Family Makeover
This year I've discovered my new skill - reupholstering. At first it was intimitdating because I've never done stripping everything to the bare wood and replacing with all new materials. Thanks to YouTube and blog tutorials, I've learned new techniques along the way. This project didn't take much of sewing which it had saved my time and efforts except back pillows and throw pillows. Not only reupholstering I've made change to the family room, I've done painting walls, sewing window curtains, replacing the old rods with new rods, and putting in a new rug. The family room looks totally different and brand new as if we just moved to a new house.
After reading several reupholstering blogs, I was positive sure with everything I had ready for the project. When I took everything off the couches, I realized I missed some necessary supplies like tack strips, tack hammer, dust cover, and jute webbing. Oh boy, I had to put this project on a halt several times until I got what I needed in each step. When the couches got the to the bare wood, I was surprised on how the couches got held by insufficient back support out of many uses for many years. My husband and I agreed to add wood studs and replace plastic webbing with strong jute webbing. In that way, they can handle another 10 years. As this reupholstering project may sound like a long and hard process, I managed to finish the couches and the whole family room makeover including painting and new window rods/curtains in a week. So much sweats and work along the way but, in the end all my time and efforts were totally worthy.
Supplies needed for the couches
26 yards of fabric of Magnolia Home Telluride Stone
2 of high density foam cushion sheets (can be found in Amazon or Ebay)
10 lb poly fill box for back and throw pillows (got it from Walmart)
Polyester batting
Nufoam batting for arms (Got mine from Joann's)
18 yards of jute webbing (I got mine from Joann's)
Upholstery tack strip with plastic sleeves
Dritz upholstery tack trip
Wood studs
Dust cover
Upholstery nails
Staples
Heavy duty stapler
Hammer
Magnetic Tack Hammer
Rubber Mallet
Pliers
This is not really tutorial but I want to show you the process of my work so I can save it for my future reference on next possible reupholstery projects. I could say this is my biggest project that involves sewing I've done in my whole life.
Before - Old, worn out, bulky red couches
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| My 11 year old loveseat (my regular one on left is "camera shy") |
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| Taking one piece at a time to save for cutting out new fabric |
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| Pulling out old tack strip from the side |
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| Another tack strip on the back |
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| Label each piece and lay it out on new fabric |
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| Stripping old dust cover from bottom |
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| So many staples to take off |
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| My two curious cats exploring |
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| My sweet hubby adding wood studs in the back for last-longing and strong support |
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| Old weak plastic webbing |
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| Jute webbing on the "shy" couch |
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| Weaving jute webbing on the loveseat |
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| Hand sewing batting on the front bottom for softness |
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| Align Tack strip to the right edge |
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| Start the process of applying tack strip |
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| Rubber mallet to tack it in |
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| Nice and clean edge |
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| Cover the bottom with dust cover and staple the edge in |
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| Decorative nails |
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| Sorry for the blurry picture - that's what the final looks like! |
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| Couldn't be more than pleased with my work, especially for the first time! |
For references :
Upholstery Tack Strip Demo
How to Use the Cardboard Tack Strip
How to Reupholster an Armchair
Classy clutter
