Michael’s Custom Upholstery

Michael did an AMAZING job on our antiquated dining room chairs! He had many fabric samples and ideas for improving the look of the seats. In the end I love the chairs 100x more now than I did when we first brought them home. Thanks again Michael for your excellent work!

Back in Jan. 2013, I bought a brand-​new Broyhill sectional sofa (see the «before» pic I uploaded as part of this review)…soon after I took delivery, I noticed that I started to get awful headaches, runny nose, breathing problems (overall pretty miserable). I’m chemically sensitive anyways, but turns out after much investigation and research, that my newly purchased sofa was made with petrol-​chemical based foam (industry standard) and coated with all kinds of toxic anti-​flame retardant chemicals as described in this article in the Chicago Tribune.
My prior sofa even had a «warning label» on the sofa indicating that it contained chemicals «known to cause cancer» (not kidding… I was stunned). So I decided I wanted to either buy a brand-​new «organic» (or «green») sofa — next to impossible around this area without paying a fortune… or re-​upholster my new sofa with all chemical-​free, organic materials and natural latex foam cushions. This was a task easier said than done. For months I called upholstery shops who either didn’t understand what I was trying to achieve, weren’t willing to use the materials that I selected or weren’t comfortable working with numerous new materials (like hemp fabric and natural latex cushions), etc… it was a daunting task finding someone I felt comfortable with, who was even willing to take on the job! Then I stumbled upon Michael’s Custom Upholstery after a Google and Unilocal search. During our first conversation Michael didn’t seem to think I was a granola-​eating hippy or crazy (or at least he didn’t show it ;-) for wanting a totally natural and chemical-​free sofa… especially after I emailed him pictures of the label «warning — may cause cancer» from my sofa. He seemed kind of surprised himself that the US would allow sofas made with cancer-​causing materials to be sold at all… only to used in the living rooms of families, day in and day out… but I digress. Michael was willing to work with me, listen to my ideas — and make a few of his own. Further, he was willing to accept delivery of all the organic materials that I chose (organic batting, hemp fabric, webbing, latex foam cushions, etc…) packages that were shipped right to his workshop in Chelmsford. As a side note, I definitely did my homework before I hired Michael. I called two of his prior customers and asked about the quality of his work and if they would use him again… both gave me an emphatic «yes’! They were very happy… so I felt confident that I found the right guy for the job.
During the reupholstering process, Michael offered some design suggestions… one of which I am SO glad I accepted… which was the addition of black piping around the seams of the sofa which really makes the sofa «pop». Also, he sent me periodic updates on the progress of the sofa (with some pics attached.) so that I could see what he was doing throughout the process… I thought that was a really nice «customer service» touch that I never expected (and didn’t ask for)…but he did it anyway.
My sofa is now complete and in my living room… it looks amazing (actually better than I expected!). The work looks awesome — really impeccable… this sofa is «show-​room quality» (and I really think it will last a very long time). Although Michael’s labor cost is definitely reasonable, a sofa of this quality, made with all organic materials will likely cost 2 – 3 times the cost of a regular, chemical-​laden sofa (if you add up all the materials, labor, etc…) but is much healthier for your indoor air quality and for me, a necessity for my quality of living, since I work out of my home most days, so it’s important for me to be surrounded by materials that won’t make me sick.(check out the before and after pics). Oh and as a side note, Michael has a great sense of humor and is a very nice guy — so that makes working with him easy and kind of fun!

The quality was fine but the business side of things: communication, timeliness and general customer service not up to par.

We had this small old couch that was in pretty tough shape on the exterior but the frame was solid. This couch was probably 50+ years old. We went to all the big name furniture stores looking for a replacement and could not find one for a reasonable price. Nor could we find one that looked the way we wanted it, not too mention most everything in the stores was cheaply made. Anyway, on to the review…
We saw Michale’s one day driving through Chelmsford Center and decided to give him a call. He came out to the house and gave us an estimate. It was a few weeks before he could pick it up and a few more weeks before he got it back to us. This was OK as we were not in a hurry. I think he is a one man operation and at the time had a lot of work in his shop.
The couch came out fantastic. It was only slightly more expensive than the ones we looked at in the stores. Of course that could be due to picking one of the most expensive fabrics!
I would highly recommend Michael’s. Not only is he good at what he does he is an absolute gentleman. Something you don’t get too often these days.