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The Cutting Table · a common question

Can I just buy a new cover in a different color instead of returning the cushion?

Also asked as:Can I exchange the cover for another color?Can I just return the cover instead?

Yes, and it's usually the cheapest way out. You keep the foam, zip on a new cover, and nobody has to haul a bench cushion to the post office.

Answered by

The Porch Keeper of Savannah · · Updated

The quick answer

Yes, you can order a replacement cushion cover in a different color instead of returning the cushion. The workshop makes a new zippered cover in the same measurements and your chosen fabric, charged at cost, meaning production plus shipping, well below the normal cover price. You keep the original foam and swap the covers; daylight photos of candidate fabrics come first.

Cherry burgundy basket-weave hallway bench cushion with oatmeal piping, stepped around a chimney breast below an oak peg railSave
One burgundy cushion runs the full length of a hallway bench, getting deeper where the wall steps back.

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Key facts

  • A replacement cover in another color is charged at cost instead of a return.
  • At cost means production and shipping only, below the normal cover price.
  • You keep the original foam and swap the zippered cover.
  • A full replacement with new foam can also be quoted at cost.
  • Daylight photos of candidate fabrics are sent first.
  • Differences of about 1/4 in (6 mm) are within handmade tolerance and can recur.

Have it made

Have Rosa’s workshop cut this for you

Tell the workshop who sits there: grandkids, the dog, a cup of coffee at six. The right fabric and foam follow from the people. — Rosa

Leave your details and the workshop will call you to confirm measurements, fabric, foam and piping. No prices, dates or payment on this page: it is a request, not an order.

Fabric · Foam · Pipingwhat the workshop will confirm with you

Fabric
Daylight photos of candidate fabrics are sent first.
Foam
You keep the original foam and swap the zippered cover.
Piping
The corded seam edge: matching, contrast or none.
Only for this request: no marketing calls or texts. Outside the US, add the country code.
In inches: length × depth × thickness, plus any angles or cut corners.

* Required. A member of the workshop team will call you to talk it through; nothing is charged and nothing is made until you have agreed on every detail with them.

We use these details only to answer this request and make your cushion: your name and contact details, the cushion details and photos you send, the page you came from and the ad or link that brought you, if any. The workshop that makes the cushions receives them. We don't sell them or share them for advertising, and we delete requests after 24 months. Privacy notice for requests.

Nothing is made or charged until you approve the details.

Want to pick the shape and add photos? Use the full quote form

Why a new cover beats a return

Here's the arithmetic nobody enjoys: sending a whole cushion back usually costs more than it's worth, and the foam inside was never the problem. When a cushion arrives exactly as ordered, in the fabric and size you picked, a color you don't love isn't treated as a fault, so return shipping would be yours to pay.

So the workshop offers the gentler fix. It makes a new zippered cover in the same measurements and the fabric you'd rather have, charged at cost: production plus shipping, well below the normal cover price. You unzip, swap, and the foam stays on the bench.

How the swap goes

  1. Say what bothers you

    Too warm, too dark, not the gray you pictured: plain words help the workshop find the right replacement.

  2. Look at daylight photos

    Close-ups of candidate fabrics come to you first, taken in daylight.

  3. Confirm size and fabric

    The new cover is made in the same measurements as the one you have.

  4. Unzip and swap

    The original foam goes straight into the new cover.

A real project

Two covers, one bench, a new color

A buyer wrote in because the cushion color looked different from what they'd pictured, though it had been made in exactly the fabric ordered. Rather than a costly return, the workshop made two replacement covers at production cost. The buyer kept the original foam and swapped the covers through the zippers.

The quarter inch to expect

One more honest note, neighbor. A new cover is handmade to the same tolerance as the first, so differences of about 1/4 in (6 mm) can turn up again. If you want new foam too, a complete replacement can be quoted at cost, and in some cases the workshop has covered part of the difference.

The covers for existing foam Pattern explains how a cover is cut for an insert you already own, and cushion covers shows finished swaps. Which color are you hoping to land on this time?

If the cushion arrived as ordered but the color disappoints, order a new zippered cover at cost and keep the original foam.

Rosa
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Buyer questions

  1. A common question

    The color looks different from what I expected. Can I return or exchange it?

    The workshop's answer

    If the cushion was made in exactly the fabric and size ordered, it isn't treated as a fault, and return shipping is the buyer's cost. Instead the workshop offered a new cover in the same measurements, so the buyer just swapped the cover.

  2. A common question

    The color looks different in person. Can I swap the cover?

    The workshop's answer

    Sending a cover back costs more than it's worth, so the workshop offered a new slipcover in another color at cost, well below the normal price for that size, most of it shipping.

  3. A common question

    Can I return just the cover for a different color?

    The workshop's answer

    Return shipping is expensive and paid by the buyer, so the workshop suggested a new cover in the preferred color instead: an 18 x 53 in (46 x 135 cm) piped cover charged only for production and shipping.

  4. A common question

    What does a replacement cover or cushion cost in another fabric?

    The workshop's answer

    Both a cover alone and a cover with new foam were quoted at cost, and the workshop covered part of the difference. It noted that differences of about 1/4 in (6 mm) are within handmade tolerance and could recur.

Questions buyers ask next

Will a new cover in another color fit my existing foam?

It is made to the same measurements as your original, so it zips over the foam you already have. Being handmade, it can differ by about 1/4 in (6 mm), the same tolerance as the first cover.

What if the cushion itself doesn't fit my bench?

It depends on how it was made. When a cushion matched the size ordered, past buyers were offered a return at their own shipping cost, a partial refund to keep it, or a new piece at cost in the right size; the last two usually worked out cheaper. Measure the bench again before you write, and send the numbers.

Is a color change different from receiving the wrong fabric?

Yes. A change of mind has been solved with a new cover at cost. A color or material mix-up is a different case: photograph the piece in daylight the day the box opens and send the photo with your order's fabric code, so the workshop can compare what was ordered with what arrived.