I am working on an upholstery project. My first one!! I’ve gone to the library to get text on how to work this project. I’ve never done something like this and am oddly confident that I’ll be okay through it.
The sofa .. my parents gave it to me. Its about 20 years old and in need of some new padding. It also needs some new fabric coverings, as the ones on it is understandably old. Of course, slip covers sold look really pathetic and they bunch up and are just plain bleh.
Sofa with slip cover on.
My mom a few years back had actually tried doing a reupholster too. I’m sure there was a good reason, but it never got quite done.
Sofa with half of a reupholster job.
The fabric she was using is beautiful and I’ll be able to use it for other things, but it’s just not something I want on a sofa. I like dark basic colors like brown. I haven’t picked out the fabric just yet. It is advised that you take apart the sofa or any other furniture that you would reupholster prior to buying the materials for it.
So as I went along plucking off staples, I came across dust. Lots of it. The sofa is 20 some years old so I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. Just that I am allergic to dust so the whole rest of the night, I sniffled and sneezed my way through the work.
Lets talk springs. Usually you see coil springs in sofas. When I looked (I’m sure I’ve seen them before but never really understood that there are different types of springs) I found tension springs instead. The books I have say that tensions springs are used in “modern” furniture. I guess my sofa is “modern”! So because I was all ready for the coil spring installs, there is a slight set back as I have to go through my books again and learn about the tension springs before I start taking them off to replace, if they need replacing.
At the end of the night, roughly 4.5 hours later my sofa has made some progress; and I’m happy about it!
Things still left to do:
- Finish removing the fabric/padding.
- Inspect the springs and check if they need replacing
- Decide if webbing is needed to hold shape between the spaces in the frame. (The original piece used cardboard..)
- Pick fabric and order
- Get foam for backing and seating; batting and foam for springs and sides
- Start fixing the frame
- Apply webbing
- Replace springs
- Attach all padding on to the sofa
- Attach the fabric
What kind of projects have you undertaken that are big risks? Have you done an upholstery project? What issues did you run in to if any? Share in the comments with links to pictures of your projects.
- ASH
