The process started in July 2012 when my husband and I brought the furniture, which had been my mother-in-law's, to Karen's workshop. It was determined that the extra long sofa would not fit in the elevator, so a mover was brought in to carry the sofa up several flights of stairs to Karen's workshop. It added a $75 cost to the project. I came to Karen because her work looked good on her website, she had several positive reviews online (not Angie's List though) and she encouraged clients to purchase their own fabric, which would keep the cost down. From the start, Karen was not very responsive or timely in her communication with me. While I told her I was not in a big rush for all of the furniture, I had to e-mail her to find out when each item would be finished. I was happy with the dining chairs but only found out when I came to pick them up that one of the chairs needed the wood to be repaired. As this was a and quot;7thand quot; an unneeded chair to the set, I may have opted not to have it reupholstered had I known before Karen did the work. The extra long sofa presented an extra challenge as we chose to have it reupholstered in leather. I specifically asked Karen if she could reupholster the couch in leather and she responded by e-mail :I can definitely work in leather. It will mean more seams on the couch, since there are no cows 8 feet long ;) . I was surprised at how much leather was needed as all of my research pointed to needing much less leather, but Karen explained that it was necessary. I have since learned that I could have gotten away with much less leather and cost. This piece wound up being a rush job because Karen was moving her workshop to a new space and claimed there was not enough room for it there. I suspect it was more an issue of the cost of having this sofa carried down the flights of stairs at extra cost. Due to the rushed nature of this job, the work was not as it should have been. Karen failed to let me know that when the sofa was delivered to me, it would be missing its 3 back cushions. It took several more days until I received the cushions. In addition, the main seating cushion needed to be shortened in depth as it overhung the sofa by more than an inch. In addition, none of the seems were particularly straight and it is obvious when the three back cushions are lined up next to each other. The corners are at different heights. All in all, not a great situation. My husband was happy with his leather sofa, so I let it be. Next came the two high back chairs and again, there was some communication lacking and a need for me to ask several times when I would receive the finished chairs. I am happy with how they turned out. Most disappointing is that Karen promised me my final sofa for December. I remember thinking that I would be lucky to see it by Christmas. When I had not heard from Karen even after Christmas, I e-mailed to check on the progress. I received an e-mail back telling me that she decided not to do the piece due to a backlog of work, the holidays and because she felt that I was not happy with her previous work. She did offer to pay the cost of transporting the sofa to another upholsterer of my choosing. I was shocked and disappointed that Karen handled it this way and am in the process of finding someone else to do the work. Update, after getting the information to Karen as to where to send my sofa, she responded that she would let me know when the delivery would occur. After not hearing back for several days, I e-mailed to check on it. Her husband e-mailed me back asking why I was suddenly in such a hurry after the they had and quot;storedand quot; my sofa for 7 months. I was surprised that he would claim to having stored the sofa when I had provided fabric and expected it to be completed months earlier. As it turned out, I had to pay the new upholsterer to pick up the sofa so that I could finally get it reupholstered. Buyer beware! A learning experience for me. If anyone wants to see photos of any of the pieces, please contact me directly at
[email protected]Description of Work: I had 7 dining chairs, 1 8 ft long sofa and 2 high back chairs reupholstered. In addition, there was to be one more sofa, but Karen chose not to do the work for me as she felt that I was not happy with the work she had done on the other pieces.