Made sofas, curtains and shutters for a Brentwood house
One chair recovered, or a whole room made to agree: a sofa sized to the space, the windows dressed, the colours drawn together. All of it is built at our Heybridge workshop near Maldon, about 34 minutes from Brentwood.
A good upholsterer and curtain maker near Brentwood is Simon Houlding Upholstery, though the workshop itself sits in Heybridge, near Maldon, about 22 miles and about 34 minutes from the town centre by the A414 and A12. Running since 1997, it carries 162 five-star reviews across Google, Facebook, Yell and Houzz, each at a perfect 5.0. We hold no premises in Brentwood.
We take on single pieces gladly, and in Brentwood's larger houses the work is often a whole room. A sofa built to the length of the wall, curtains that reach a tall window, shutters or blinds to match, and guidance to pull the colours together. You can read what people say in our reviews before you make contact.
A cinema room for a Brentwood house
The home cinema seating we built shows what making to a room means. The seats have fluted backs and cup holders inset into the arms, and they were tailor-made to suit the space from the customers' own concept images and a sketch. Nothing off a shop floor would have filled that room or sat where the sightlines needed it to.
A media room asks the furniture to fit the plan rather than the plan to fit the furniture. The depth of the seat, the height of the back, the run along the wall, all of it is set to the room. That is the way a large house is best served: the piece drawn around the space, built on a solid beech frame, and finished by hand.
Large work is normal here
A twelve seater sofa
The longest sofa we have reupholstered is a twelve seater. For a Brentwood house with a sitting room too big for shop furniture, it shows that a single piece can be built or rebuilt to the true length of the wall.
Fortnum and Mason chairs
Twenty-six boardroom chairs for Fortnum & Mason, hand-finished with around 7,000 upholstery nails. When several rooms in a large house must agree with each other, that is the kind of matched, repeated work the workshop takes in its stride.
A seven metre curtain
At Canada Gardens, Wembley Park, a single maker produced a 7 metre high curtain for the main foyer on a custom-built bench. A tall stair or landing window in a Brentwood house needs the same long drop and the right track to carry it.
The large Brentwood house, feature by feature
On the big plots of Hutton Mount and the detached houses around Shenfield and the villages, the rooms set problems that shop furniture and ready-made curtains cannot answer.
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1
The big sitting room
too large for shop furniture
The problemA reception room on this scale swallows a standard three-seater and leaves it looking lost against the wall. The proportions want a longer sofa, or a pair that balance each other, sized to the room and not to what a shop keeps in stock. Get the length wrong and the whole room feels unsettled.
What we makeWe build a sofa on a solid beech frame with sprung seating, to the dimensions the room asks for, or rebuild one you already own back to the bare frame by hand.
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2
The bay and the tall stair window
wide bays, long drops
The problemA wide bay is never one flat run of glass, and a tall stair or landing window carries a drop far longer than most ready-made curtains reach. Both need a track set to the shape and strong enough to hold the weight of a lined and interlined pair without sagging over the turns.
What we makeOur fitter measures each face of the bay and fits a shaped track. Curtains are made to the full drop, lined and interlined, hung and dressed by Simon.
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3
The garden room or orangery
glass on three sides, a roof lantern
The problemA garden room or orangery is glass on three sides with a lantern overhead, so sun pours in all day and heat builds behind it. There is little solid wall for a curtain to stack onto, and the roof glass is a problem of its own that curtains cannot touch.
What we makeA perfect fit blind is fitted inside each frame with no bulk, and suits skylights too. For glass overhead or at an angle, electric blinds are measured and fitted by us.
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4
The cinema or media room
built to the plan
The problemA cinema or media room is laid out around the screen and the sightlines, so the seating has to follow the plan: the right seat depth, back height and run along the wall, with darkness held when the film starts. A shop sofa will sit in the wrong place and spoil the view.
What we makeSeating is tailor-made from your own concept images and sketch, with fluted backs and cup holders inset into the arms, built and finished by hand in Heybridge.
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5
Windows out of reach
high glass, no cord
The problemIn a double-height hall or above a run of bi-folds, a window can sit too high to reach by hand, and a cord is no use past a certain width or height. The blind still has to darken, shade or screen the room, so it needs to work without anyone climbing to it.
What we makeElectric blinds can be made for all styles of window, measured and fitted by us. The widest roman blind we have made, about three and a half metres, is motorised because a cord is no use at that width.
How a whole Brentwood room is made
A room runs in this order, from the first visit to the final fitting.
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1
The first visit
Send a photo of the room and a few words, and we reply personally. An appointment can be at the Heybridge showroom or in your own home, where the room and the light can be read together before anything is decided.
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2
Design guidance
Guidance on fabric, colour and finish is part of any commission, carried on until the room agrees. Samples can be seen at the showroom or sent to your home, so the sofa, the curtains and the walls are chosen as one scheme.
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3
The sofa
A new piece is built on a solid beech frame with sprung seating, to the size the room actually is. An existing sofa can go the other way, stripped to the frame and rebuilt by hand with hand-tied springs, fibre and horsehair.
