Sofa King Awesome!

Chelle and her friend Dana found this sofa in a thrift store in Memphis, around 2006 or so. Dana bought it for $200. It’s a Henredon Dorothy Draper style sofa, circa early 1960’s.

Chelle had her old web design studio bizz at the time and Dana’s daughter started college at the W in Columbus, and needed a fridge for her dorm. Dana traded Chelle the sofa for a small fridge she had in her studio.

It sat in the lobby of her studio, until she closed her bizz in 2007. We had no room for it in our house at the time, and not wanting to part with it, we hauled it to Union, Ms and gave it to her mom. It sat in her living room and got a lot of use for the next 10 or so years. We had always wanted to get it reupholstered, because it’s a great old sofa and pretty valuable. They don’t make them like this anymore. Tufted back, 8 way hand tied springs, feather and down wrapped cushions, scalloped skirting. It’s a work of art.

Around 2017, Chelle’s mom had tired of it and wanted to replace it, so we hauled it out to her garage and threw a tarp over it. Her garage is an old open front, separate from her house, so the sofa sat in it, somewhat exposed to everything but the rain, for the next 5 years. Her mom wanted her garage space back, so on one of our visits, we decided to just drag the darn thing out to the road.

While we sat on the porch staring at it, Chelle listed it on Facebook Marketplace, for free, if someone would just come get it. We couldn’t stand the thought of it going to the dump. We had no responses throughout the day, and the forecast was calling for rain. We called around to see if we could hire someone to haul it to Coldwater for us, or rent a truck, but that wasn’t very… ummm.. economical.

So we sat… and stared at it… on the side of the road. At the time, I was about 3 months post double hip surgery, and really tired of fooling with the damned thing. I knew Chelle didn’t really want to part with it.

So I decided we’d go home, and make the 3-1/2 hour drive back down the next weekend with the trailer, and haul the damned thing back home. Chelle and I dragged the behemoth back into the garage before the rain set in.

We returned the next weekend, wrapped it like a mummy in visqueen and saran wrap, hauled it back to Coldwater, and parked it under the carport. Where it sat. Covered with tarp. Taking up space. For the past year. Waiting for the mom and pop upholsterer we contacted to work his way to us on his list.
Fortuitously, the same week we bought our new Telluride, the upholsterer called, and was ready to start to work on it. What you all see above, was the result of all that.

Fortunately for us, Frank is a true craftsman, practicing this dying art, who had worked in his father’s upholstery shop since the age of 6. His skills are nothing less than spectacular, and we are – FINALLY! – beside ourselves with joy with this old sofa.

• His labor, fabric, and materials: $1,100.
• My labor, headache, and general dealing, with this pain-in-the-ass couch: PRICELESS!