Hudson Valley Upholstery

06/09/2026

Hard to believe that less than two years ago, it was just me in a 150-square-foot room, learning how to use an industrial sewing machine on the fly, stressed to the max because I was behind and changing a bobbin took me 25 minutes.

Today, Hudson Valley Upholstery has a team: a part-time high school student who’s been with me for a year, a full-time upholsterer, an executive assistant, and trusted contractors who help with pickups and deliveries.

I started this business almost by accident. I just wanted to learn the trade. I barely knew how to sew, didn’t have a single fabric vendor, and it once took me three months to finish one cushion.

What started as a whim has become intentional. Strategic. Built one project, one mistake, and one lesson at a time.

Every now and then, in the middle of the hustle, I look up and catch a group of people wearing Hudson Valley Upholstery shirts and think: Damn. That’s crazy.

I’m incredibly grateful for how far we’ve come.

06/08/2026

Design refresh on this custom swivel club chair. Fabric by Romo Group.

06/02/2026

A few really nice days will give us the opportunity to strip furniture outside the shop in the sunshine. That’s just what we did with this chair. Multiple photos of the process if you care to swipe 🤸‍♀️.

05/31/2026

Darby, our client’s weimerdoodle, enjoys her newly slipcovered chair with reversible cushion this chilly Saturday.

We love this performance fabric with no PFAs for pet-households because it’s practically indestructible. In this slipcover we added a pop of detail with a keys pattern in the welt as well as on one side of the cushion.

05/07/2026

New build projects with custom cushions are always a lot of work and communication, but the end result looks so effortless.

04/27/2026

You should see how I carry up a wingback 💺

04/24/2026

Wrapped the week delivering this reupholstered skirted club chair last night—solo. Headboard ratchet-strapped to the roof, ottoman in the backseat, chair in the trunk. Is there anything women can’t do?

Didn’t get photos of everything in the space. Progress, not perfection. ✌🏼

04/22/2026

File this Adrian Pearsall Sculptural Walnut Lounge Chair under reupholster jobs that win by popularity.

04/21/2026

Holy airball — being featured in this magazine is the coolest achievement in my business to date 💗

A young Dutchess County woman explains how she “accidentally” launched a thriving upholstery business when her curiosity got the best of her.

04/20/2026

This Eastlake Parlour set amounted to over 6 months of fastidious labor. I chipped away at it between projects, knowing if I solely focused on getting the set across the finish line, all other projects (and business) would suffer. I got stuck in a few areas:

+ Never having tied springs with an edge wire, I had to enlist help of more experienced upholsterers. S/o and Richard at Midnight Oil Upholstery for sharing their methods

+ I had to de-clump and clean all the horsehair which took hours and much assistance from my delightful, highschool assistant Gigi.

+ Then there was the issue of those horseshoe arms, which humbled me to exhaustion many attempts over again. So much so, that I let the piece sit for a couple weeks until I called reinforcements from who came in and reminded me there is so much giving and kindness in this trade. 💗🙏🏻

As this set sits now, it’s still nearing completion. Another unforeseen delay: Running out of scroll gimp TWICE (I’m awaiting the final shipment). One day I’ll learn how to count properly for trim.

Alas, it’s just another Monday and working all weekend is necessary sometimes. As my friend Rose, - beautiful soul and successful upholsterer, says: I love this. I love upholstering.