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"Many midcentury dealers I talked to said you&amp;#039;re the only upholsterer they know who understands this kind of furniture. We&amp;#039;ve done so much of it that we know exactly what the pieces looked like originally\u2014where the lines of buttons or welting go, whether the leather should be matte or shiny. We know that the overall look is supposed to be crisp and not overstuffed. Modern upholstery has less of a crown than traditional upholstery. What are cushions usually made of? You don&amp;#039;t see much down filling on modern furniture. The typical filling is foam with a Dacron wrap. On occasion we&amp;#039;ll make a down cushion with a foam core, to raise the comfort level, but without spoiling the crisp look. How do you repair the other materials? Lacquer we can send out for sanding and relacquering. Aluminum comes clean with a superfine steel wool. Chrome holds up better than you think. I usually can get the rust out with a little naphtha, which is a cleaning solvent, and a very, very fine steel wool. I&amp;#039;ve never had to send something out to be replated. Once I had a customer who was such a perfectionist, he had everything replated before sending the piece to me. What can you do for acrylics and plastics? Lucite damage is usually hopeless. Sometimes I&amp;#039;ve had to have whole sections remade. Other plastics can be cleaned, believe it or not, with just Fantastik. But some scratches are permanent. How do you replace original fabrics? Everything\u2014every crazy print or texture you can think of\u2014you can find still in production or back in production, or locate something similar. Knoll and Maharam are the main sources, also Donghia and Jack Lenor Larsen. Naugahyde is still made, it&amp;#039;s just a kind of vinyl. There are also synthetics like Izit that look and feel just like leather. They&amp;#039;re so thin that for certain weird shapes of seats or arms, or for welting, they work better than leather\u2014they give a nice crisp look. Do you ever tell people what fabric to use? I don&amp;#039;t talk them out of anything. But I do make suggestions. Stripes don&amp;#039;t work on tufted upholstery\u2014they go off-center\u2014and plaids are bad on curves. For very fitted upholstery, a very stretchy fabric won&amp;#039;t work. It will gradually get stretched out.  How can people protect furniture from wear and tear? When mohair or velvet is stitched, the nap can get flattened. You can restore it with a steamer wrapped in a scrap of the same fabric. If you&amp;#039;re worried about stains, there are a lot of Teflon treatments. Have them redone every so often. What&amp;#039;s your price range? We can redo an Eames lounge chair and ottoman for $1,095. We clean the rosewood, cherry, or walnut with naphtha and polish with boiled linseed oil. And cover it with an Italian leather that&amp;#039;s made for us with just a little sheen. We can upholster a Saarinen Womb armchair and ottoman for $1,150, plus fabric. A new Womb chair and ottoman from Knoll is about $3,200, but it won&amp;#039;t have hand-sewn cushions like ours.  Sol Ovadia, Prestige Furniture &amp;amp;amp; Design Group, 32-30 58th Street, Woodside, NY 11377; 718-721-2200. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.housebeautiful.com/home-remodeling/interior-designers/advice/a77/maintenance-midcentury-furniture-0407/>