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.
"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 :)
For the most part, I have been against starting my own blog. Blogspot seemed to be something that you started when you got married or started having children... like a perpetual newsletter. I found this wonderful to keep tabs on married friends and family, but didn't think I had enough going on in my life to constitute my own space on the intraweb.
At the constant prodding of a dear friend of mine, I began to consider starting a blog. She had one and she wasn't married. The biggest factor in my decision to start this blog was deciding to redecorate my townhouse. Over the years I have inherited a vast amount of free furniture. I have greatly appreciated all of these pieces during my college years, but now that I have a grown up job I decided to start living in a more personalized space. So I want to start changing things around my house to be more of a reflection on me as opposed to the people who originally bought the furniture.
Some of the projects will be as simple as painting and replacing some small decorative items. Other attempts will be much more difficult like reupholstering and reupholstering... and sewing (Yeah that's hard for me, I don't know how to do that shenanegins). Did I mention reupholstering? I'm slightly terrified of this project and will need all the advice and help this internet world can give me.
I'm on a budget for all this redecorating. So most my purchases are going to be made through the wonderful world of KSL classifieds. I'll note my efforts and expenses, so that if anyone else is considering some DIY attempts, they can glean some bravery and knowledge from my many attempts. The focus will be two rooms: family room and the office/guest bedroom.
To many adventures ahead,
Boomba
PS: For most that know me, boomba is going to be a new term. This is a nickname I have, but only from one person. Zookie is one of my closest friends and has recently left the state of Utah to serve our country in Korea for the next year or so. I won't get to talk to him much, so this blog is also to keep him informed of the latest and greatest in the life of McKell. :)
