Replacement Covers and Cushions for Furniture Made by Comfy 1/Creative Comfort

Regrettably, this service is currently suspended and will probably remain suspended at least until early 2024. The company's owner is currently preoccupied with health-related research and writing, and does not have time to manage a company at the same time. For those who are curious about what is considered to be more important, especially anyone in contact with new parents, they are encouraged to visit http://www.pollutionaction.org.

We don't know of anybody or any company to recommend as an alternative source for cushions at this time, but please do let us know of whatever experience you may have with other vendors, so we can better advise our customers in the future.  At the bottom of this page are things to try to specify when you order cushions from another supplier. 

Also note that, if and when we resume making cushions and covers, we make them only for frames that were made by Creative Comfort/Comfy 1.

For when we resume operations:

Please note that we no longer offer replacement covers for cushions that we made before June, 2014. (But at times we will offer replacement complete cushions, with covers.)  In explanation of the health problems associated with foam cushion filling sold before 2014, see the text near the bottom of this page.

IF and when we can accommodate customers' needs at a particular time in the future, we could probably provide the best assurance of a good fit on your frame(s), the proper firmness, and durability as good as that of your original cushions (which was probably unusually good).  So you may want to check our availability at a particular time in 2024 or later (emailing to info@comfy1.com); but be prepared to look for other suppliers of custom cushions. 

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When Comfy 1 is accepting orders for replacement cushions or covers, the process is as follows:

The normal procedure: The customer chooses a fabric, and the place to start for that is at http://www.comfy1.com/fabrics.htm. 

In almost every case for furniture sold from 1978 on, we have our copy of our customer's original order, providing the necessary measurements for the cushions (if replacement fabric is needed on the frame, describe that to us). We send out the completed covers or cushions by FedEx Ground.

Customers who bought in 2015 and later:  The cushion covers are all zippered, and customers apply replacement covers to their old cushions themselves. Since we intentionally make the covers a tight fit, it requires some muscle work and a little technique (we provide instructions); but our customers do it regularly and nobody has ever complained about difficulty. The usual completion time is 3 to 6 weeks, but it could vary according to how busy we are at the time.

Note that, due to our currently low-production status, without the normal efficiencies of volume production, a surcharge of 30% will apply to the pricing below:

Basic labor charges for covers are $28 each for seats and backs, $45 per pair of arm pillow covers or padded arm rest covers, and $28 per ottoman cover. (there were some arm wrap cushions made about 1989-90 for which we don't offer replacement covers).

Figure $34 for packing and shipping the covers for a sofa to an Eastern U.S. address, or $50 to Western U.S.

If you provide the fabric, then all you pay is the labor cost plus a shipping charge.

Please note: The following are cushion filling prices, if you can pick up your cushions in Shenandoah, Virginia. Packing and shipping charges for complete cushions going to Eastern U.S. locations (east of the Mississippi River) would be $40 per seat and $30 per back, or $60 per seat and $46 per back to Western U.S. For pairs of arm pillows, toss pillows, or padded arm rests, figure $20 or $30 to Eastern or Western U.S.

For standard firmness, in foam cushions (we no longer offer "puffy" filling such as we offered before 2017, but we can send you additional fiber, if that would help your old cushions to become plumper or more supportive):

$75 per seat cushion that is up to 27" wide and up to 26" deep (sorry, costs of high-quality foam and of shipping have gone up sharply lately),

$48 per back cushion that is standard height (15" to 16" or so high) and up to 27" wide,

$58 per 2"-higher back cushion (16-1/2" to 18" high) that is up to 27" wide, or

$70 per 4"-higher back cushion (18-1/2" to 20" high) that is up to 27" wide.

Wider cushions: For cushions 27-1/2" - 32" wide, add $17 per cushion;
For cushions 33"-38"-wide, add $36 per cushion;

For firmer than standard filling, add $1.30 per inch of length for either seats or backs, or $2.60 per inch for both. (Note: Firmer seats without firmer backs are likely to be incompatible.)

For 3"-deeper seat cushions (28" or so, front to back), add $14 per seat cushion.

Cushion filling for arm pillows: $24 per pair.

Please note: These prices may be higher than you might find elsewhere, but for these prices you would be receiving foam of quality at least comparable to what you originally received, and better quality than what we were offering from 1997 to mid-2003. This is foam of the kind that usually lasts for at least 15 years of hard use, and often much longer than that, and in any case much longer than most cushion filling that you'll find locally. It's probably also more comfortable than most foam that's available locally. To read some of our customers' comments about their experiences with this cushion filling over the years, click here. For specifics about the quality of our "puffy" inner cushions and their adjustability, and for comparison of their features with those of our all-foam cushions, click here and scroll down to the text that's next to the first picture.

