I actually got this work finished last Sunday, but have been so distracted that I haven't been able to get the post up all week. I steadily feel this project coming to a close. In my last blog I had done most of the work on the couch without mistake. The main piece of fabric that went on the couch didn't really want to cooperate though. So it was definitely the most frustrating piece of I had to put on. I even got so mad I had to quit, do something else for a bit, and then return.
One thing I do have to say is the compressor, while awesome, does have a downside... When you staple with a compressor and it's heavy duty staples, they aren't coming back out. So it really doesn't lend itself to mistakes very well. For a first time upholsterer, that proved unwise on one piece. I was doing so well! But when I tackled the middle piece I stapled prematurely and it resulted in a giant problem for me to try and work around. I kept at it and definitely prevailed.
After the middle piece was on, then I just had to put the back of the couch on, followed by the cover along the bottom of the couch. Both of those pieces were giant and square, so I didn't feel they would be too difficult (and was right). Here are some pictures of my latest and greatest steps!
A few bits of advice from these few pieces:
1-Get complicated fabric placed before you staple I can't tell you how much I really wish I would have done this!
2-Staple low on the wood What does this even mean? Well, when I would be putting on a piece of fabric, I'd pull it around and staple it pretty close to the edge of the wood as soon as I reached it. This isn't wise because if you pull the fabric farther across the wood and then staple, it makes it easier to cover the staples with whatever piece will be serving at the "finished edge".
On the back of the couch, I had to pull the fabric as far as I possibly could to get it to the very, very edge of the wood so that it covered the stapling from previous pieces. Had I been more generous earlier with these parts, it would have been less complicated. I'm not sure if this makes sense to the general reader... but if you start upholstering, I think you will see exactly what I mean.
Basically its like wrapping a present. Have you ever cut the sides a little too short and when you went to fold them, part of the present showed through the side? That same concept, except you don't necessarily see the couch frame, but all of your staples that should be underneath.
3-Clean tools are a good idea One of my favorite parts of the couch was using the tack strips to create the finished edge on the back of the couch. You poke it through the fabric and roll it to create a nice edge and use a rubble mallet to hammer it in. Quite easy, quite fun. The rubber mallet I was using was a touch dirty. I didn't even stop to think about that! So after a few hits, I noticed the fabric was getting dirty. :( So then I tied some scrap fabric around it and continued, this time with no dirty rub off.
Just a few things left and I'll be through! I need to sew the cushions and pillows, then figure out what I'm doing with the front of the arm rests... The light is at the end of the tunnel and I'm definitely excited to be done with this project and move onto some other creative ideas I have.
This was a rather productive weekend in the world of reupholstering. After I got the arm rests on, the next few pieces proved to be quite easy. I did make my first mistake... but hopefully when I'm finished it won't be that noticeable. Here are some pictures of the progress...
Bottom center piece in
View of one side piece (I do have both of them complete)
After I finished getting those three pieces on, then I painted the legs of the couch. Before they were covered by the skirt and couldn't be seen, but I think they will be visible now. Of course I painted them black... it's the only color of paint I have. (which is why it will match everything else)
To making it over the hill and enjoying the decline,
Whenever I hear someone talk about "adult toys", I'll always think of power tools! Today I have successfully made small progress on the couch. Sorry if you were expecting a completed product in this blog!
My last blog was exactly a month ago when I sewed all the fabric together for the couch. A lovely friend of mine, Jack, loaned me his Porter Cable compressor staple gun so that I could do my upholstery. I had it right around the time of my last blog and actually did try to start on the couch. Unfortunately, the air relief valve had rusted and I couldn't turn it. So to avoid from blowing up, I waited to start the couch.
Jack has two jobs, so he is insanely busy! On a free night he came to check out the compressor and figured out which part he would need. I returned it to him and he had it fixed that night. Today I tested her out for the first time... and she works like a charm!
Great shot of her, but it isn't even my favorite part...
Say hello to my little friend!
I recommend to anyone starting an upholstery project to see if they can get their hands on one of these set ups. It makes everything soooo.... easy! I did have to go buy staples at Lowe's. The compressor came with staples that were 1 inch in length, but the staples I removed from the couch were closer to 1/2 inch. I got a pack of 5000 5/8 inch staples. Hopefully I don't have to go buy another box!
