Brian Blanton has devoted years of his life to restoring other people’s furniture. His love for reupholstering began more than a decade ago when he initially worked for an upholstery business. The amount of people coming to him personally to fix their pieces led him to eventually step out and create a business of his own, and thus began UPcycled UPholstery.
Located at 2506 Green Hill Rd. in Elgin, UPcycled UPholstery celebrates its fourth anniversary this month. Blanton upholsters everything from dining room chairs and custom cushions to headboards and window benches. He accepts orders from individuals as well as businesses and decorators. One of his larger orders included furniture from a Virginia wedding venue with more than 20 pieces in the bridal suite alone. The amount of time he has spent working on his craft has given him the ability to take on more challenging orders that allow him to tap into his creative side.
“They’re not all made the same, and when you do something [different] like that, that’s a lot of fun,” he said.
According to Blanton, the reasons people typically prefer to have their furniture reupholstered varies. Many times, it’s when they’re redecorating their house and want a new color scheme or want to repair fabric damaged by a pet. “It’s also not uncommon for someone to find something at a garage sale or Marketplace or a thrift store and have me redo it,” he said.
One of the most popular styles he sees in his orders is midcentury pieces, which Blanton said look great when redone and personalized. “Older furniture is oftentimes going to be quality, real wood. This is an industry where we reference ‘good bones’ all the time. Older stuff that’s solid wood can be brought back when we take it down to the frame, re-pad it and rebuild it up, and it’s like new again,” he said…