Upholstery guidance

[Donna D.]

I ended up ordering a total of 20 yards of upholstery for my trailer. That was WAAAY more than what ETI requested. BUT, I love the fabric and found out while I was looking that upholstery fabric often has a one year manufacturing date. In other words, you can only buy it for one year! I wanted enough fabric, that if an entire cushion needed to be reupholstered (or two), I'd have fabric to match... not some bizzaro contrasting color or needing to replace ALL the upholstery. BUT, you'd better love what you buy if you follow my lead because it can cost a bunch of money. I have ZERO regrets.

[Kent]

For me picking the formica and building off of that is working for me. I have formica down to 3 choices and have flooring down to two choices, with samples of those in hand.

On Sailrite web site you have ability to select type of fabric and click on multiple color ranges such as tan, brown black etc. This will narrow your search down to fewer colors in color range you want.

Colors on computer monitor will vary from actual product. I think it best to have samples in hand and will have some Sunbrella samples to take with me when I visit the factory.

I know for sure I will have custom formica and flooring, but fabric is up in the air and will not know until I'm in demo 5.0TA with all my samples.

Originally Posted by parfsten

After wading through the ETI options sheet and making most of the selections I am wanting.... I then logged onto Sailrite and just stared at the screen.... omg... where to begin!! I'm a bit challenged when it comes to fabrics - took band instead of home economics... So, I know the color is up to me - I like the lighter colors but wonder if cleaning is more of an issue than with darker colors. Any directions on fabrics - I assume I start with RV Upholstery - other than color what should I be considering...?

[Starbrightsteve]

I'm amazed at how some folks struggle to decide on fabric. We did decide to choose custom upholstery. We walked into the fabric Barn and 10 minutes later walked out with one fabric for tha valences and another for the cushions. $7.50 a yard ! It will probably cost more to mail it than the fabric cost. It's done!

[Jim Bennett]

Originally Posted by Starbrightsteve

We walked into the fabric Barn and 10 minutes later walked out with one fabric for tha valences and another for the cushions. $7.50 a yard ! It will probably cost more to mail it than the fabric cost. It's done!

You took all the fun out of it with it getting it done that fast.

[Jim Bennett]

Just for the fun of it, this is our fabric, Danegeld Chestnut. Lisa is a big paisley fan. I plan on flying mine out to Escape in December.

[tractors1]

Originally Posted by Starbrightsteve

I'm amazed at how some folks struggle to decide on fabric. We did decide to choose custom upholstery. We walked into the fabric Barn and 10 minutes later walked out with one fabric for tha valences and another for the cushions. $7.50 a yard ! It will probably cost more to mail it than the fabric cost. It's done!

Wifey took 4-5 weeks. I don't do artistic stuff, so no problem!

[StanLewis]

We're with Glenn - custom formica, flooring, and upholstery are three of the few options we didn't choose. Took us about 10 seconds to decide that the bland, brown, shouldn't show dirt too badly stock materials were fine. Bought a dirt brown tow vehicle too. Besides, we plan on spending most of our waking time outside, not inside. Of course, we spent a ton of time and energy studying other options, so it probably comes out even in the end. Nice to have the choices.

[Jim Bennett]

Originally Posted by StanLewis

Besides, we plan on spending most of our waking time outside, not inside.

This has always been our style, and will continue to be. However, on our last trip where we got rain on 16 of 18 days, with lots of rain many days, we spent more time inside than planned on. A new reality for just the two of us. If we were with more people, we would likely have put a tarp up over a fire.

Not that having custom finishing would make any difference though, we just like doing stuff like that.

[gbaglo]

Originally Posted by Jim Bennett

This has always been our style, and will continue to be. However, on our last trip where we got rain on 16 of 18 days, with lots of rain many days, we spent more time inside than planned on.

I guess watching upholstery beats watching TV.

[dmdunca44]

Originally Posted by Jim Bennett

Just for the fun of it, this is our fabric, Danegeld Chestnut. Lisa is a big paisley fan. I plan on flying mine out to Escape in December.

I'm also a paisley lover. Is that a Sailrite fabric? Or another?

[Jim Bennett]

Originally Posted by gbaglo

I guess watching upholstery beats watching TV.

You missed this part of my post.

Originally Posted by Jim Bennett

Not that having custom finishing would make any difference though, we just like doing stuff like that.

[Jim Bennett]

Originally Posted by dmdunca44

I'm also a paisley lover. Is that a Sailrite fabric? Or another?