On a more serious note, do take the safety precautions needed with "toys" like this. I for sure got safety glasses and earplugs for this project. You'll also want to make sure you read through all instruction manuals for the tool you are using. I was really intimidated to use it at first, but once I got going I realized how easy it was. Then it just got to be more and more fun!
The first thing on the agenda was to make the proper repairs to the couch. I had three things to do. Each side needed a wooden piece along the bottom so that I could get a nice straight line when I folded the fabric under. This was necessary because I'm not putting the skirt back on.
Before
After
The next repair I needed to make was to the splitting frame on the back of the couch. I bought a piece of wood to staple to the top in order to help reinforce the beam and hopefully prevent it from splitting further.
Before
After
The staple gun made it so easy to attach these to the frame of the couch. I tried nailing the pieces when I first got them and... well... I'm a terrible aim with a hammer so that didn't turn out very well!
After the repairs were made I moved on to attach the arm rests to the couch. When I cut all the fabric out, I cut it in square dimensions. That way if I ripped anything I'd still be ok and have enough fabric. So as I started to attach the arm rests, I had to keep my scissors handy so I could cut the pieces to fit around the frame. This was only necessary on two parts of the arm rest, which was nice because it's kind of a hassle! As a note, none of this was actually hard. The hardest part was just making sure everything looked straight and that I was pulling all of the ripples out of the fabric.
Make sure you pull the fabric taut, but not too tight. You don't want anything to rip if people sit on it. Also, make sure you iron your fabric before you put it on in order to eliminate any wrinkles. You also want to iron each piece right before you are going to be putting it on. I ironed everything at once to start with. Needless to say, I'm ironing each piece before I put it on again.
There you have it! I'm feeling really good about my ability to get this couch together again. The longer I saw it sit there uncovered, the more I wondered if I could even put it back together.
This post is long overdue. I actually finished this work like on Tuesday... I was trying to decide what steps I wanted to include, but this morning decided that there is nothing wrong with having a few smaller blogs covering things I have to do before the couch is actually finished.
In my last blog, I had completely taken apart the couch. So the next step was cutting out the fabric and sewing all the pieces together. I was pretty scared because I haven't sewn in ages. Still, even when I did sew in home economics in the 7th grade (twelve years ago) I wasn't any good. We learned how to make "Cat in the Hat" hats. You know... the striped ones? Terrible idea, no one should wear those. NO ONE.
After all the fabric was off, I laid it out on my living room floor to review all of the instructions and begin pinning the fabric to be cut.
If you lay the fabric out in a common walkway, but sure to remove all upholstery tack strips. Jake accidentally stepped on one and we had to go get him a tetanus shot. It was also rather painful and he did bleed. He has since recovered, but gave me a pretty hard time about leaving sharp objects on the floor for a while.
My lovely mother taught me how to use her sewing machine for this exciting event. She came over and showed me how to load a bobbin and thread the sewing machine. Then we even took a few scraps of fabric and practiced for a bit. I can see now why women would own a sewing machine, even if they aren't particularly interested in knowing how to sew well. Knowing how to do a little with a sewing machine actually goes a long way.
So after I pinned each piece of fabric, I went to town sewing them together. Much to my relief, it wasn't hard at all. In fact, I didn't make any errors for the most part until the very end and I was trying to rush things. Still, sewing is NOT scary. I found it to be rather easy. One thing I would suggest, it always buying the pins with the plastic cushion things at the end. My poor thumb was raw after pinning all the old pieces to the new fabric and cutting them out.
This is the very first shot of the first pieces I put together. This will actually be the first piece to go on the couch. It's the front part of the base of the couch and the middle piece that covers the springs. I'm not sure if anyone can actually visualize what I'm talking about... I only know because I took it apart.
After all the regular pieces of fabric were sewn together, I had to go to an upholstery place to get some of the really strong black fabric that was attached here and there on pieces to be pulled through one way and stapled. There is a little upholstery shop not more than ten minutes from my place. I went there with a list of things that I needed. What did the guy charge me? $3 ! I actually paid $5 but only because I didn't have ones and he didn't have change. I'm not worried. That fits in the budget quite nicely.
The only thing I have left to sew is the cushions and pillows. Those will require more skills than I currently have. I'm sure I'll figure it out. Really, any other sewing that is required for upholstery is super simple. Mostly just straight lines over and over again. So maybe I have a false sense that sewing is easy, but I'm ok with that for now.
"Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up."