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4
The windows
Curtains are made in our Heybridge curtain room, lined and interlined as standard. Roman blinds are made alongside them. Our own fitter measures and fits the tracks, poles and blinds for each window in the room.
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5
The fitting
Curtains, blinds and shutters are measured and fitted by the workshop's own team. Simon delivers, hangs and dresses the curtains himself, so the room is finished as it was drawn, piece agreeing with piece.
Pieces for a Brentwood room
A sofa made to the space
A bespoke commission is built to your dimensions, so it blends with the colour scheme and fits a room that shop furniture leaves looking bare. Solid beech frame, sprung seating, made for your house and no other.
A leather club chair
Our signature build: deep, sprung and hand-finished on a solid beech frame, in leather. A new leather club chair is around £5,000 including VAT, in the proportions the room asks for.
Shutters for a wide bay
Shutters are measured and fitted to any shape of window, which suits a wide bay in a large house. They soften noise, hold privacy with a partial close, and keep order in a bright, south-facing room.
Design for the whole room
Guidance on fabric, finish and colour runs through every commission until the room agrees. For a full scheme, our partner Mannequin Interiors Ltd offers interior design and project management, floor to walls.
Shenfield, Hutton, Ingatestone and the villages
Shenfield and Hutton hold large detached houses, the private estate at Hutton Mount standing among them on wide plots, with the Elizabeth line running from Shenfield into London. Ingatestone keeps its Tudor hall and a street of period houses, while Herongate, Doddinghurst and Kelvedon Hatch sit out in the countryside with farmhouses and converted barns. Nearer the High Street and the station, Victorian and Edwardian houses carry tall sashes and bays. Each kind of house asks something different of a sofa, a curtain and a blind.
How far the workshop is from Brentwood
Measured by car from Unit F, Stock Chase, Heybridge on 12 October 2026, nearest first, usually by the A414 to Chelmsford and the A12.
- Ingatestone: 18 miles, about 28 minutes
- Shenfield: 21 miles, about 31 minutes
- Doddinghurst: 21 miles, about 31 minutes
- Hutton: 21 miles, about 32 minutes
- Brentwood town centre: 22 miles, about 34 minutes
- Kelvedon Hatch: 23 miles, about 35 minutes
- Herongate: 22 miles, about 37 minutes
What a Brentwood room costs
A room is quoted as a room: the sofa, the curtains and the shutters each priced, then put together. For reupholstery, expect about what a new piece of the same quality costs. Photographs and a few lines are enough for a first personal quote, worked out on a fabric of average price.
Once you approve a quote, an appointment can be at the Heybridge showroom or in your own home. The one piece with a set price is the leather club chair, at around £5,000 including VAT whether built new or given a full restoration, depending on the work the chair needs.
Places near Brentwood
Billericay
18 miles, about 30 minutes from the workshop
Family furniture rebuilt piece by piece, from the sofa to the dining chairs.
Chelmsford
12 miles, about 22 minutes from the workshop
New houses arrive with bare windows, so we dress them room by room.
Basildon
23 miles, about 33 minutes from the workshop
Mid-century furniture that is often well built and worth the work.
Show us the room
Photographs of the room and a note of what it lacks. We reply in person with a quote.
Questions, answered.
Simon Houlding Upholstery, in Heybridge near Maldon, about 34 minutes from Brentwood town centre. It has run since 1997 and carries 162 five-star reviews at a perfect 5.0 on every platform, with Simon overseeing each piece. Curtains and roman blinds are made by our own team. We hold no premises in Brentwood itself.
The workshop and showroom are at Stock Chase, Heybridge, Maldon CM9 4AA, about 22 miles and about 34 minutes from the town centre by car, usually by the A414 to Chelmsford and the A12. Ingatestone is about 28 minutes and Shenfield about 31. We are not based in Brentwood.
Yes. A bespoke commission is built to the dimensions the room actually is, on a solid beech frame with sprung seating, so it suits a sitting room too big for shop furniture. The longest sofa we have reupholstered is a twelve seater. Send a photo and the room size for a personal quote.
Yes. Several rooms done together need to agree with each other, and that is where guidance through fabric, colour and finish earns its place. Everything is made in our Heybridge workshop by the same hands, which keeps the standard even across a whole house. For a full scheme, Mannequin Interiors Ltd offers interior design and project management.
Yes. Shutters are measured and fitted to any shape of window by our own fitter, a wide bay included. They soften noise, hold privacy with a partial close, and keep order in a bright room, with no dust gathered. Each face of the bay is measured on its own before anything is made.
Yes. Electric blinds can be made for all styles of window and are measured and fitted by us, including a gable end window nobody else will quote for. A wide roman blind is motorised too. Tell us about the lantern or the high window and we will say what suits it.
A new leather club chair is around £5,000 including VAT: a beech-framed moustache back chair, hand sprung in the seat, back and arms. Restoring an old one depends on the work it needs, and a full restoration like that is also around £5,000 including VAT. Send a photo of your chair for a personal quote.
Yes. Guidance on fabric, finish and colour runs through every commission at no extra charge, until the room agrees, with samples seen at the showroom or sent to your home. For a complete scheme, our partner company Mannequin Interiors Ltd offers full interior design and project management, from paint and colour to the floor.