You would normally need 6 to 10 yards of 54"-wide fabric for a three-seat sofa with an exposed-wood frame (the yardage depending on exact size, whether you have fabric-covered arms, arm pillows, and/or a fabric-covered back, and whether the direction in which a pattern, wale or grain is turned matters to you). Our fabrics vary from $7/yd to $25yd and up (most are below $35/yard). Patterns that would need to be matched, in orders for replacement covers. (see "Patterns that need to be matched", below.) If you really want a pattern matched, double the normal yardage that would be required for an unmatched fabric, and add $5 per cushion cover.

Our normal completion time is about six weeks after your ordering or after our receipt of your fabric, if you provide the fabric.

Patterns that need to be matched in order to look right (such as a vertical stripe on a back cushion that needs to be aligned with a corresponding stripe on the seat cushion): Please try to avoid patterns like that. We don't have time to calculate and quote the extra yardages needed for proper matching, which would depend on the specific kind of matching the customer wants, direction desired for turning of the fabric, widths of repeats (horizontal and/or vertical, which are often difficult to ascertain), etc. We want to be able to offer replacement covers at economical prices, but we can't do that if we have to do individual consultation and calculations as part of the order-taking process. We also don't do any matching of patterns on our fully-upholstered model replacement covers.

(Note: Replacements for padded arm rest covers made before 1992 may be somewhat different from the originals, but the replacements will be usable on your padded forms, although some simple work may be needed on your old forms with a stapler and pliers; if you can't do this, we will do it at no charge and return them to you, if you send them to us. "Arm wrap cushions" made about 1990: We no longer offer replacement covers or filling for those.)

Q: Which is old, which is new, and which is updated? (With our furniture, it's hard to tell.) A: 14-year-old couch with new cushions, and with new end tables, in a snapshot (shown here) sent by a customer in Pennsylvania. Keep in mind that cushions with new filling will typically be flatter than your old cushions, which are likely to have become rounded down at the edges over the years.

Inner cushions? (The following applies to customers who bought our furniture in 2015 or later.)  Usually people just buy replacement covers during at least the first 12 years or so after purchase, and also sometimes 25 or more years after purchase. From an environmental standpoint, we tentatively encourage you to consider just re-covering your old cushions, bearing in mind that some attention can considerably improve their shape; and the support provided by any loose-fill ("puffy") cushions can normally be made as good as new with some hand re-shaping and/or by addition of some filling through the opening accessible inside the zipper. 99.5% of all cushions we made before 2011 are zippered, and only some muscle-work and attention to inserting the filling into the new covers correctly is needed to change the covers; however, judging by one customer's experience, a teenager in the family might not exercise the care needed to insert the filling properly, without some supervision. Mis-shaping can be considerably improved upon with some simple steps you can take yourself -- see answer to the first "Q" farther down this page. Also please unzip a few of your old covers enough to allow looking inside and checking your old filling for signs of substantial crumbling, which would mean that it's better not to try to just re-cover them.

If you have a fully-upholstered frame: You would normally need ten to thirteen yards of 54"-wide fabric to re-cover a three-seat sofa, the precise amount depending on size and options. Labor charges for re-covering a pre-1997 frame 78" or longer: $195, if the frame is brought to us; if we prepare the fabric for you to apply, the labor charge would be $110. For post-2004 fully-upholstered frames: $85 labor charge to prepare the fabric to be attached by customer for a 78" or longer sofa (allow four hours or so for your labor), if we apply the fabric to the frame, add an additional $120, plus travel cost if we come to your residence.

New covers on old cushion filling: Your old cushions may have become rounded down at the corners over the years. Replacement covers will be made in the original way (squarish at the corners), and your rounded-down, compressed foam may not initially fill out the corners of the new covers. A few days without the old covers will allow the old, constricted foam to re-expand somewhat. And a little work will considerably improve the appearance: pushing the foam into the corners and possibly adding some filling there and/or at the back edges of the cushions. Also: the normal imperfections resulting from applying new covers to old filling will be accentuated by any new fabric that has a sheen and that isn't very pliable (these are characteristics of many of the currently popular fabrics). 