It's been well over a month since my last post. I got bogged down with work and visitors and parties and the holidays and... and... and... I started taking the couch apart about a week before Halloween. After many tedious hours pulling out staples and only getting the skirt off, I realized that I would not be able to get the couch done before a weekend filled with wonderful people coming to see the house. So I stopped at the skirt, leaving the couch functional, swearing to press on once the holiday was through.
After Halloween I did start tearing apart the couch again. I do have high hopes that taking the couch apart is much harder than putting it back together. The process of pulling out all of the staples is rather difficult! I severely underestimated the time and effort that it would take. On more than one occasion my hands were cramped and scratched from all of the tugging and pulling.
In fact... as more time was spent taking the couch apart, the more I thought about taking it to a reupholster to have it finished. I had made it most the way through the couch but couldn't figure out how to get the base removed without destroying everything. Surely it would be significantly cheaper with all the work I had done and the fabric already purchased... Right?
I'm happy to tell you that I don't know the answer to that question. Tonight I had no plans but to attack the couch. Much to my surprise, once I figured out how to take the bottom off it was actually really easy. My couch had been sitting mostly unfinished for weeks. Had I realized that all I had left was about two hours of work, then I would have cracked down much earlier and gotten through it.
I'm glad I didn't quit when I was so close to finishing. Granted, I still have a lot more to do, I'm quite happy that I made it over the first major hump of this project. Here is a slide show of the process of taking the couch apart. Each time I removed a piece of fabric I would take a picture and put it in the slide show. Here is my little demolition show:
Now some reflection for taking apart a couch...
#1 You won't know, but you will learn as you go.
Before I started this project I did as much reading online as I could. One thing that really hated hearing was that each piece of furniture will tell you how it's put together. I wanted to know and be prepared going into it, but I wasn't and anyone else that is contemplating doing their own upholstery, you won't either. As you take each piece of fabric off, you see how your individual piece of furniture is put together. There really is no "way" to do it. You just sort of have to take the plunge to see what you are getting into.
#2 Use leverage to work smarter instead of harder.
Removing staples is a total pain! All I can say is that leverage is your best friend. Don't try and pull a staple straight out. Don't try and put a flathead screwdriver straight under it to pry it up. Remember to use your angles. Use a corner of the screwdriver to get underneath the staple and shimmy it until it lifts. Use some needle nose pliers to pull it the rest of the way out. Instead of pulling it straight out, twist one side out and then the other. It will save you a ton of energy... promise.
#3 Ripping isn't illegal.
The next thing I had read in blogs was not to rip the fabric off the furniture. This seemed pretty self-explanatory, so I took great care in removing every staple in the beginning. One thing that I learned is that you don't want to rip the fabric, but once you get a good amount of staples out, you can pull the fabric and it won't rip. In fact, there were many staples I couldn't get out with the tools, but when I gave the fabric a nice tug they came right out. Once I figured out how many staples I could take out and then rip the rest, then I really started saving time! Just be careful, because this fabric is the pattern for your new couch and you want it to remain as intact as possible.
Some other things...
Another thing that I did was keep a vacuum close by. There is a lot of nasty crap that falls in couches and I was often ripping into something and having a mess fall out. Keep a vacuum close by and clean up as you go. I wouldn't make a rule out of this or anything, but I'm OCD and think it's kind of gross not to...
This part is going to take time, so just remember to be patient and not give up on yourself. I probably put in around 15 hours to take this couch apart. Plus I got a lot of slivers and scrapes in the process. It's not always pretty, but it is completely doable by anyone with some will power.
I do have a couple challenges ahead of me:
(1) There is one board in the back of the couch that has some damage that will need to be fixed. I'm not sure how I will fix it, but it is something that I will have to address before I recover the couch. I may or may not have to actually seek out an upholster for some professional suggestions.
(2) I absolutely do not want to put a skirt back on the couch. Not only are skirts kind of dated, but they really make taking a couch apart super difficult. It was one of the most time consuming things I had to do and it was a decoration. However, there was black fabric on the bottom that was covered by the skirt. So basically I will have to reinvent a new pattern for some pieces of the couch so that I don't have to do a skirt.
(3) Sewing... I am going to have to sew for the next part of this project and the last time I sewed was in 7th grade. That was half my life ago so that is kind of scary right now. I have faith and youtube videos, so I'm hoping I will make it :)
I've finally got all of the furniture items completed for the office! I still have decorating that needs to be done, but that can wait until I finish the reupholstering in the living room. I'm very pleased with how the office has turned out and will be very excited to finish it. One thing that I have learned is that the details really do make a big difference in a room. The office now has all the furniture, but is yearning for it's details to complete it. I'll get there... I have to pace myself. Mostly because of money, but we all have our constraints!
