Grey linen dining chairs seen from behind around a walnut table by tall windows — **Dining set**Grey linen, six of them, all cut to the one seat height the table allows.

Black leather executive chair with wood arms in a panelled private office — **Executive chair**Black leather over the original mechanism, which is never opened.

Cream boucle swivel chair beside a city window with plants — **Accent chair**Boucle. A high-pile cloth that hides seams and shows every crooked one.

Cognac leather recliner beside a lit fireplace in a dark panelled room — **Recliner**Cognac leather cut thin enough that the footrest still closes flush.

Navy velvet club chair with a curved barrel back in a pale panelled room — **Club chair**Velvet on a barrel back, where the pile direction has to run one way.

Green leather dining chair with an exposed walnut frame in a restaurant — **Restaurant chair**Green leather in a show-wood frame, one of a floor of them.

Carved antique armchair in cream linen beside a sofa in a bright living room — **Antique armchair**Linen on a carved walnut frame, copied to the original dimensions.

Aged leather club chair with cracked arms and faded floral cushions as it arrived — **As it arrived**Cracked arms, sun-faded cushions. This one is a restore, not a recover.

One, or all of them

A set is a different job from a chair.

One chair is a measurement. Eight chairs are the same measurement eight times, with no room to drift. We reupholster chairs NYC dining rooms use in sets as one job, so the cover is cut in one go.

Eight linen dining chairs around a walnut table in a bright dining room — **Dining sets**Cut from one roll on one day, so the weave runs the same way on all of them.

Six cognac leather dining chairs around a walnut table with a city view — **Leather sets**Hides vary. Matching six chairs across separate hides is what takes the time.

Six black leather executive chairs around a boardroom table — **Boardrooms**Done in two passes so the room is never short of seats.

Four cognac leather dining chairs around a table in a restaurant — **Floors**Priced by the run, not the chair. See bulk projects.

Questions

Six things people ask before they commit.

Will the chair come back the same height?

Yes, unless you ask us to change it. We record floor-to-seat before the chair is opened and build back to that number. Chairs come back taller when nobody wrote the original down.

Is it cheaper to reupholster chairs NYC dealers sell, or to buy new ones?

It depends on the frame. Hardwood with joints that can be re-glued is worth rebuilding and will outlast most new chairs at the same price. Stapled softwood or particle board usually is not. Send a photo of the underside and we will tell you which one you have.

Can you match one chair to a set that is staying?

Often, and it is the job we are asked for most. Fabric is easier than leather, because a current pattern can usually still be bought. Leather ages, so matching a ten-year-old hide is unlikely — there we suggest doing the whole set, or restoring the one rather than recovering it.

Do the chairs have to leave the apartment?

Loose chairs go to the workshop; stripping a frame is not apartment work. Fixed and built-in seating is done in place. If you need the room usable, say so at the photo stage and we will split the set across two collections.

Can I change the material completely?

Yes. Fabric to leather, leather to performance fabric and anything to commercial vinyl. Watch thickness: a heavy hide on a chair built for thin cloth changes the fit around tight curves and tufting, so we check the pattern first.

How long does it take?

A single chair takes weeks rather than days. A set takes longer, because it is cut and finished together. Frame repairs and special-order material are what move the date, and you get a date at the quote.

Three reupholstered chairs in burgundy velvet, cream boucle and green velvet in a dark panelled room

Start here

Send three photos and the chair tells us the rest.

Front, side, underside. That is enough for us to say whether you are looking at a recover, a restore or a repair, and roughly what it costs. We reupholster chairs NYC apartments, offices and restaurants keep rather than replace, and the quote is free either way.

Get a free quote Leather chair reupholstery