Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Hallelujah!

 
Cue the hallelujah chorus, my friends.  The sofa is done!

   

It's hard to photograph a looooonnnnggg sofa.... I swear it looks more spectacular in real life.  Or maybe that's just because I can lay on these fluffy down cushions and my feet don't touch the end.  Eight exquisite feet, people.  The stuff dreams are made of.  This is the place to take a nap.

  

Originally,  J and I had picked out a large print.  But we ended up going with this wavy dotted blue-green fabric.  A much smaller print.   And I'm glad.  Not too many pattern matching issues came up.  And the lines followed a geometric pattern, which made cutting easy.  I decided on the natural canvas cording despite my misgivings about the previous white upholstery job.   Fingers crossed that it will stay clean.


And here's the back.  Oh, the beautiful back!  If we did anything perfectly, it was this.  Stretched smoothly, stapled seamlessly, double welted impeccably...  and no one will ever see it.  I told J that we need to turn it around and have it face the window for a while.  Then the back would be the first thing you see when you walk in the room.

And here's some hot close-up double and single welt action for all you amateur upholsterers out there.

  

Check out that nifty little pocket where the zipper pull stays hidden.


By far, the most time consuming part of this project was sewing the box cushions.  Design*sponge just recently posted a fabulous boxed cushion tutorial if you are interested.  I reckon I spent about two hours per cushion.  That included making the cording, which was incredibly time consuming as well.  I made miles of it.  Miles.  


The actual covering of the couch was pretty quick.   I'm guesstimating it took us about eight hours all together.  Including double welt.   J spent quite a few hours patching and repairing the wood frame.  He thinks about six hours.  Granted all of this was spread out over, um..... ten months?


Ok, really we did most of it the last month.

Here's the timeline:
May- Bought sofa from Salvation Army for $27.  Husband and I decide to upholster it ourselves.
Early June- Strip down sofa to burlap, springs and wood.  Learn so much in the process.  Take muchos photos.
June through December- In paralytic shock over how much upholstery fabric costs.   The $27 couch becomes much more costly.  Sofa sits in smelly heap in living room for 7 months.
New's Years Eve- Spend Christmas money on fabric.
January- Upholster sofa through trial and error.  Also, have many arguments over whose modus operandi is better.  I fly by the seat of my pants.  J, well, is a researcher.  I think we needed a little of both.


Here's my unsolicited advice to anyone who is interested in trying something like this--
You can do it.

Seriously, you can.  There are only two things you need to survive the process:
Perseverance and lots of Dacron. (That's that fluffy business up there in case you are wondering.)

Yes, Dacron is your friend.  It smoothed out all the lumps and bumps and made the fabric stretching process so much easier.  I was super pleased with the finish.  We actually used more Dacron than the previous upholsterers (they actually used a batting) and I think our upholstery job is nicer.  We'll see how it all holds up.

Also, I think it helps to have two people to pull and staple.  Especially on a piece this large.


I swore I wasn't going to post any more kitty photos.   When I scrolled back through all my posts on the sofa, she's in every one.  Every. Single. One.   I'm sure there are people reading and rolling their eyes.  
Another cat photo? Sheesh.  Crazy cat folks...    
But she's just so darn cute.  And the couch is directly in front of the bird watching window.

Your perch is ready, my dear.
(Note to my mother:  It's not really her perch.  I swear I'm trying to keep her off of it.)

*****

Would you like to know more about this project?
Here are links to all my posts.
I highly recommend the stop motion video ;)


Cheers!


36 comments:

  1. Ohhh, you've done such a lovely job. You both really deserve a big pat on the back...and perhaps a couple of glasses of bubbly just to christen it. It sounds like such a big projects but so worth the effort. The length is just incredible. Love the fabric selection.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I think this is the most glorious piece of furniture I have ever seen. A sofa I could actually lie down on! And the color is amazing as well. Also, I like the kitty pictures... I can't have a real one due to allergies, so I like to see everyone else's!

    ReplyDelete
  3. All of your perseverance paid off. This is gorgeous!! I love the fabric that you ended up choosing. Great job!

    ReplyDelete
  4. It really is stunning! The double welt, was that glued on separately at the end, like a piece of braid-trim?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Exactly. It covers anywhere there are exposed staples.

