FIRST Post !!!!

Welcome to the first Blog Post! Intoduction, to us. We are group of designers ranging from Architects, Interior Designers, Decorators, Upholsters, Drapery experts, and Construction Contractors who have banded together under a common passion of design and style. We believe that the creative core that move individuals and groups forward throught history has been design blended with craftsmenship and engineering. This site is the Upolstery division of The Design Group. Howard Todd is an educator, master upholsterer, as well as being an university and higher education administrator. Ok.. its actually me, Howard, talking.. All that puffery out of the way, I want to get to talk a bit about upholstery. So many ask WHY upholster when I can spend the same or less on a piece of new furniture? It's a good question, and there is always a place for new pieces. Honestly, and NO I am not selling you to get your business (our group has a strong principal of giving real answers and information) but furniture built in the past has better materials and will last longer. This isn't always the fault of the furniture makers, part is the the environment. Trees are harvested faster and have less of a density than the trees from the past. Also newer and faster techniques of frame making(the bones of your furniture) have substituted staples, which bind the wood from just the outside, for doweling and furniture glue which bonded the wood from the inside and joints. Also, you may have noticed new furniture feels comfortable, to a point, but does not have the depth of comfort. This is because the classic upholstering techniques of layering and building different materials from the frame up has been replaced by cardboard and foam. I am not knocking that at all. If you need short term furniture, its a good deal. If you want long term furniture, then you need to spend much more, have us create a piece from the frame up for you, or have a quality piece made a few years ago reupholstered. What I will be doing during this blog is adding pictures of projects and showing neat things that we are doing so you can join us in the excitement of transforming pieces. Feel free to add comments! Howard