Is your sofa worth recovering? Or is it better to just throw it away and buy a new one? One of the factors to consider is the overall structural quality of your furniture even if it currently looks tired. We could classify the quality of sofas into three broad categories:
High Quality Sofas. They are definitely keepers! They combine comfort and elegance. They feature hardwood frames, well padded arms and backs, sprung (and sprung edged) seats, excellent cushioning, attention to detail, high quality fabrics. They are so well built that they last for many years. They are worth re-upholstering again and again. High end sofas are either custom built or purchased from high-end furniture retailers.
Medium Quality Sofas are are also worth re-upholstering. In fact, they can be made “better than new”. Their frames can generally be reinforced, their padding and cushioning improved or replaced, their webbing/springing reinforced or replaced, and fabric/or leather replaced with a better quality one.
Low quality sofas are not always worth re-upholstering. Cheap sofas are in most cases made out of average material (chipboard and pinewood frames, low-grade elastic webbing, low density foams, low quality fabrics, etc). In some cases, it is probably better to buy a new sofa or to have one custom made. However, if you are happy with the shape and size of your “cheap” sofa you can have it upgraded with improvements on the frames, support and padding. Also, you can choose any fabric you like making it look and feel like a high-end sofa!