I told him we could have it reupholstered.
I acquired this old sofa from my mother-in-law. She said her mother-in-.law had given it to her when she got married, but she was downsizing. I thought she was just getting rid of it because it was ugly. I’m sure that in its heyday it was quite a lovely sofa, but horsehair upholstery went out in the fifties, and I didn’t like it. I remembered sitting on my grandmother’s old horsehair sofa. It picked so badly that I had to have a sheet under me. I could never figure out how my grandmother could sleep on it. The first thing I did, was put a call out to all my friends. I wanted to know if anyone knew of a reupholstering service in our area. If I could find a reupholstering shop in our area, I could have the horsehair removed and have a comfortable material put on the sofa. My husband thought he would never see the sofa again when he moved out of his parents. He took one look at it when his mom dropped it off and groaned. He asked if we couldn’t give it back, and I said no. I told him we could have it reupholstered. By getting rid of the sawdust stuffing and the horsehair upholstery, we could have a beautiful new sofa. He looked doubtful, but he agreed to have it done. Two months later, and more money than what it would have cost for a new sofa, our sofa was being delivered. It really was nice, and it was comfortable to relax on.