The Courage To Reupholster A Sofa and (a Sort of) How To

I'm finally writing about this pretty camel back sofa I got last year, which went through a makeover. Now, I know this sofa is not perfect. I fully recognize areas that might be too lumpy or not pulled tight enough. Therefore, I must apologize to all of you perfectionists out there, but I'm just thrilled it's done and not looking half done. I am by no means a professional upholster. I upholstered a small chair a few years ago. I really wanted to bring this to an upholsterer but that darn budget forces me to take measures into my own hands, literally. I am so glad I did it. I had several friends come over and help me take this couch apart (I bribed them with lunch) and a good friend that helped me sew the cushion. 

One friend who came over to help me said encouragingly, "Tracy, you just have to look at this as your practice sofa. Who cares if it's not perfect? Try your best and don't worry about it." Oh, how wise! These were just the words I needed to hear to get over some of my fears of upholstering a whole sofa, which sounded daunting sometimes. Actually, it's good advice for anything we do, especially in design. There has to be some trial and error and we learn from our mistakes which help for the next project that we do. 

If you ever find yourself wanting to rescue that chair or sofa and you know you'll need to reupholster it, then know you can do it! You will need to have some determination, goals and band aids near by when you take that sucker apart. 

The sofa project took a long time because it got put on the back burner with other projects several times. I hope to be able to explain some tips and things that helped me upholster the sofa. Every sofa or chair is different and I'll explain the things that helped me with my particular sofa. 

Step 1: Find your vision and sturdy fabric

I had read how velvet is a wonderful durable upholstery fabric so I wanted to go with that type. Also, I knew I wanted to stick to something solid in color (as a beginner upholster). It would be difficult to match up stripes or a patterns. 

Finding navy blue velvet was not common. I ended up finding some on Ebay for $12/yard. 

                                                          image source

This chart helped me know about how much fabric to expect. It's always a good idea to buy extra fabric than what it calls for so you can feel safe you have enough.

2. Research

I looked up some You Tube videos and found this one most helpful here. Also, Jenny from LGN has some incredible upholstery tutorials. There are also several books out there that are helpful like this one, which I got at the library. 

Step 3: Stripping the sofa

You need:

-flat head screwdriver

-pliers

-hammer

-a bowl (to collect staples) and band aids (it's easy to hurt your hands doing this part. You could wear work gloves.)

Save all your pieces of fabric and label them. You will use these pieces as your template for your new fabric.Also, save the welting/rope to reuse it for the welting. My little girls added some stuffed animal friends on the sofa to keep me company. 

Step 4: Stapling the sofa:

You'll need: 

-Staple gun

-Air compressor with upholstery staples in the gun. This way it went fast!! (optional)

-Scissors

-the new fabric (cut pieces)

-Curved needle (I needed this in one section)

- I used cardboard for the front arm

- Fabri-tac adhesive

-Nail head trim (optional)

Once all your fabric has come off then you're ready for the stapling to begin! And yes, this looks like a mess. The other major motivator to work on the sofa was so our puppy wouldn't eat the whole thing. Don't you love all the little stuffing on the floor?

The curved arm originally had welting around it. I decided to make a separate piece to cover this area. Here's a good shot of the air compressor we used too.

Once I stapled the arm as best as I could I traced the shape of the arm onto a cereal box or thin cardboard.

The cereal box got covered with velvet using  fabri-tac upholstery adhesive. This stuff is great because it doesn't show any marks of glue once its dried and it really sticks well (it's a permanent adhesive that says its washable too).

                      Once the fabric was covered then I used brass nail head trim to hammer into place.

Work with what you have. Towards the end of the project I was running out of fabric. It wasn't too difficult to sew two pieces together on the machine and then staple the whole thing to the back. Again, this is not a perfect job, but I figured mostly the sofa will be against a wall so we won't see the back sewn piece.

The front bottom part of the sofa was tricky because the seat cushion was tightly sewn covering the springs and I didn't want to take that apart (which would have been a ton more work). I ended up using a curved needle and hand sewing the velvet to that section and stapling the bottom section.

Curved needle sewing isn't as scary as I thought. If you have the right tools, things go a lot more smoothly.