I can now welcome guests to come stay at my place, because I have a futon that is actually pretty comfortable (plus I have extra padding to throw on it). I inherited the futon from my mother. My youngest brother had been using it for a bed, but then it was decided a real bed with a real mattress would be best for everyday sleeping. I agree! So I went down to Salt Lake with her to pick up his new bed and took the futon of their hands!
Now, this futon has been around for a while and was in the need of some rehabilitation. The support bars were struggling and the futon cover was quite dated. Free, however, was the right price and I was pretty sure it could be rehabilitated. I don't have a before picture because I received it taken apart. Here are a few shots that I took.
Terrible green plaid pattern
Wood ends that I sanded down and painted black.
All I can say is that I'm terribly sick of painting. One thing I would recommend to DIYer's is to plan projects with variety in mind. If you have a few painting projects, try and space other projects between them. I found myself caring a lot less about this paint job than when I did the coffee table and entertainment center. I had ran out of paint and did have to buy a new bucket, so now I'm set on paint for future projects if I need it.
One of the support bars needed to be welded again, but the other was sort of beyond repair. So I (really it was mostly my parents, but we all did it together) replaced the second support bar with a 2x4 cut to the right length. Once we got everything back together, then I had to buy a new futon cover. I'm not a big Wal-mart shopper, but their futon covers are great. I love the color and it was super easy to put on.
So here is the view from the door before the futon...
...and after!
The pillows I already owned and picked the color scheme so that I would be able to reuse them. I'm really pleased with how the project turned out and am glad to have the extra bed for visitors.
Financial Breakdown:
Futon: $FREE Paint: $11 Cover: $30
Total Cost: $41
Cumulative Office Cost: $131
I do still have some details to attend to, but won't exceed $200 for the entire room. Hopefully that frames some pictures for me, gets a rug, and an office chair. We'll see how awesome I am at being frugal.
I'm not sure why this post has taken me so long to get up. I had this done when I had the book case done, but just never got around to taking the pictures and posting it. Anyway, I was successfully able to replace my old desk for a much more modern HON desk. HON is a manufacturer of desks and they are really high in quality. On their website, no desk is under $300.
What happened to the budget McKell? Budget.... oh yeah! That thing... Hmmm...
Once again, because of the glory that is KSL Classifieds, I was able to find a HON desk in the Layton area for only $60! Plus I was able to sell my old desk for $20, making my net expense on my desk $40. I think that is in the budget :)
When looking for desks, I wanted one that had actual legs. Writers desks were really attractive to me because they were kind of elegant with the legs and it would also help make the room seem bigger with the increased floor visibility. I'm not certain how much room the futon will take up in this room, so I wanted to help make it look at visually large as I could. I did actually find a beautiful writers desk and chair on KSL, but after I drove all the way down to Holladay to pick it up, the old man had sold it out from underneath me! Needless to say, I was rather angry, but that is one of the dangers of shopping on KSL. I highly recommend you always call, give your name, get their name, and get a commitment that you are going to buy it and they are going to sell it to you. That way there is no confusion.
In the end, it worked out for the best because even though it's not the exact style I wanted, it turned out being the better choice. The desk is more modern and sturdy, it's massive, but it doesn't appear to take up much space in the room. I'm really glad that I ended up getting this desk, plus the resell on it will be easy if I decide to redecorate in the future.
Enough talk, on to the pictures!
The old desk
The new desk
Old view of desk and book case
New view of desk and book case
One thing I didn't realize is that if you have open legs on the desk, then all of the random cords and wires can be seen. Right now it looks like a jumbled mess, but I'll be using twist ties to organize them as soon as I steal the ones I have at work (I never use them there).
Financial Breakdown:
Cost of new desk: $60 Less old desk revenue: $20
Total expense: $40
Special thanks Justin for taking my old desk off my hands AND paying me for it. He sent me a picture of the new desk and he could start his own before/after blog :)
Life sometimes takes you down roads that you never knew you would be driving on. I've been blessed enough to have life NOT go exactly as I had planned, leading me to some of the best places I could have ever decided to go.
I've successfully graduated college and now have a job as a contractor. I'm dating a wonderful guy who loves me and have the most wonderful family in the world.
