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Back in 2021, we bought this sofa secondhand on eBay. I knew that the secret to getting an expensive, stylish, quality sofa on a budget was to go secondhand, so I set up alerts for a Conran sofa and bagged this one for £150; the buyers were selling their property so wanted a quick sale, and organised a pick-up via Shiply (this cost a further £90).
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And then the sofa sat in our living room for 3 years. We haven’t really used it as our living room has been a makeshift warehouse for the last few years with matches and office storage. It was in an okay condition, some marks and a few tears in the fabric, but I knew I wanted to do something with it that felt more ‘us’. I’d been eyeing up striped sofas for years, I always loved Lucinda Chambers’s striped sofa and Sophie from Cote de Folk is often styling dreamy multi striped cushions and sofas.
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We had to wait until we had enough money saved, but also time to research if we wanted to do it more affordably. I was quoted roughly £1,000 for the stripping and upholstery, but then fabric would still be on top of that. I still think this is decent value for a ‘bespoke’ sofa that no one else will have and the point of reupholstery is making something last – it’s still more economical (and environmentally friendly) than buying a new sofa, however, we needed to shop around.
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I decided to look further afield (mainly outside of London) and came across Collins Upholstery based in Haywards Heath. I remembered Jess Hurrell used them a few years ago and they came back with a quote of £550. The quote was without fabric and there would be an extra collection and delivery cost (I would add here that this was a standard quote – we contacted them anonymously, not as an Influencer and didn’t negotiate price through offering coverage). The great thing about contacting an upholsterer first is that they can give you a rough estimate of how much fabric you’d need; we were told roughly 12-14 metres, which helped us budget the next step.
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I started to research fabric. I adore brands like Colours of Arley and Designers Guild but at £75 – £125 per metre I had to keep looking. I decided that the sofa is a great shape, and the stripe will be a statement in itself, so I needed to trust that it would still look good if it didn’t cost the earth. And realistically: I’ve never not liked anything striped in my home or wardrobe! I went classic and found St Agnes wide stripe from Just Fabrics – it was £19.51 per metre. I then bought 14 metres to be really sure we had enough.
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Disclaimer: I did not check if it was suitable for sofas and to be honest the site just says suitable for curtains and cushions – I waited to see if the upholsterer mentioned anything but all I heard was how good it looked when it was finished! We didn’t get it restuffed or anything, I think from just putting it all back together it looks plumper, but they did fix one of the wooden feet which had come loose.
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And all I can say is how much I LOVE IT! It makes the room feel pulled together and brighter (I find velvets suck light out of any area!). I know it’s not super practical with kids but I try not to get myself too worked up about it. The fact I look at it every day and love it outweighs my worry for it to get dirty – I’d rather use and stain something I truly love, tbh.