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Being a good upholsterer and buying the right furniture to upholster are two different skills. We have been buying upholstered furniture for many years and yet we still occasionally pay good money for pieces that turn out to be bad buys. There’s an overlap between the two skills: the better you are at buying furniture, the easier it will be to turn it into something you are proud of. Whatever your upholstery ambitions, your best starting point is to get out there and train your eye to spot a bargain.

Start close to home: if you’re new to upholstery your confidence will be fortified if you start with small, uncomplicated projects: the sorts of pieces you probably have already – dining chairs or a piano stool, for example. If you don’t have anything yourself, the chances are there’ll be auntie’s old chair in a relative’s loft somewhere. Beg, borrow or steal from your family before you go out and buy anything to work on.

Antiques shops: these are great places for rummaging through, but not necessarily to buy from. There’s nothing wrong with buying the odd dining chair if it costs only a few pounds, but a piece with any value will have been tidied up for the sale and will most likely look better than it actually is. Use these shops with a view to learning and training your eye. Price tickets often carry information regarding the age and style of a piece and will give you an idea of relative value. Spend as much time as possible wandering around musty old buildings, turning over price tags, and pay special attention to pieces that have been newly upholstered. Dealers will get their upholstery done as cheaply as possible and so the result is usually more show than substance – well worth a good look with a critical eye.

Auctions: house-clearance auctions are the upholsterer’s Aladdin’s cave. Most reasonably sized towns will have at least one auction house – very often run by a local estate agent – where, once or twice a month, sales of house contents and other general items are held. There will be a time, usually the day before or on the morning of the sale, when you can view all the items for sale and decide if there’s anything you might want to buy.

When you arrive at a viewing you will find an area filled with rows of wardrobes, book shelves, old pianos, dressers, tables and all manner of old and modern household items. In the middle of the room, usually facing the auctioneer’s podium, will be rows and rows of dining chairs, armchairs and sofas. Each piece or set of pieces will be given a lot number. The bigger, more organized, auction houses will issue a catalogue or a printed list of items for sale, giving the lot number and a brief description of what, in the auctioneer’s opinion, it is, and how much they suggest it might sell for. For example: “Lot 269 – a late-Victorian elbow chair with turned legs and bobbin stretchers, £30–£40.” Auctioneers generally have years of experience and are, therefore, very authoritative on what something is. This makes the auction catalogue an excellent tool for learning about the age, era and features of different chairs and sofas.

Make a note of the lot number of anything you might want to buy, go to the auction office and ask how you bid, what time the auction starts and how many lots they get through in an hour. You’ll probably be asked for your name and address and be given a card with a number on it: this is the number the auctioneer will write against any lots that you buy so he knows who’s bought what. On the day of the auction make sure you arrive in good time for the lot numbers on which you intend to bid. This way you can get a feel for how the auctioneer works. You will probably be asked to pay for and remove anything you buy on the day, so make sure you have an acceptable method of payment – usually cash – and adequate transport.

Don’t be intimidated by bidding. When the auctioneer calls out the lot number, an assistant will indicate the piece it relates to and the auctioneer will confirm the piece’s description and put forward a starting price. If no one bids, the price will be lowered until someone does or until the auctioneer moves on to the next lot. Make sure you can be seen by the auctioneer and, when you want to bid, attract his or her attention by waving your bidding number. Once the auctioneer knows you are bidding he or she will check to see if you want to keep up with the sale. Simply indicate whether you wish to continue or not. If you are the last bidder when the auctioneer sells the lot, he or she will want to know your bidding number. It will take a little time for the office to know who has bought what, so wait a little before going to pay. Once you’ve paid, auction staff will help you remove your lots.