Hi there! My name is Celine Vanier, professional upholsterer, upholstery teacher, and the person behind @the_girl_with_a_hammer. I run my own upholstery business near Annecy Lake in the French Alps and I have been doing this every single day since 2012.

This website is where I share what I know: real upholstery techniques, honest tutorials, and the kind of practical knowledge that usually stays locked inside a workshop. Whether you are a complete beginner or an experienced DIYer looking to level up, you are in the right place.

Running Le Boudoir des Etoffes since 2012

I was born and raised in Haute-Savoie, and I run Le Boudoir des Etoffes with my business associate. Every day, I create, reupholster, upholster or cover something with fabric – a dining chair, a headboard, a sofa, a wall, or some truly unusual designer piece.

Over the years, we have become specialists in complex and technically demanding pieces. I say “we” because with my upholstery team, there is almost no piece we cannot tackle. We genuinely love a good upholstery challenge, the trickier, the better.

How I learned upholstery

I did not stumble into upholstery by accident. I was studying sociology at university when I made a very deliberate decision: I wanted to work with my hands, build something real, and master a proper craft. I was 21. I enrolled as an apprentice and spent 4 years training full-time — learning traditional French upholstery techniques from the ground up.

Four years is a long time, but upholstery is not a skill you rush. There are dozens of techniques, materials, tools and gestures that need to become second nature before you can truly call yourself an upholsterer. That foundation is what I draw on every time I sit down to create a tutorial.

In France, apprenticeships can start at 14. I was one of the older students in the room at 21 – but I was lucky to qualify for the initial apprenticeship programme, which gave me a serious, hands-on training rather than the adult school version, which is unfortunately often less rigorous.

Also a wall upholstery specialist

Fabric walling has been part of my work since my very first year of apprenticeship. My mentor Alain Sartre ran a business where it was a core part of the work, and he trained me in both traditional and modern techniques from the start. It has never been a side skill, it is something I have been doing consistently for over a decade.

Fabric walling – or tenture murale – is the technique of covering walls with fabric rather than paint or wallpaper. The fabric is stretched and tensioned onto a system of wooden battens or metal tracks fixed to the wall. It is a proper upholstery job: the tension has to be right, the corners clean, the joins invisible. When it is done well, the finish is perfectly taut, seamless and built to last.The difference with wallpaper is immediate. Fabric adds warmth, depth and a level of acoustic comfort that no hard surface can match. It absorbs sound, softens a room, hides imperfections, and brings a quality that is hard to define but very easy to feel.The projects vary enormously: private homes, hotel rooms, private cinema rooms where acoustics and atmosphere both matter, and historical or listed buildings where the finish has to respect the period and the architecture.

Traditional techniques or contemporary finishes, simple walls or complex architectural shapes, it is always a different challenge.

Upholstery teacher since 2013

Teaching upholstery has been part of my life since 2013. I teach in-person workshops near Annecy, and I started creating tutorials as a way to help my students remember what we covered in class – a kind of written and visual reference they could come back to at home.

It quickly became something bigger. I realised that the same tutorials that helped my in-person students could help people all over the world who had never had access to a real upholstery workshop. So I kept going, and here we are.

What you will find on this site

This is not a general DIY blog. Everything here is about upholstery and it is written by someone who does it professionally, every day. You will find:

– Free tutorials and tips about materials, stripping, and upholstery tips
– Step-by-step photo and video tutorials for specific projects (dining chairs, headboards, drop-in seats and more)
– Premium tutorials with full sequences, professional techniques and detailed guidance for those who want to go further
– Honest advice on materials, foam, fabrics and what actually works in a real workshop

I use real pieces from my workshop to create every tutorial – chairs and sofas I am actually working on, not staged props. That is why the photos show real work in progress, with all the complexity that comes with it.

Photo and video tutorials

I believe in showing, not just telling. That is why I always try to offer both photo tutorials and video tutorials for the same technique -because some people learn better by reading through each step, and others need to see the gesture in motion to really get it. Whenever I can, I provide both.

You can browse all tutorials by project type, technique or skill level. Whether you are working on your first drop-in seat chair or trying to understand how traditional springing works, there is something here for you.

Learning upholstery online: what I really think

Nothing replaces a real workshop and a good teacher standing next to you. I genuinely believe that. But not everyone has access to an upholstery class nearby and finding a qualified upholsterer willing to teach is surprisingly difficult, even in France. Not everyone can make it to my workshops in Annecy, I get that. That is also why I wanted this platform to be as accessible as possible.

Over the years I have met incredible self-taught upholsterers who learned almost entirely from books and video tutorials. It is absolutely possible with the right resources and a willingness to practice. What I do not believe in is overpriced “online degrees” that promise professional-level results in a weekend. Upholstery takes time, repetition and honest feedback. That is what I try to give here.

I have always been fascinated by what the internet makes possible when it comes to learning and sharing knowledge. I am probably the geekiest upholsterer you will ever meet… I have been building websites since I was young, and I also run an online shop selling fabrics and wallpapers across France and Europe.

That combination – deep craft knowledge and a love of the web – is exactly what this site is built on.

Ready to learn?

Just search on this upholstery platform what you’re looking for

Join the community to get access to the full premium tutorial library. Whatever your level, there is a next step waiting for you.