what a great find at the curbside. We've been setting the stuff we can't sell by the trash can, and the guys are getting it and putting it in the front of their truck to go sell, that way they take all the wall paper and extra trash we have without complaining. One person's trash is another person's treasure, that's for sure. I put an ad on craigslist for a pendant light and three acrylic crystal gold rimmed lights. dh and I both agreed no one would want the acrylic lights. I thought it was glass but when we took it down we saw it was acrylic, but I had already put the ad on craigslist. someone drove 60 miles to buy all three of them for $10 today. I felt guilty taking their money, but I can use the money for my remodel, but I couldn't talk them into taking the two chandeleirs for free? Maybe they use the acrylic faceted beads for something, what do I know.

First, you can sell things on ebay for local pick up only (we just sold a settee that way). Also, you can make it the buyer's responsibility to arrange for shipping. Not sure about the value of that piece (it's very cool, though). I would suggest you check out how much those types of units are selling for on ebay. Do a search for eames, danish modern, etc., and you find plenty to give you ideas. The descriptions in furniture auctions are often very detailed re the condition of the piece, so that will help as well. Good luck.

Here are the tutorials I found especially helpful for THIS project relating to tufting and springs: Upholstery How To Tuft A Headboard - although the project is a headboard, the tutorial reminded me to allow extra fabric for the depth of the button hole! Krrb Presents A How-to on Adding Buttons to Upholstery with Tufting although i didn't follow her technique for tufting ( i wanted a much deeper looking tuft so i cut holes in my foam for the button to sit all the way inside more like kimsupholstery video ) but it was the first tutorial i found in all my searching showing how to tuft when you don't have a wooden frame to hold the button. she used muslin here, but i used a cotton ball. the back of my sofa had only burlap, so i doubled up on the cotton ball. :) Upholstery How To Tie Springs - this is another tutorial from kimsupholstery... i just needed to repair a couple springs, but this non-verbal tutorial shows all the steps on how the springs and support are constructed and i found it really helpful. i don't have a button press (Yet), so i cut circles and literally did a loose stitch around the outside, put the button in the middle and pulled the thread tight to cover my own buttons. i've never had any luck with the little button snap cover kits from fabric stores - maybe with really thin fabric, but who's upholstering with really thin fabric?! as for your questions... the ONLY sewing i had to do was the trim. it's actually double welt, not single piping. i made a giant continuous bias strip (for those of you who need bias strips and haven't tried the continuous method, i strongly urge you to give it a shot!!) and then used a double welt foot to sew the trim. but then the trim is just standalone and all the excess gets cut off. it looks like this (i didn't photograph the double welt from this project - this is from my first chair): on this particular piece, the fabric was stapled all around the edges in a little notch along the decoratively carved wood. then the trim was just glued on top of it to cover the staples. i did the same, though i used high temp hot glue. you can find a non-video tutorial on making double welt here: How To Make Double Welt Cord and here's a video tutorial on making the continuous bias strip. she used a very small piece of fabric but you'll get the idea. i needed 15 yards, so i used 3/4 yard of fabric and mine was 60" wide!! Continuous Bias Binding - 200" of binding from 1/2 yard of fabric! i thought about getting fancy and stapling the trim on (instead of cutting off the excess) and then using curve ease to attach all the fabric but i'm glad i stuck with how it was previously done. it was challenging enough just stapling it along all the curves. :) Seriously, if you don't have a compressor and pneumatic stapler, I wouldn't attempt something of this size. Even a chair with upholstered arms would be too much in my opinion. It could be that I just like my projects to move faster than molasses, and I want to retain the use of my fingers and arms. :) Try a smaller piece first, preferably one you aren't in love with or an inexpensive piece from goodwill. it's SO rewarding when it's done. the quote I got from our local upholstery shop was $650 not including the fabric. and i'm trying to upcycle a LOT of the furniture in our new home currently under construction. so i'm saving a ton of money doing it myself. that said, it wouldn't be worth the savings if i didn't enjoy doing it because it really is a huge time commitment. i hope you take the plunge and enjoy the process and the outcome! good luck. :) i'm not a pro at all - there are folks on the board who know a lot more than i do, but i'm happy to answer questions if i'm able to!

The wood legs may make them more rare, and with all that tech money in the Bay area looking for MCM furniture to go into the MCM homes there, one of those shops will buy them from you and reupholster. Good Luck. You never know until you try. I had a client who had paintings her uncle painted hung on her walls. She thought they were worth nothing. I sold the first painting for $250k off a photograph to a dealer on the coast. She had 8 more paintings after that. They're selling for $1,899 each on DWR http://www.dwr.com/product/saarinen-executive-chair-wood-volo-leather.do?sortby=ourPicks