Our upholstery line is benchmade in America by one or two craftspeople per piece, from frame to final stitch. Not an assembly line, and not a warehouse. Every piece is built after the order is placed, which is why the configuration questions below are worth settling before a client approves a scheme rather than after.

This page describes the Uptown Sebastian custom upholstery line specifically — 130 pieces. It does not describe outdoor furniture, pillows, rugs or wall art, which come from other makers with their own construction and their own warranties. See the warranty guide for those.

How is the furniture actually built?

Every element below is on our product pages already; this table collects them so a specifier can read the construction in one place.

Element	What we build	Why it matters over twenty years
Frame	Kiln-dried solid hardwood. Never plywood, never particle board.	Kiln-drying stabilises moisture content so the frame does not move, split or loosen as it ages in a heated room.
Joints	Double-dowelled, glued and screwed at every corner.	Three fixing methods at each joint. The joint ends up stronger than the wood around it, which is where a cheaper frame fails first.
Suspension	True eight-way hand-tied coil springs — each coil knotted by hand to the eight around it.	The whole spring set moves as one unit rather than as independent coils, so the seat does not develop the dip that gives an old sofa its shape. This is the single most labour-intensive thing in the piece and the hallmark of fine upholstery.
Seat cushions	A Marshall unit — individually pocketed coil springs — inside a foam box, wrapped in comfort-bond fibre, finished with down-filled sewn channels.	Coil-on-coil support with a soft surface. Pocketing each spring stops the cushion going flat unevenly; the sewn channels stop the down migrating into one corner.
Back cushions	Two-inch hollow polyester fibres, siliconized.	The silicone treatment cuts friction between fibres, which is what reduces clumping and matting over years of use.
Cushion access	Full-perimeter zippers, Velcro stabilisers, removable seat and back cushions.	The piece can be serviced and re-covered decades from now rather than replaced.
Legs	Solid hardwood, removable without tools.	Doorway and stairwell clearance on delivery — worth confirming against a tight access route before ordering.
Leather	Top-grain and full-grain hides selected for natural appearance and distinctive markings.	Natural marks are the evidence of a real hide, not a defect. Set the client's expectation at sample stage.

One dimension caveat that belongs in every specification: because the furniture is hand-made, finished dimensions can vary by roughly two inches from the published figure. Where a piece has to fit an alcove, a millwork opening or a lift, design in that tolerance rather than working to the exact published number.

What are the five leather grades?

Leather is offered in five grades — Standard, Premium, Signature, Elite and Supreme. Standard is the base tier and each step up adds to the price of the piece. Critically for a designer: the colour palette changes with the grade, so the grade decision and the colour decision are one decision, not two.

That is the most common cause of a late change on a custom order — a client approves a colour, then moves grade for cost or hand-feel, and the colour is not offered in the new grade. Settle the grade first, then choose the colour within it. Request swatches and read the guide to choosing colour, finish and feel.

What can actually be configured?

Options are presented on the product page for the item that offers them. These are the configuration families that exist across our catalogue — not every family appears on every model, so confirm on the selected piece before a client approves it.

Configuration	What it covers
Leather grade and colour	The five grades above, each with its own palette.
Fabric collections	Where a model is offered in fabric as well as leather.
Orientation and layout	On sectionals, which side the chaise extends to. Chosen before the piece is built and fixed thereafter.
Power mechanism	On motion models. Note that power-motion pieces are a distinct construction from the stationary benchmade line above.
Buttons and detailing	Tufting and button treatments where a model offers them.
Ottoman shape, top and storage	Selected ottomans offer circle, square or rectangle forms, plain or tufted tops, and storage on some square and rectangular designs. Confirm which apply to the piece in front of you.
Custom sizing	Available on selected models. A specially requested size is a custom order and is not returnable — a size shown as an option on the product page is.
Customer's own material	Accepted on upholstery only — never on pillows, throws, rugs or outdoor furniture. See the customer-material review process before buying or shipping anything.

How long does it take, and what is guaranteed?

Custom upholstery is built in 8-10 weeks on average from the day the configuration and material are confirmed. That is a build-and-dispatch average, not a contractual delivery date — freight and delivery scheduling follow. See lead times and delivery readiness.

Component	Warranty
Frame and springs	Lifetime
Cushion cores	Five years
Leather surfaces and stitching	One year limited, against defects in materials and workmanship

What that covers is manufacturing defect. It does not cover normal softening, natural leather variation, stains, cuts, pet damage, misuse or environmental conditions — and customer-supplied material is not covered by the standard upholstery warranty, since we did not make it. Where a client's own fabric is used, the material's own supplier warranty and our workmanship boundary are two different things; ask before a client relies on either.

What should a designer settle before releasing the order?

In this order, because each one constrains the next:

1. Model and configuration — the actual piece, its layout, orientation and footprint, with the two-inch hand-made tolerance designed in.
2. Leather grade, before colour, because the palette follows the grade.
3. Colour, from a physical swatch, viewed in the room's own daylight and installed lighting against the finishes that are staying.
4. Delivery access — doorways, turns, stairwells, lift dimensions. Legs come off without tools, which often solves it, but confirm before the build rather than on the day.
5. Return position — a listed option is returnable within 30 days of delivery, with the restocking fee waived on the trade programme. A specially requested size or an own-material build is not.

The costliest changes are the ones made after leather is cut. Send the model, quantities, grade direction, delivery location and target date to operations@uptownsebastian.com or call 833-566-6526, and we will confirm the options available on the exact piece before your client sees a scheme.

Browse the custom upholstery line: Custom leather furniture  ·  Leather sofas  ·  Sectional sofas  ·  Ottomans  ·  Guide: designing a custom leather sofa