Project Overview: Sitting Room - Sewell, NJ

Home design is always a balancing act between the static elements of traditional architecture and the evolving nature of our lifestyles. The formal sitting room is one of those anachronistic spaces that is still a common feature in house plans despite the large-scale movement towards open, multi-purpose communal areas. By and large they are cut off from the main living area of the home, and many homeowners struggle to give them a purpose. This project is just one example of how tailoring a room to the needs and style of the homeowner can bring it back to life. 

This previously neglected space was remade as a comfortable study. A  focal point for the room was provided by a custom built-in to display collected items and family mementos. The client requested two work stations with built-in power for laptop computers. A central cabinet conceals a slide-out printer shelf as well as storage for additional supplies. Simple faux-paneling details were added to the walls and blended  using a deep stone gray, adding architectural interest to balance the built-in and highlighting the brass sconces and artwork. Custom draperies in an updated floral print lend a casual softness, while the gold rug adds vibrant color and textural interest. The client's existing sofa set was retained as a neutral backdrop and updated with fresh accessories.

 

Save the Sofas!

To pick up where we left off, let’s talk about why we at Langmore House love reupholstering your old furniture.

I don’t have to tell you that new furniture can be really expensive, but it might come as a surprise to know that you are getting a lot less for your money than you would have fifteen years ago. I'll save the rant about the decline of the American furniture industry (you can read  this article if you're interested) and instead focus on some advantages of not buying new.

The cost of reupholstery may at first seem high. A 90” 3-cushion sofa might average around $1,200 not including 15-20 yards of fabric, and a good upholstery-grade cloth will easily run upwards of $20 per yard. Meanwhile, you could go to a big-box furniture store and get a similar looking sofa for under $1,000. If the price tag is the only thing driving your decision then sure, the choice is obvious. But if you look a little deeper at the numbers and consider the value of your dollar, it’s a whole different story.

How did that cheap sofa get so cheap? Is Raymour&Flanigan making less money so they can offer you, their valued customer, a better deal? Absolutely not. In fact, even if you buy that sofa on sale and negotiate an extra 10% with the salesman, they’re still making a hefty profit. So what gives? Quality, that's what.

Strip off the cheap polyester fabric and you’ll find even cheaper foam that breaks down quickly under hard use, leaving the cushions flat and misshapen after a few short years. The frame is made of low grade lumber, poorly jointed with flimsy nails and glue. On the bright side, when you have to throw it out in five years those cheap lightweight materials will make it a breeze to move!

Let’s consider your furniture the way that we might value an item of clothing by price-per-wear. We'll be optimistic and say you get seven years out of the cheap sofa for an investment of $100 per year. But what if, instead of buying the $700 throwaway, you take that old sofa from your mother’s house that she’s been trying to unload and have it reupholstered in a stylish, durable fabric for $20/yard. At $1,500 it’s more than double the cost of the cheap sofa, but the difference is that the older sofa is actually worth every penny you spend on it.

Mom’s castoff is 15 years old, bench-made in America with a hardwood frame and spring-down cushions. It's sturdy and far more comfortable than its cheap counterpart with the stiff poly-fill cushions. That sofa, reupholstered, will easily last another 15 years -- more than double the life of the cheap one for the same annual investment, and you’ll probably get tired of the fabric long before you have to worry about it being worn out. If you can afford the upfront cost, you'll find you have virtually unlimited options of color, pattern, and texture. Even better, your money pays to keep local upholstery craftspeople in business and diverts big items from the landfill. 

Wondering if that old piece in the basement is worth saving? We'd be happy to help you do the math!

Heirloom sofa (freshly reupholstered in Kravet velvet) vs. disposable sofa (available at your local Raymour&Flanigan)

Upholstery Roundup

It's been a good week for upholstery at Langmore House.

We're big proponents of giving new life to old pieces of furniture and this is a classic example. This Ethan Allen sofa was 20 years old and looking pretty tired, but it had great bones -- a solid hardwood frame and ridiculously heavy and sturdy spring bed. 

 We convinced our reluctant client that it was worth saving, and the payoff is a gorgeous piece of American-made furniture that's far better quality than anything you can find in furniture stores today. Here is the finished product at the upholstery shop, ready for delivery to our client's new home.

Brand new, a sofa of this quality would easily run upwards of $4k. This was done for less than half that number, and now it's ready for another 20 years.

 

Earlier this week we also delivered a skirted bench fresh from one of our custom furniture makers in North Carolina. It's the finishing touch on another client's bedroom refresh, and upholstered in a sweet Schumacher print to match her custom bedding. Check out the seaming on the seat and perfect pattern match! We were sad to see this piece leave the office, but it was a nice reminder that it's the little details that make all the difference.  

Blog Life

Welcome to the Langmore House Current page -- an outlet to share our latest work, project developments, product finds, tips and musings. Sure, there’s no shortage of other blogs, websites, TV shows, and magazines to provide endless ideas and inspiration, but our goal is to go a step further and give you a behind-the-scenes peek at the professional world of improving your living space.

Why?

No signs of life in this living room.

Because we’re all living and working in the real world where there’s far more to design and decorating than paint swatches, fabric samples, and catalog pages. Once you decide to take the plunge and start making changes to your home it becomes immediately clear how complicated and confusing the process can be. We deal with those challenges every day. The amount of work and time behind those glossy photos doesn’t get much press, and many people find themselves totally unprepared for the stresses and emotions that a renovation can stir up. And for those who have never worked with an interior designer, it’s not always clear what we do or how we do it.

So, what do you do?

We’ve always considered this a fairly simple question (I'm an interior designers...I, uh, design interiors) but years of experience have revealed that ‘what’ we do doesn’t even begin to explain how and why we do it. We meet a lot of potential clients who seem to expect that we will have a precise vision of what a room should look like from the moment we step inside, and that for a nominal fee we can describe that glorious vision of their future home like a kind of decorating fortune teller. If only it were that simple!

That initial consultation is kind of like a first date -- it’s all about getting to know each other to decide if the relationship is going to work. Understanding your lifestyle and habits is critical if we’re going to create a space that looks and functions just right for your unique needs and style, and like dating, this takes trust. Our clients are opening their homes and lives to someone who will notice all the things that are worn out, outdated, and sentimental, and then asking them to make changes. It’s why we consider this a process, not a product. It’s also why a website with a few pretty pictures of our finished projects doesn’t really say a lot about what we do at Langmore House.


This blog is a place to show you what happens between the first date and the photo shoot, and to talk about what it takes to get there. It’s not always pretty, but it’s never dull.