It is another brand. It looks to be a tough woven fabric. The folks at Jo-Ann said it would do great, and that others have used it to redo RV cushions.

https://www.joann.com/richloom-studi...t/1378363.html

[Dave&Kathie]

When we were deciding on upholstery, ETI recommended Sailrite (they ship to Canada). They do not make their own fabric but carry all the major brands. Dave said as long as the fabric was rated for outdoors or marine (like Sunbrella) he was good with it. It's not that cheap but anyone that knows Sunbrella quality knows it will last a long time and hold up to a lot of abuse. The brand of the pattern we picked was Geobella, same quality as Sunbrella. They have a great website with videos of most of the fabric (helpful to get an idea of the scale of the pattern). It's easy to get samples. I agree with Donna, you need to make the formica decision along with the fabric. The cushions all have zippers and vinyl on the back. Of course Sailrite might not have what you want - Donna had a very specific picture in mind and we did spend weeks looking. If you've ever seen Ten Forward, it's beautiful. I think the upholsterer asks for way too much fabric - I had at least 4 yards left over. I made some big pillows and still have tons left. Good luck, it's
all good!

Happy trails,
Kathie (and Dave, who spent the day winterizing the trailer when we'd much rather be camping!)

PS Jim & Lisa - love your fabric!

[Rossue]

Really liked your Mai Tai Daisy Kathie; for those who like paisley here is another option from Geobella- called Anastasia Peacock.

[War Eagle]

FYI, you don't always have to double the yardage for a pattern fabric. If you e-mail ETI the code number of a pattern fabric you are considering, they will look it up on their end and let you know if they can make it work with just the standard 6.1 yards or if you need to double it.

[War Eagle]

Originally Posted by Rossue

Really liked your Mai Tai Daisy Kathie; for those who like paisley here is another option from Geobella- called Anastasia Peacock.

Anastasia Peacock was one we strongly considered and ordered a swatch, then decided against it. That was a while back, but I believe our rationale at the time was that the paisley pattern was larger than we expected and worried that it might look awkward on the narrow window valances. But don't hold me to that. If interested, order a swatch and check it out for yourself. I still think it's an attractive pattern.

[Jim Bennett]

Originally Posted by War Eagle

Anastasia Peacock was one we strongly considered and ordered a swatch, then decided against it. That was a while back, but I believe our rationale at the time was that the paisley pattern was larger than we expected and worried that it might look awkward on the narrow window valances. But don't hold me to that. If interested, order a swatch and check it out for yourself. I still think it's an attractive pattern.

If the worry is the valances and a large print, you can pick out a second fabric.

[float5]

Originally Posted by float5

Sailrite is often used because it will hold up to condensation. There are Escape owners who have ordered it in Canada so as to save quite a bit on shipping. Maybe they will post.

Whoops! I meant to say "Sunbrella." Believe I bought it from Sailrite.

[blhvet]

Well, I had to sign off on my build sheet today so I guess all decisions are final. As so many did, I went through so many websites and ordered so many samples that the lady at the post office was starting to ask questions! After all of that, I ended up buying a fabric relatively locally and shipping it today. (I was pleasantly surprised - it was only $25 through Canada Post and they said it would be there in 5 days.) A couple of thought and comments:

I came across many outdoor fabrics that said they weren't recommended for indoor use, so I was reluctant to order them. Would this be because of off-gassing??

If budget is at all a concern, there is a huge variation! Since many of the websites were in the US and I would have had to have paid exchange, the price range of the "finalists" I was considering ranged from $9.95 to over $70 per metre!

Regarding flooring options, I was a bit surprised when I got the form today to sign off on that option - it basically stated that if the flooring was damaged during construction and wasn't "easily repairable", then Escape wasn't responsible. It also said if there were any aspects of flooring that made installation more difficult, they could charge me $100 more. What would that be?? It's all sheet vinyl.

Just to throw a few more websites into the mix, I also looked at fabric.com, decorativefabricsdirect.com, and thelogfurniturestore.com.

In the end, my decision kind of came down to the best "combination" of flooring, countertop, and fabric. Since the 17B can be a little dark inside, I knew I wanted something nice and bright for the fabric. I have 3 dogs, and I agree with the comments that lighter solid fabrics will likely show stains.

My computer is giving me grief - I'll try to post a picture of my choices a little later.

PS: Does anyone know if Jackie from Pioneer Building Centre in Chilliwack is away? I've been emailing her for a week and haven't heard anything back.

[Mary F]

Originally Posted by parfsten

I'd love to see photos of your upholstery choices - would really help to see some on the cushions.

There are some pics in the It's Friday--the Classics thread. Takes awhile to go through them, but lots of different approaches.

Here's mine... It's indoor/outdoor. Ordered from Fabric.com