Fair features upholstery experts

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (WLFI) - Is the furniture in your house looking tired and in need of a makeover?
In this week's HELEN Magazine segment we'll tell you where you can learn how to repurpose with what you already have.

For over a decade now, Kim Newell has been running a one-woman upholstery shop, transforming old furniture and antiques into elegant pieces of art.

"I do a lot of family pieces, pieces that have been handed down and have special meaning for people, sentimental value," Newell said. 

She said she enjoys give new purpose to antiques. She said the quality of today's manufactured pieces isn't even comparable to the furniture of old.

"The new furniture, even the high-end furniture is made with lower grade wood, a lot of staples. The old furniture is held together with dowels and hard wood. They have heavy springs, hand-tied springs," she said. 

But she said like many upholsters, learning the skill is a continuous process.

"The antique furniture that is covered in leather that may be stuffed with horse hair that takes the traditional techniques that's kind of a dying art nowadays," she said. 

That's why she is promoting a two-day Upholstery Fair. It's aimed at Do-it-Yourselfers who want to learn from experts from around the country. The workshop is sponsored by the Wild Bird Shop and will be held on its grounds. It features 14 classes over two days--from beginners to advanced.

"They range from the basic upholstery classes and my footstool class would be geared towards beginners and then we have some more advanced classes from master upholsters," she said. 

The Upholstery Fair will be held July 23rd and 24th on the grounds of the Wild Bird Shop and Kim's Upholstery Shop.
 

For more information call Kim at (765) 497-7772. Or follow this link http://www.kimsupholsteryshop.com/contact.php