Hello Everyone,

Hope this finds you all well. I just wanted to update you all on some changes I have been making to my systems in recent weeks.

Having been in business since 1998, I can say with some authority that the spell between the end of the summer and the festive season can be incredibly busy. Once the schools go back and summer holidays are but a distant memory, people turn there attention to getting there homes in order for the upcoming winter months. From experience this generally means a surge in enquiries which have proven to be difficult to keep up with in previous years. It is very easy to fall into the the trap of thinking that it is still August and there is plenty of time, but I have found that these few months can fly past so quickly and before we realise, it is December and there are not enough days remaining in the year to get everything done. It is very stressful, and no matter how careful I plan my schedule there are always jobs that just dont happen in time for the Festive Break.

The dreaded phrase, 'Will I have it done for Christmas' has already been mentioned to me this week. Well, my response is that whilst I recognise Christmas is an important family time for many (including ourselves), and I will always do my best to be obliging, I can no longer be treating it as a deadline for work to be completed. There is only one of me and often dozens of customers so the numbers are a little one-sided !

I am not intentionally trying to be a 'Bah Humbug', but I do need to be realistic and learn from the previous 26 years experience.

Another change I need to make is that in order for me to get through my work as efficiently as possible, I need to spend as much time as I can in my workshop doing the actual job of upholstering. Therefore, I have set up a system which will hopefully allow me to deal with some of my enquiries remotely via email or Whatsapp. In addition, customers are once again welcome to visit my workshop with their items for me to measure, assess and quote. (An appointment must be arranged first as I am not always available). There will be occasions when I need to get out on the road and visit my customers and I will be happy to discuss and arrange this on an individual basis.

Under no circumstances do I want to remove the personal service that I have always offered, but again I do need to be realistic and remind myself that I am a one man business and that I need to be as efficient with my time as possible.

So thats about all for the moment. I do however want to add that despite my recent absence from social media and keeping a low profile in general, I am working hard behind the scenes and doing my best to keep up with a demand that seems to be constantly increasing.

Thanks for taking the time to read this.

All the Best,

Raymond

 Hi everyone, I hope this finds you well. As I had not posted anything on her for quite some time, I just though I would add a quick Blog post to let everyone know that Raymond Mackenzie Upholstery is still very much working away quietly behind the scenes. The workshop schedule continues to be  extremely busy and as such I have not been paying all that much attention to my website or social media...although I have been attempting to join the TikTok bandwagon .  I have also updated the gallery on this website regularly with photos of recent work...please feel free to have a look. 

However this 'stay under the radar' approach is going to change in the near future...I mean what is the actual point of doing a good job if nobody knows about it. So I intend to show more of what I do, post more regularly on the channels available to me and let people know that I am here ready to help with your upholstery requirements. 

Looking forward to engaging with everyone again. 

Thanks for taking the time to read this and watch this space ! 

Regards

Raymond 

We were recently delighted to be given the opportunity to work with fabric from Jim Dickens Olympos range on this large, stunning suite which was originally made to order by Gascoigne Designs in around 2003.  Working in conjunction with a large national re-upholstery company we are proud that we are entrusted to carry out  work on their behalf.....it means a lot to us that people who know and understand re-upholstery have the faith and trust  in us to not only carry out the work for them but also to rely on us look after their customers as if they were our own. 

The large pattern repeat on this beautiful fabric meant that a lot of prior planning had to be done before even removing the old covers and certainly before putting our scissors anywhere near the new fabric. Many hours of planning, cutting, machine sewing , upholstering and tailoring have to be invested in work like this but I hope you would agree that all of this effort was worth it. 

This was a tricky and labour intensive job from the word go, even getting the suite out of the customers house was a challenge in itself with the furniture going nowhere until the castors had been removed, we then had to lift it over metal railings and navigate our way through the customers trees and shrubs before loading it into the van. So getting it back into the property with pristine new upholstery was even more of a challenge but as always we got there in the end with thanks to my 'Right Hand Man' ...aka my son Ewan. 

Long unsociable hours and plenty hard graft but Its jobs like this that make all the effort worthwhile.

​Thanks for looking :-) 

Since getting with the times and launching our own website a few years ago we have been pleased with the steady flow of enquiries and interest that it has generated with several people complimenting us on both the content and the work displayed both on the site and on our Facebook page.

