DIY Couch Re-Upholstery

Scripture to Live By:

O Lord, you have searched me and known me!
2 You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
    you discern my thoughts from afar.
3 You search out my path and my lying down
    and are acquainted with all my ways.
4 Even before a word is on my tongue,
    behold, O Lord, you know it altogether.
5 You hem me in, behind and before,
    and lay your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
    it is high; I cannot attain it.

Psalms 139:1-6

Home Decorating Post:

Do you have a piece of furniture that you really like, but the fabric has worn thread bare?  Well I have!  I know that other people have reupholstered their furniture. I thought if they could do it, I would give it a try.

The first couch I reupholstered was a couch that had a bed that you pulled out.

 This couch was left in the house we bought.   I wanted to use it but it didn’t match other furniture pieces I had in the room.  I decided I would try my skills and reupholstering it.  Just let me say, the first couch you reupholster  probably should not be a couch with a bed in it.  I am very happy to say that my daughter and I took the bed out and began the process of taking the material off one piece at a time.

 I have learned to write down each piece I take off and the order I took it off.  The pieces you are taking off is your pattern to use to cut the material to go back on the couch.

I don’t know how professionals do it, but here is what I did and what I have learned in the process of recovering 5 couches.

What ever you take off first will probably go back on last.

I will use the last couch I reupholster as my example since it is the freshest in my mind.  The material I am using is just slightly different in design and just a shade different in color but I really like burgundy and it matches my decor.

As you can see the sun had faded the back of the couch, as it sat in front of a picture window.

The arms of the couch were dry rotten and were beginning to show their wear.

I had patched the couch using material from the ruffle that was on the back of the couch in several places.

To start your project of re-upholstering your couch.  Remove the material that is on the back of the couch.  You will need a pair of pliers to remove all the staples and nails. 

This will be expose how the front of the couch and the arms are attached.  

Remove the material from only one arm at a time, so you will have the other arm to show you how to put the material back on the couch.  

This picture isn’t very clear, but it is the material that is on the bottom of the arm side view.

Remove it only on one side of the couch.

Now you will have the arm itself exposed to show you the nails or staples that are holding it on. 

Remove the staples and nails and use the material you take off as your pattern to cut the new material pieces.  Then put the new back on as you took it off.  Move to the next section.  Do the same there as well.  

I used the backing of the ruffle that goes around the bottom of the couch with the new material and sewed them together  as the new ruffle.  

Staple the under backing back on the couch before you staple the ruffle back on.

By using the lining with the new fabric and sewing it wrong side out and the matching up the un-sown edges it will pull the material up to form the hem.  The edge that is folded back will be the center of the front of the couch.  You will put one of the small panels behind it. 

Turn ruffle right side out and steam press your ruffle before putting it back on.

The small pieces are for each corner and the front middle.  

Staple the cording on before you put the ruffle on.

Next put the ruffle right side toward the couch and staple it to the cording bottom that will not show when the ruffle is put back down.  

This is the way the front ruffle will look when finished.  

The arm panel is covered separately and then hammer back on to finish off the arms of couch.  

Put the back material on.

You are finished.

Throw pillow add some more color to the couch.

Looks brand new.  I really like it.  Just saying, if I can do it so can you.  

Blessings,   

Parties I Link Up To: 

Monday:

Skip to my Lou ,  Craft O Maniac,  Keeping it Simple,  Creating Really Awesome Free Things,  Make Ahead Meals for Busy Moms  Between Naps on the Porch,  ,  Mad in Crafts, I’m An Organizing Junkie,  Sew Can Do, I Should Be Mopping the Floor,  Making the World Cuter, The Gunny Sack, Mrs. Happy Homemaker, Uncommon Designs, DIY Home Sweet Home, The Modest Mom

Tuesday: 

  Coastal Charm,  A Bowl Full of Lemons ,  Tip Junkie ,  Sugar Bee Crafts ,  Not Just a Housewife ,Today’s Creative Blog ,  Balancing Beauty and Bedlam ,  5 Minutes for Mom ,  Funky Polkadot Giraffe ,    Hope Studios ,   Time Warp Wife , Chef in Training Home Stories A to Z, My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia,  Vintage Wanna Bee, The Blackberry Vine, Carolyn’s Homework, The Kurtz Corner,  Growing Home,  Cornerstone Confessions, Mercy Ink, Ginger Jamboree,A Diamond in the Stuff, Reasons to Skip the Housework,A Stroll Thru Life

Wednesday:

 Raising Homemakers , Crystal & Co. ,  We AreThat Family , Women Living Well, The Trendy Treehouse ,  Handy Man, Crafty Woman Someday Crafts ,   This Chick Cooks ,  Seven Thirty Three,  Sugar & Dots A Creative Princess , Creations by Kara, Gingersnap Crafts ,   Uncommonly Yours, My Girlish Whims, Adorned from Above Fabric Bows and More, Twin Dragonfly Designs, The Thrifty Home, Semi Homemade Mom Simply Designing

Thursday:

 Shabby Creek Cottage,  Delightful Order  House of Hepworths,   The Frugal Girls ,  Miz Helen’s Country Cottage ,  The Thirty Sixth Avenue,  Thrifty 101, Diary of a Stay at Home Mom, Beyond the Picket Fence, A Glimpse Inside, MandatoryMooch, Think Tank, The Real Thing with the Coake Family,Life we Live 4,Somewhat Simple The Girl Creative

Friday:

The Shabby Nest ,  Fingerprints on the Fridge ,  Chic on a Shoestring, Life as Mom ,  Miss Mustard Seed ,  Tidy Mom ,  Whipperberry,  French Country Cottage  30 Handmade Days ,  Finding Fabulous ,   Naptime Crafters Tatertots and Jello,My Romantic Home , While He was Napping , Comfy in the Kitchen,  Bacon Time with the Hungry, Hungry Hippo,  The Country Cook,  Six Sister’s Stuff, Kitchen Fun With My Three Sons, Ann Kroeker Writer,, Simply Sweet Home, Craft Junkie Too, , Happy Hour Projects,Young and Crafty, Five Days Five Ways, At Home With Bobi, 

A Peek into Paradise

 Saturday:

Funky Junk Interiors,  Young and Crafty ,  Be Different, Act Normal ,  A Vision to Remember, Sweet as Sugar Cookies, Positively Splendid, It’s Overflowing, The Artsy Girl Connection, Craft Envy, Too Much Time On My Hands, Something Swanky Sassy Little Lady

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Or So She Says, Tutus and Tea Parties, Your Home Based Mom

Sunday:

  Under the Table and Dreaming ,  DIY Showoff ,  Nifty Thrifty Things,  Homemaker on a Dime ,  Sumo’s Sweet Stuff