Re-upholster our sofa bed - what will it cost?

[willbrackman]

Just purchased a 1995 30' Classic Limited with an atrocious white-on-white front sofa bed (gaucho?) and a dinette to match. Cushions are either shot or weren't much good to begin with.

We want to get the sofa bed and dinette re-upholstered with a modern looking, quality fabric and new, stiffer, cushions.

Does anybody have any advice on where to get this work done in the Pacific Northwest? Also, any ball park estimates on price? I realize price can be all over the board based on material choice, but just having a starting point would be helpful.

We'll be in Arizona in the winter so I guess that we could have the work done there too. So, any recommendations in Arizona?

Thanks

[adwriter73]

I just did this. I'm in Texas, but the labor cost was $295 and the material (a 60s-mod gray twill) was $350.

[Aage]

Originally Posted by adwriter73

I just did this. I'm in Texas, but the labor cost was $295 and the material (a 60s-mod gray twill) was $350.

And from what I hear that's about par for the course. It always surprises me, the cost of both the material, and the cost of putting it on.

It must take a lot longer to do it properly than I imagine that it does.

[Airstream76]

Originally Posted by adwriter73

I just did this. I'm in Texas, but the labor cost was $295 and the material (a 60s-mod gray twill) was $350.

Where in Texas?? We want to have ours redone but haven't had any luck with upholsters. I'm in San Antonio.

[Dave Park]

Originally Posted by Aage

It must take a lot longer to do it properly than I imagine that it does.

Heavy duty sewing machines, supplies, and most of all the knowledge - knowing how and having the equipment to do this type of work is expensive, and there are few people willing to pay $300 for a quilt when Walmart will sell you one for $40 - so the large costs are spread across fewer buyers.

My wife is heavily into the sewing crafts, and her long arm sewing machine (for quilt-making) was $3,300. She doesn't sell quilts any more because people don't want to pay what it actually costs, let alone anything extra for her.

So, it's not a time issue, it's an equipment cost issue. This is pretty typical of what you can expect to pay for a better quality basic quilting sewing machine. And remember, we're Airstreamers, so we all understand the urge to buy something of superior design and quality.

(and yeah, 3-phase commercial sewing machines can easily reach $25,000)

[MaxAB]

Congrats on the new rig! You'll love it - they're addictive, so beware. I re-upholstered my goucho and side compartments back in 2009 in Albuquerque where we live. I found a local automobile upholstery shop with excellent references - they did a very good job and met my expectations. I had them beef-up the cushion with high density foam and I used an aircraft grade (low flamable material) fabric. Cost-wise, I budgeted $500 and it came in slightly under that. I used the time while the goucho cushion and side compartments were at the shop (it was a 10-day job) to re-build the fold-out goucho bed frame mechanism and slide-out drawers, replaced the plywood and beefed up all the aluminum frame connection points with nyloc-through bolts. You can see the final job at my registry page here on AirForums. Good luck!

Art

[adwriter73]

Originally Posted by Autumn

Where in Texas?? We want to have ours redone but haven't had any luck with upholsters. I'm in San Antonio.

In Dallas

[Condoluminum]

Couch much easier to shop for if you disassemble and remove it, which can be done with a couple wrenches and a screwdriver, plus a couple strong bodies.. "A couple hundred" is ballpark for both material cost and labor cost. We spent 600 on labor including new high density foam padding and cleanup, and $320 for heavy upholstery fabric from large fabric superstore in CA, which we still had to order from samples...

Waayyyy better now than the muave with pink and white flowers that it left factory with.. (We bought our '88 model in 2003, refurbished interior in 2005)

[CampUnger]

We just got our gaucho cushions redone. I got the foam from 2 different stores. The firm 4" half price at Joann Fabrics. and the 2" large piece that coveres it from foam factory for about $56. The fabric I got at Hobby Lobby also on sale. In regards to an upholsterer, we used the same one a local good quality family owned furniture store uses. He only charged $135 to cut the foam and resew the new cushions. We gave him the original to use as a pattern. The other parts of the gaucho that are cloth and not so easily removed, I will wrap in batting, and staple a new fabric over it. I priced just the cushion from a store in fort wayne and it was going to be about $550 if I supplied the fabric and they supplied the foam. More if I brought them the foam. The way we chose to do it helped someone local, and only cost us about $350. Still a good bit of money, but not as much, especially if you add at least 2 round trips in gas, Fort Wayne is about 50 miles away and I only get 11MPG...lol Also saving money by doing the armrests and the front ourselves.
Good Luck....we are still learning on this too!

[TeachOnRoad]

Originally Posted by willbrackman

Just purchased a 1995 30' Classic Limited with an atrocious white-on-white front sofa bed (gaucho?) and a dinette to match. Cushions are either shot or weren't much good to begin with.

We want to get the sofa bed and dinette re-upholstered with a modern looking, quality fabric and new, stiffer, cushions.

Does anybody have any advice on where to get this work done in the Pacific Northwest? Also, any ball park estimates on price? I realize price can be all over the board based on material choice, but just having a starting point would be helpful.

We'll be in Arizona in the winter so I guess that we could have the work done there too. So, any recommendations in Arizona?

Thanks

Hi! I am in Oregon, and am having Countryside Interiors in Junction City redo my two gauchos in my 1964 Overlander. They specialize in such.

[Lifeisahiway]

Originally Posted by adwriter73

In Dallas

What is the name of the place in Dallas?

Thanks!

[Bill M.]

We had the gaucho done in brown vinyl (to match the dog) for about 500. I thinki we used to old cushions but am not sure. I just screwed it back in when it came back from the shop. My suggestion is to change the stupid piece of OSB on the front of the drawer under the sofa with plywood before you get it covered. Almost impossible to re attach the OSB to the drawer front. Look it all over and make any design updates before sending it out for covering. I do not think there is anything specalized about the recovering. We just went to a local shop that some of the neighbors told us they had good service from.

[Aage]

Originally Posted by Bill M.

We had the gaucho done in brown vinyl (to match the dog) for about 500.

[Ibenoverland]

Originally Posted by Condoluminum

Couch much easier to shop for if you disassemble and remove it, which can be done with a couple wrenches and a screwdriver, plus a couple strong bodies.. "A couple hundred" is ballpark for both material cost and labor cost. We spent 600 on labor including new high density foam padding and cleanup, and $320 for heavy upholstery fabric from large fabric superstore in CA, which we still had to order from samples...

Waayyyy better now than the muave with pink and white flowers that it left factory with.. (We bought our '88 model in 2003, refurbished interior in 2005)

I am having trouble finding how to detach the main seat and back of the gaucho, I don't see any bolts or screws to remove it from the wood or even from the aluminum frame? Any thoughts
Thanks Ben

[Myjayred]

Originally Posted by Autumn

Where in Texas?? We want to have ours redone but haven't had any luck with upholsters. I'm in San Antonio.

Did you find anywhere to have this done in Central Texas?

Thank you in advance

[55AS]

Contact local shops that do automobile or boat upholstery. RV furniture is no different.

[Ajlawcz]

We are in Arizona and wanting to get our gaucho reupholstered as well. I have found an upholstery place that I used for my home called Baca Upholstery which is excellent, but not sure how to get the sofa to them. The other place I've used was Panchos Auto upholstery, they said they could do it as well. The thing I'm concerned about is right now when I pull it out it's not even close to being level, it could be the old foam,but the back pieces seem to be below the seat pieces. Does this seem as though the mechanism needs help? And the other thing I had seen was someone put drawers where the drop down storage door was.