During this time we have regularly written blog posts about recent work we have completed where we tell a wee story about the job and a bit about what was involved and of course some photos of the finished furniture, Although we enjoy writing these short blogs and showcasing our work it often feels like only a handful of people actually see it and pass comment. 

So, when we  received an email from a website called https://blog.feedspot.com/upholstery_blogs/ telling us that we had made into their top 30 upholstery blogs on the planet we were suitably surprised and 'fair chuffed' ....Somebody somewhere does actually see what we post ! 

We have lots of new work to post in the near future but in the meantime here is a wee before and after of a nursing chair we recently did for a long-standing and loyal customer

Nursing chair re-upholstered with deep buttons in Linwood Roxburgh wool fabric. 

Both these chairs had great sentimental value to our customer. Unfortunately both of them had been subjected to a hard life and were showing the signs that there time may soon be up. Thankfully they fell into the right hands and have been carefully repaired and traditionally re-upholstered in their original fashion. Fabric from Linwood's Roxburgh wool collection. 

Ercol furniture seems to be as popular today as it was 30 or 40 years ago. This Ercol suite once belonged to my customers parents and so we were delighted to be given the chance to rejuvinate it and give it a new lease of life. New seat foams, new Pirelli webbing and new covers and scatter cushions in Roxburgh wool fabric from Linwood should see this furniture last another few decades and perhaps onto the next generation of Ercol fans. All work carried out in the Lhanbryde workshop of Raymond Mackenzie Upholstery. 

The answer to the above question is 'enough to get our upholstery repaired' . Like most best friends it is likely that there will be the odd fall-out. On this occasion 'mans'  best friend fell out with 'mans' favourite chair and took a chunk out of the arm and from the seat cushion. Our customer was lucky in as much that he could still get the original fabric which enabled us to carry out repairs on his damaged wing chair. 

Carefully unpicking  the covers to gain access to the damaged arm and cushion covers we were able to remove them and replace with the customers new fabric. In addition the customer requested that we replace the saggy fibre filled seat cushions with a good quality reflex foam which transformed the look and comfort of the chair. 

it was satisfying to repair this chair back to its former glory and we were also pleased to hear thet the 'For Sale' sign could me removed from wee four legged rascals kennel. :-)

This Corner sofa started out its life as seperate 2 & 3 seat sofas. Having recently built an extension our customer wanted to fill this space with a corner sofa. Despite searching for a new sofa they could not find anything the size they needed or as comfortable as their old sofas. So we were asked if we could help. The remit was to turn their sofas into a corner sofa, retaining the features and comfort of their old sofas but also to make it to the required dimensions and also make the curved section usable and worthwhile. we also had to consider how we were going to deliver it as the corner section was so large it would not have went through the customers door. All we had was the two old sofas and a scrap of paper with some dimensions. 

Could we build it ? Yes we we could ....and we did  ! 

We had to remove the arms on each sofa, alter the frames and then build a corner unit from scratch before we could even think about adding the new upholstery...many many hours of physical labour, wood working, fabric templating, cutting , machining  and general head-scratching later we were finally able to deliver the completed sofa. 

This was not a quick project and as it was bespoke it required a few tweaks as we went along but we think the results justify all the effort that went into this.  Thanks for reading ! 

The Parker Knoll 750 armchair has been a regular visitor to the workshop. It is testament to Parker Knoll's quality and design that their upholstered furniture is still sought after by a new generation and at the same time treasured by an older generation.

This pair of chairs fall into the latter category and have now been given a new look for a third time. Despite having probably worked on dozens of these it would be folly for even the most experienced upholsterer to let his/her guard down.

Upholstered by Raymond Mackenzie in Caledonian Floral chenille from Ross Fabrics Luxury Collection, they are all set for another tour of duty.

A common question that uphsterers are often asked....'Is my suite worth reupholstering ?' The answer to this generally depends on the quality of the frame and the condition of the existing upholstery. However if the suite is a Parker Knoll then the answer is almost always yes !

This PK Genoa suite has been reupholstered in 'Dundee Hopsack' from Ross Fabrics and should give its owners many more years of comfort.