By JEAN PRESCOTT
jtprescott@sunherald.com
Many of us are still trying to put permanent roofs over our heads, it’s true, but whatever your roof – shingles, metal, blue tarp – you’re going to need something to sit on, something to eat on, a place to stash whatever belongings you managed to save.
That’s where three generations of upholsterers and a woman with an eye for “classy” fabrics come in.
They have ideas to burn and furniture-rescue tips to share that won’t bankrupt your recovery budget.
“Don’t make a hasty decision to throw something away,” says Peggy Ryland, owner of Classy Coverups in Gulfport. “You want to hang onto pieces you can do something with.”
Echoing that sentiment is Valerie Cushman of Biloxi who, with her mom, Linda, her aunt Vicki Henley and grandmother, Evelyn Meers, own and operate EJM Upholstery on Howard Avenue.
“I had a really nice sofa,” Valerie says, “custom, very heavy,” but during Katrina windows came out of her home, the fabric was ruined, so it just seemed easier to toss it. “Now I wish I had saved it because many pieces of furniture do not have the same quality construction they did 10 years ago.”
Linda Cushman agrees that it is better to recycle things in this day and age, and she says, “Salvage companies should be flocking to this area just to try to save a few things out of these piles of rubble.”
Many items, like Valerie’s sofa, can be torn down to the frames, treated for mold, reglued, even reupholstered and updated in terms of style.
If you’re starting from the frame up, check carefully for mold and inspect for cracks and separations. Next you need to decide which way to go with support and stuffing: springs, down, foam, a combination. Ask a qualified upholsterer to guide you. A good one will ask you what you expect from the piece and point you in the direction to achieve that end.
Style from Peggy
Next comes covering, and that’s where the fabric guru enters the picture. She says microfiber (“it looks like suede”) is a quite durable choice that comes in virtually every color, “and chenille is still really, really popular” and far tougher than you might imagine from the textured finish. For durability’s sake, it’s probably best to save silk for drapes where it “really pops.”
In the matter of color, greens and blues in softer shades emerge as the most popular. Darker shades of navy, burgundy and green “are out.”
“You also can find great buys at thrift stores,” says Ryland, who lost her own home to Katrina but has picked up interim pieces at just such emporiums. “Be sure the pieces are heavy, though, and don’t rock. The heavier the better. In fact, if you can easily lift one end (of a prospective sofa) with one hand, it probably isn’t heavy enough.”
Look for bargains, she says, especially in things like dining chairs: “You can recover two seats with less than one yard of fabric.”
By all means, save the little somethings that might have meaning for you, things like the Chinese screen Ryland uncovered near the site of her destroyed home. It stands in one of her business workrooms, just waiting for her to decide what to do with it next.
Advice from Linda
How long is it going to take to replicate what you had before? Linda Cushman’s business, “as of today (has) an eight-week lead time, before we can begin another job,” but “once we have the piece, most sofas take a week of work to complete.” Chairs, depending on the difficulty of the style, usually are done in three days.
“And everyone is on a first come, first served basis,” she says. “We don’t like to accept furniture until we are ready to begin work on it,” but she says she has a list of names and jobs set down in chronological order.
“Right now most all the upholsterers on the Coast are so slammed they would prefer that the pieces are dropped off to them,” Linda says. “Right now… it would be difficult for us to send someone out on a job.”
She suggests people trust their own judgment about furniture.
“Some antiques (these days, that’s 50 years old) are valuable only if it is a family piece – it’s valuable to you,” and you should consider restoring it.
“One of our clients had a baby bed that belonged to a great-grandmother, and when her son and daughter-in-law had their first child, she chose to refinish the bed,” says Linda. “For safety reasons we had to remove years of layered-on paint, but she wanted to use it in her home when the grandchild visited.”
‘Tricks’ from Valerie
Linda’s daughter Valerie clearly has sight beyond that most of us have, and she shared a long list of ideas for ways to use salvaged items. We include some, below; look for others at the Sun Herald Web site.
Take a salvaged window and screw legs into the four corners. Have glass cut to fit, 1/4-inch or thicker, and place it over the window for an interesting end table.
Large garden urns can be topped with pieces of granite countertop for an interesting outdoor or indoor table.
Pieces of wrought iron gating or fencing can be hung on the wall for one-of-a-kind art or above a bed for a headboard.
Furniture that’s sound but has permanent water marks can be salvaged. Try painted-on faux finishes (wood-grain, maybe marble) or go crazy with a Mary Engelbreight-style treatment. Ask an artist friend to help, or do it yourself.
Salvaged tiles can be used for trivets. Enough of them might cover a scarred table top.
Wrought iron corners can be mounted to the wall and topped with glass for shelves. Or thread wooden poles through the openings for a neat towel bar.
If you’ve seen the Katrina memorial at the Biloxi Town Green, you will realize that even the most odd groups of salvaged items in the hands of a visual artist can be turned into wonderful works of art, free-standing or in a shadowbox in your home.
