Reupholster or Replace My Norwalk Sofa?

14 years ago

We have a Norwalk sofa we bought 6 years ago from a store I trust(ed?) in Boston. I know that 8 way hand tied springs are the top of the line construction method for upholstered furniture and it's what I went looking for, but was having trouble finding something in a shape we liked with the right construction and blah blah blah ended up taking Circle Furniture's word for it that this was a really well made sofa despite being S springs? drop in springs? Who remembers?

Almost from the very beginning I found the seat cushions too soft. I thought they gave far too much, much more than the sofa in the store and much more than expected especially after I discussed firmness with the saleswomen. The store actually sent a furniture repair guy out to look at the sofa and he said it was fine, nothing was wrong.

Anyway, now it's six years later, the fabric is showing some wear, the middle seat cushion especially has a serious dip, the back cushions don't hold their shape particularly well and all in all I am not amused. But when I lift up a seat cushion and press on the body of the sofa itself, it feels firm, not saggy. The sofa is just the right size and shape for the space, so I'm not anxious to try to replace it if it's in fundamentally good shape, even though I realize that good quality reupholstering is generally not any cheaper than buying a new, good quality sofa.

So, here's the question (yes, we've actually been working up to one). Can I assume that despite the non-top of the line innards, the sofa is basically decent construction and that I will be fine if I get it reupholstered with instructions to the upholstery place to make the cushions nice and firm? Or do I really need a new sofa?

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Comments (4)

lindac
14 years ago
If you will be getting rid of it any way....strip it down and have a look for yourself at the innards.
freethinker99
14 years ago
Marcia you need new seat cushions. And this sofa may come with a 10 year cushion warranty. Contact the store and tell them you want new cushions and ask for some better ones. The cushions you have are probably 1.8 lb cores with a softer ILD. Ask for 2.5 lb with maybe 24 ILD It doesn't matter what the tech says tell the you want new cushions.

Ask for new back cushions as well.

It could be that the saggy cushions resulted on wear of the fabric as well.
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bobismyuncle
14 years ago
It's been a while since the local Norwalk store closed, and that was after Norwalk factory was having problems with their loans getting called. But when the store was open, Norwalk would replace cushion cores for about the cost of shipping. There was no way I could even buy the foam for what they charged for replacements. Worth a preliminary check.
john Vet
2 years ago
I had a Highland leather sofa for several years and the cushions sort of lost their shape and they were covered under warranty..I thought. I called them and they said they had restructured the company of something such as that and new cushions were $1,000.00 so I declined. I ended up giving the sofa to a son and told him if he got tired of it to let me know and I'd take it back.

We bought a Barrington-Young to replace it and it was a huge disappointment in that the cushions wouldn't hold up, and the leather wasn't the quality of Norwalk.

To make a long story short, he gave it to his son who allowed dogs to crawl all over it, scratching and destroying the leather and after the grandson finished with it, he wanted to sell it for $500.00 on Craigslist. I wish I had kept it and had it refurbished since the frame was of such high quality.