Achieving satisfactory firmness and seat height on your old sofa: If your old seat does not give you sufficiently firm support, buying new standard cushion filling is not necessarily the solution. New foam filling will look better, but new standard foam filling won't necessarily feel much firmer than your old foam, once it has broken in for a few weeks; if you want something firmer, consider our firmer foam options. Many years after their original purchase, people often prefer something firmer than they had originally, since older people usually prefer firmer and/or higher support, for ease of getting up or because of back trouble. If you have a webbing suspension under your seat cushions (the webbing will usually be covered with fabric, but it should be obvious that it is not a hard, plywood base), something can be done inexpensively to make that firmer; check the condition of your suspension and contact us. If you have the plywood base, our new standard cushion filling should be firm enough to comfortably keep you from having a feeling of hitting bottom, but it won't necessarily feel much firmer than your old foam, once it has broken in. With either kind of suspension, if you want greater ease of getting up, there are things that can be done to inconspicuously raise the support (see this link). Please consider whether you might now like firmer and/or higher support, in which case you should consider:

a) the optional firmer cushions (see surcharges for those, above). or
b) possibly firming up a webbing suspension, and/or the alternatives in the previous link.

(But insufficient firmness is not a common concern: Almost all of our customers who replace their cushion filling just choose the standard foam, and we have heard from only one couple who were disappointed with the softness of their replacement filling once it had broken in.)

Q: How do I know if the cushion filling needs to be replaced? (if you bought in 2015 or later)

A: A little crumbling of the foam inside an older cushion is normal, but a lot usually means that the foam is on its way to needing replacing. Most mis-shaping can be substantially corrected by (a) turning your cushions (turn seats over, turn backs around) and sitting on them several days that way (preferably have a heavier person do this corrective sitting) and/or (b) a moderate amount of hand work, as follows:
(1) Rest the cushion on a flat surface, with any convex (humped) side facing up, as you repeatedly push down hard on higher places while pulling far upward on low places; also bending a cushion far in the opposite direction of any mis-shaping, bending it over a hard edge, works well.
(2) Shift the cover around the filling so as to get the seams and zippers centered on the edges, and get the corner seams re-aligned squarely at the corners; do this by firmly rubbing/pushing the fabric on one side as far as you can in the direction needed and immediately rubbing the slack generated the rest of the way around the cushion. You will often need to do this rubbing around several times before you can get the seams into the proper alignment.
(3) For back cushions on which the top front edges have been pushed downward, rest the cushion on a seat with the zipper edge up and leaning against you and with the squashed top edge down and facing away from you. Then push downward very firmly on the far side of the cushion edge that's up, doing this firmly and far and repeatedly at several different places along that edge; this should help shift the filling back toward the edge that has settled down.
(4) Make sure to create some slack in the cover at any edges where the filling has been pressed down, to allow it to rise. You may need to reach inside to push/pull filling out into the corners.
Doing the above should produce a major improvement, and still more improvement should be possible if you do more re-shaping.after the foam has had a chance to re-expand and re-adjust (for a day or so), where it has long been mashed down by covers that had shifted out of position. Also, filling out of corners can be dramatically improved by insertion of a small piece of polyester batting (available from us at no charge, or as a standard item at fabric stores or at most Wal-Marts).
If you have loose-fill cushions: Packing down and the resulting lack of support can be taken care of by adding some more filling through the opening that's just inside the zipper. "Cluster Stuff" at Wal-Mart or other loose polyester fiber-fill should do well, or we can send you some. If you have loose-fill back cushions made before 2000, the tendency for the cushions to settle/round downward can be greatly reduced by inserting some pieces of foam through the opening at the bottom, to act as (sort of) pillars holding up the top of the cushion. We can send you suitable pieces, or you could get some foam at a fabric store or Wal-Mart and cut it to suitable sizes to insert.

The longer a cushion has been mis-shapen, the harder it will be to re-shape it. (In the future, rotating and turning your cushions occasionally, before they become mis-shapen, will help prevent needing to do the above.) . Also see the note above about imperfect appearance related to new covers on old foam.

Q: Will I need to take careful measurements of my furniture, for you to make correctly-sized replacement covers or cushions?

A: No, in most cases, since we have copies of almost all orders completed back through 1978, as well as the appropriate cushion- and cushion-cover dimensions. For furniture made before 1978, or if we can't locate your order but can verify that you actually did buy your furniture from us, we will need the distance between your arms (inside to inside) and the zipper-to-zipper circumferences of one seat and one back cushion. Replacement fabric to go on the back of the frame, if you plan to re-cover that, may require measurements by you.

Q: I have fabric on the back of my sofa frame. How can that be changed? (Please note: In many cases, people don't bother changing the fabric on the back, if a sofa will always be against the wall.)