      Delete
  5. Fantastic! You did such a brilliant job, it looks so professional. Love the ends of the tubular cusions too. And don't appologise for kitty photos - I say MORE kitty photos please!!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I should have mentioned how difficult it was to tuft the ends of those bolster pillows. First we tried to fashion our own long needle out of various things-- bamboo skewers, random pieces of metal... Then we finally headed over to the upholstery supply store and asked for the biggest needle they had- 15 inches! Scariest needle I've ever seen.

      Delete
  6. Your couch is gorgeous, definitely worth all the work. I love the fabric itself, and also how the color goes with the wood. Beautiful!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Thanks so much for the nice words, everyone!

    It was a huge project and I'm so happy we saw it through and finished. We are really pleased with our new sofa :)

    ReplyDelete
  8. I am in awe. Seriously, that sofa is drool-worthy and that you made it that way is quite impressive!

    ReplyDelete
  9. That is absolutely beautiful!! Congratulations, and well done! C'est tres magnifique!

    ReplyDelete
  10. It looks fantastic and the fabric choice was perfect!

    ReplyDelete
  11. OMG! Wowx100! This is absolutely fantastic! All that hard work paid off! And I'm so impressed with those details like the zipper tucked in. I never would have thought of stuff like that. And your husband did a great job with the wood filling. Bravo!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yay! J appreciates comments about his hard work!

      Delete
  12. You have done a fabulous job on this couch. Your box cushions are superb. I'm glad you gave us some close-ups of the fabric, which is really funky.

    Enjoy napping!

    ReplyDelete
  13. What an incredibly beautiful job! Well done, you two! I love everything about this couch!

    Your kitty is just gorgeous. I love kitty photos :)

    ReplyDelete
  14. Congratulations! It is totally beautiful. Your upholstery job is so professional!

    ReplyDelete
  15. Bit of a late commenter here but had to say this sofa looks gorgeous, what a fantastic job you've done. And the kitty is too cute :)

    ReplyDelete
  16. I am truly impressed.....it's gorgeous.....

    ReplyDelete
  17. It looks amazing! So professional! I'm also totally in love with the fabric - pretty! :)

    ReplyDelete
  18. Late in the day (returned to download pics better!), but had to gush - this is an incredible project & what results! I love the fabric choice - it is perfectly bright & stylish & not too overbearing. What a huge amount of work & I'm glad you recognise how it is worth it

    ReplyDelete
  19. Wow. Just wow. Once again, I'm thinking that once I buy a house I'll have to have you come stay for a while and help me with my furnishings. You do such gorgeous, gorgeous work!

    ReplyDelete
  20. So so awesome. Where did you get that fabric?! I'm totally motivated to tackle my ugly sofa now...

    ReplyDelete
  21. Congratulations! This looks amazing. I can only imagine how much work into it -- but well worth it :)

    ReplyDelete
  22. Very cool! I want to sit on it! Nice work on a long project. Now you can do anything (:

    ReplyDelete
  23. wow, Liza, this is perfect! How patient and hardworking you are! You should be so proud :)

    ReplyDelete
  24. Amazing! Really something to be so proud of. It is beautiful. How do get these amazing photos with the curved edges? Love them!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Erika! I use Picnik to edit photos right now. I am so bummed that they are shutting it down!

      Delete
  25. It's fantastic!! And the fabric is sooo pretty, it's just perfect!

    ReplyDelete
  26. Great job, it looks absolutely wonderful! Love the new fabric!

    ReplyDelete
  27. Incredible! I had to look through all the posts- so amazing! Makes me want to go start in on my old tattered sofa...

    ReplyDelete
  28. WOW, it's just fabulous! What an ambitious project, and it turned out so well!! Would love to do something like this if I had the perfect retro couch, plus lots more time!

    ReplyDelete
  29. Love the colors! Following you now. Have a wonderful Wednesday!!

    ReplyDelete
  30. Love the couch Laura!! Can't wait to see it in person. Kudos. :-)

    ReplyDelete
  31. Beautiful. I so need to recover sofa and chairs - this is inspirational!

    ReplyDelete