I have an Ekornes Stressless recliner (leather) about 10 years old. The chair itself is in great condition, but the leather on the armrests is cracked and torn; too many sharp elbows for too many years, I suppose.
I would like to repair, recover, or replace the armrests. Any suggestions?
For your information:
I have emailed Ekornes. No answer for over one week now!
I have contacted my local dealer. No help there!
I have contacted a local leather repair service, who may prove up to the job. They will give me an estimate in a week or so.
So far I have not been able to find an upholstery shop that will recover the armrests in leather. Everybody wants to do the job in fabric rather than leather.
Help!
I don't know
what the armrests look like on your chair (maybe you could indicate a model name or number, and I could find a photo online) -- but would it be possible to get pieces of appropriate leather, cut it into the right shape, and glue those pieces onto the existing armrests over the torn material ? Or would that be too unfinished-looking ?
Can the armrests or their leather parts be removed from the chair and taken or sent to an upholsterer for re-covering ?
Chair Type
Thanks for taking the time to respond.
My chair looks like the one at the Ekornes site below. It is probably not this model because it is so old, but it looks very similar.
http://www.ekornes.com/us/stressless/stressless_recliners/stressless_-at...
Yes, the arms are removeable and I have carted them around to several uphostery shops without success.
If all else fails, I suppose that I could find a similar leather and make loose-fittting armrest covers. I would rather do that than glue something onto the armrests. In fact, I may make/get armrest covers even if the repair guy (if he shows up) can make a decent repair job.
Nothing should be impossible
I used to sell ekorness and have always found them to be very helpful.
If you have your original receipt you need to see if the leather is paloma or indigo
The arms a re screw fitted from the underside and once removed a good upholstrer will be able to reverse enginer the cover.
It is just a matter for you to get leather you are happy with.
Last resort is for to go through authorised dealers of ekorness to order arms but i would have a word with an upholstrer as a backup plan.
Repair Made: not great, but good!
Thanks for your post.
I went to an authorised dealer and they supposedly contacted Ekornes to try to order replacement arms (or at least obtain a quote for repalcement arms). Ekornes would not quote a price for arm replacement according to the dealer; presumeably due to the age of the chair.
I also emailed Ekornes direct and have received no answer in over 3 weeks.
I removed the arms and carted them around to several upholstery shops. I only found one who would agree to to the job, but he wanted a ridulous price and assured me that the color match would probably not be acceptable to me.
Perhaps, I should have shopped around and bought the leather myself then taken the leather and armrests to an upholstery shop, but I didn't
I ended up going with a leather repair guy, who did an acceptable repair job (but far from great) at a price that was not out of sight. Now we will see if the repair job holds up. If not I will go shopping for leather and take it to an upholstery shop next time.
Thanks again.
Ekornes will sell new armrests, but not all styles and colors are available, as you have discovered. Many upholsterers don't like to sew leather; it is a specialty skill and best done with an industrial machine made for sewing leather, so most avoid or do not sew leather at all. They must purchase leather in large pieces or full hides and it will not match, So a small job is not cost effective.
Many Ekornes armrest designs are harder to sew than a t-shaped seat cushion with piping and take as long or longer to do. Small items have a lot of tight curves, which are slow and fussy to sew; Some Ekornes designs are actually made of a pillow inside a pillow, fitted together in a certain order, so the upholsterer has to reverse engineer it. which can be a challange. This is why the labor is expensive for what seems like a small thing. A pair of armrests in a simple "hot dog" design can take an hour or 2 to do, while a very complicated pair can take twice that.
Check with your local leather repair professional. Some will sew new ones and recolor the leather to match (this is what I do). Some will know an upholsterer who can sew the armrests, then the leather repair pro can do the recoloring. The whole recliner has usually faded with age or become darker from use, so the only way to get leather the right color is to have it custom colored. There is a DIY process for recoloring, but look for a supplier that will customize a kit for you.
FYI: The reason most armrests need to be replaced is cracking and color loss due to body oils, which rot leather and accumulate over time, so damage accellerates exponentially with age. Also affects headrests.
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