A: Most models made through the 1970's and '80's: Remove the cushions (also lift out the back rest panels and seat suspension, if it isn't a sleep sofa). Unbolt the back and lay it on a suitable work surface. Unscrew any thin plywood panel to which the fabric is attached (there may or may not be one, depending on model). Judge for yourself whether the old fabric needs to be removed; depending on how your back was made and the thickness of the old fabric, it may be possible to apply new fabric right on top of the old, saving the trouble of removing the old. If you do need to remove it, it can often be torn or cut off, rather than picking out staples. Apply the new fabric neatly, centering it if there are any seams or any pattern elements that need to be centered, stapling once in each of the four corners first, pulling the fabric taut and aligning any pattern or grain with the edges. Keep the staples near the edge so they won't show. Then pull the fabric snugly tight as you staple or tack it down every few inches (usually 1/4" "heavy duty" staples with a home staple gun do well). Re-attach the back and re-apply the other things. Models in which the entire back of the frame is covered: It's done similarly to the above, but you can see on your old sofa how the fabric is wrapped around the edges before being stapled down on the inside.

Q: Do we need to send our old cushions to you, for applying the new covers?

A: No, if there's somebody available in your household of normal strength (or maybe the teenager next door?). We send out replacement covers regularly to our past customers, together with a sheet of stuffing instructions. (It takes a little bit of technique to do it without damaging the zippers, as well as some muscle work, since we intentionally make the covers a snug fit; even our old filling usually still has good firmness). The only time we've heard from customers who had problems was once in 1998, when the stuffing instructions weren't sent along with the covers; please make sure you find and follow the instructions. If you want a looser fit, for greater ease of replacing covers, we can over-size the covers, but you would have to expect some wrinkling in the fabric after it's been sat on, and a little effort would still be required to change the covers.

Q: Do you make replacement covers or cushions for furniture that you haven't made? A: No. We have the patterns and the skills for making sure that covers and cushions come out just right for frames that we have made (including models and sizes that we aren't offering currently), but not for other manufacturers' frames, which are always different from ours.

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Pre-2015 foam problem:  A couple of things came together that made me think I shouldn't be helping with replacing covers on old cushions of furniture made by my company, as much as I would like to satisfy customers' needs as well as do the economical and environmentally-friendly thing to help maintain products for long lives. You may have read back in 2014 about the final phasing out (at that time) of brominated flame retardants (mainly PBDEs) from their long-standing inclusion in polyurethane foam; that inclusion went back at least to the '70's. (Some forms of PBDEs were phased out earlier in the 2000's, but other PBDEs were still heavily used in cushioning foam until 2014.) In recent years it's been learned that those chemicals can have adverse health effects, especially on developing children (see Section 3.b of www.pollution-effects.info), but bad effects on adults are also suspected, including cancer. (see https://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/toxfaqs/tf.asp?id=900&tid=94 That's why (combined with evidence that the flame retardants weren't especially effective in actual fires) the PBDEs were phased out in 2014.

So that history was in the back of my mind when I read that the principal pathway for human intake of PBDEs is via dust. (Pp. 160, 161 of EPA document on Biomonitoring (PBDEs) at https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2015-05/documents/biomonitoring-pbdes.pdf  I put that together with memories of hearing from multiple past customers about crumbling taking place in their decades-old foam, which they hadn't noticed until they began replacing their old covers with new ones from us. If inhalation of PBDE dust is the main route of exposure for this potentially-serious toxin, cushions that are decades old and starting to crumble while steadily being agitated have to be one of the worst -- or possibly THE worst -- sources of that dust; and they are right next to people breathing in that dust as the cushions are being compressed, squeezing out the dust.  So I decided that I should not be part of keeping those old cushion fillings going, especially since their emissions will just keep getting worse with age. Even if developing kids are no longer around the sofa, the frames are so durable that there will probably be future owners who will have kids, very likely continuing to use the same cushions. There is also the possibility of cancer or other problems for older people.

Main things to try to specify in cushions from another vendor:

1) Correct measurements, (normally 25-25-1/2" deep for seats, at least that's how they normally started out, before decades of sitting.) Corner seats for a square-corner sectional would usually be 25 1/2" square. Widths can be difficult to measure accurately, so make sure that the cushion width specified is 1/3 of the length measured between the arms for a three-seat sofa, or 1/2 the length between the arms of a loveseat. Check with us to see if we can find from records what the dimensions should be for your original order (that is usually possible). Measuring with a 12" ruler along the length of a sofa can be inaccurate due to multiple small inaccuracies.

2) Try to make sure the foam used for the seat cushions is at least 1.8 pounds per cubic foot in density; 1.5 pounds absolute minimum.

3) Seat cushions preferably 6 1/2 to 7" thick, back cushions 7 - 8" thick, (Measuring thickness at edges of a cushion can be misleading, because of rounding down at the edges.)

Firmness can obviously make a big difference. Try to get one seat and one back cushion before getting them for a whole sofa, to make sure they will be satisfactory.

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