Having Custom Upholstered Furniture Made In Your Own Fabric

You don't always have to limit your choices to the few fabrics that a particular furniture manufacturer might choose to make its upholstered furniture up in. Many major furniture manufacturers and furniture dealers offer a "C.O.M." option on some furniture styles. "C.O.M." means "customer's own material". Rarely, you might see a "C.O.F." notation which means "customer's own fabric". This is the same thing as C.O.M.

When you order upholstered furniture C.O.M., this means that you go out and buy your own fabric and ship it to the manufacturer to have your upholstered furniture made up in it. You can choose any appropriate fabric from any source to have your furniture upholstered.

C.O.M. is generally more expensive than choosing one of the furniture manufacturer's selected fabrics because manufacturers buy fabrics in bulk and, therefore, get a much better price. However, this method will allow you to order exactly what you want, without hiring an interior designer.

You can sometimes turn C.O.M. into a savings strategy if having your furniture custom upholstered allows you to buy your fabric in larger quantity directly from the fabric manufacturer as described in our fabrics section (link to Fabrics main page). If you are having several items made up in the same fabric, such as a sofa and several matching window treatments, you may wish to go this route.

The furniture dealer will tell you how much fabric to order. Make sure that you find out how many fabric repeats are necessary in addition to the base yardage amount. Also, ask if there are any fabric patterns that don't work well on the particular piece of furniture you have in mind, such as plaids or stripes. When you place a C.O.M. order, you are solely responsible for choosing an appropriate and durable fabric.

Make note of the fabrics that the manufacturer does offer. You should only be purchasing your own fabric to obtain a certain color or decorative pattern that the manufacturer does not offer. Stay close to the types and weights of fabrics that the manufacturer has chosen. If you want to provide your own fabric because you think that the manufacturer's fabric choices are too lightweight or too heavyweight, bear in mind that the manufacturer chose that fabric weight for a good reason. You might be on the verge of making an expensive mistake.

If a manufacturer only offers a certain sofa in black or white heavy boucle', buying a red heavy boucle' and having the sofa made up in it is fine. Buying a vastly different type or weight of fabric, such as a mediumweight chintz, and having the sofa made up in it is a big waste of money. You will almost certainly be unhappy with the looks and durability of the resulting furniture. Be your own decorator, by all means, but don't try to reinvent the wheel.

You are also responsible for shipping your fabric to the manufacturer. Normally, you will want to send it via a common package carrier, such as UPS. UPS has an information line that will help you arrange shipment: (800) 742-5877. They can pick the fabric up right from your home. Make sure that the fabric is well wrapped.

Ask the furniture dealer for its in-house procedures for processing your C.O.M. order. Procedures will vary from company to company. Waiting times to receive your furniture will vary from about two months to about six months, depending on the particular furniture manufacturer involved.

The furniture dealer will tell you what information to write down and send with your fabric. Normally, you will give your name, your address, your daytime phone number, the style name or number of the piece of furniture you are ordering, and usually some type of order identification number that the furniture dealer or manufacturer will assign to your order.

A good way to avoid mix-ups with C.O.M. orders is to staple your written order to the fabric itself. Make sure you staple the order to the selvage, not to the decorative portion of the fabric. If you just write your identifying information on the outside of the package or pack it inside without attaching it to the fabric, it may get lost.