The cushion was sewn by my friend who has a great sewing machine. I asked her help because there were some sections where we were sewing through four layers of velvet (because of the welting). My basic sewing machine would not be able to handle all that work. I'm not going to explain the cushion sewing since she did most of it.
Overall, I'm happy to have a piece of furniture in our library room now besides our piano. Someday, we will add side chairs and a small coffee table, but this room is baby steps to being done. It's good for the soul to try challenging, out of our norm projects and I'm glad I did.

here
and linking this to:
Not Just A Housewife 

2014: My Favorite Posts

It was nice to have a good break and be with family! I hope you had a great holiday too. 2014 was a busy year of projects in our home and taking care of four little girls. We've lived in our home for almost two years. It's a beautiful builder's grade (the hubs, Steve and I) we are trying to make feel cozy and our style. Here's a recap of some of my favorite projects and posts this year:

                   I gave our sconces a makeover with Rub N' Buff  and love how they turned out.

Steve and I made this frame for our daughter's room. 

In the winter, I was a contestant in the Creating with the Stars contest where Steve and I made this Melrose knock-off table. 

Color Block Dining Room Hutch: A week after the table project, we did a makeover to a dresser/buffet and added a hutch on top painting the whole thing in different shades of blue.

I love how this old tv stand turned into a stylish bar cart. Also, I show how I made this gold leaf mirror. 

Our tween daughter's room turned out to be navy, coral and white. Love it!

                         In the summer, we brightened up our front entry by painting and adding trim.

My sisters and I worked together to create this nautical loft space for our family home on Martha's Vineyard.

                         In the Fall, I got organized the paper clutter by creating a command center on a skinny wall.

Steve and I made these bookshelves out of plywood for Home Depot and organized our home office.

             Our laundry room now feels pretty, and organized with some hooks and built in cabinets.

I made this mirror into a large statement piece for our living room. You won't believe how inexpensive it was to make.

Lastly, this sofa has a long story that will be told soon, but I'm glad she's done! My tips for reupholstering furniture and getting over your fear of it are coming up soon. 

I have to admit, this was a bit therapeutic for me to look back at some of the things that happened this year. If you're new to Right Up My Alley, I hope you'll stick around. Onto new adventures and projects for 2015! It's going to be a good one!

Our Christmas House Tour 2014

                                          Welcome to our home dressed for Christmas! 

This year I put our girl's stockings in our front entry. I purchased them last year at Pottery Barn kids, after Christmas sale (by the way, this is the way to go to get clearance price seasonal items).

I love these IKEA lights that look like snowballs (they are small plastic balls that go around the lights). I added some greenery and Nutcracker ornaments to the branches. The NOEL banner was made out of paper and glitter, a couple of years ago. 

When you come into our library you'll see the sofa I reupholstered in navy blue velvet. YES!! It's done!! I can really sing Hallelujah now! This was an advanced project for me and it took more time than anticipated. I will have a post soon on tips and tricks for upholstery. 

I used Pottery Barn letters with clippings of pine and plaid ribbon on our sconces. 

In our dining room, I made this quick no-sew tablecloth using stripe fabric and gluing down plaid ribbon to use for a border.  

For the centerpiece, I bought some eucalyptus and then clipped some greenery and berry vines in our backyard to get an organic look.

This simple wreath was made from our boxwood bushes in our front yard. It literally took minutes to make with wire. 

We have a Christmas village my mom gave to me and my girls absolutely love to help me set it up. On the wall, I made this advent calendar last year. On the back are scripture verses to read each day to prepare for Christmas. 

On Christmas Eve, our girls get new p.j's and a box of something Christmas-y. This year, they'll get some Santa mugs and a Rudolph CD. 

Our girls got to decorate this fresh tree this year. We will be planting it in our backyard at the end of winter. I just hope I can remember to keep it alive! 

It's fun to try different looks with the mantel. This year I decided to go with a white and turquoise color scheme. 

Thank you for stopping by to see our home! There are many other amazing homes to see over at the 12 Days of Christmas Link party, where I also show my home. I'm also linking this post to The Pretty Preppy Party. Go check it out! I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and New Year!