Brown drapes, wallpaper, and sofa, photo courtesy of Merala
This article was updated on 09/01/20.
If youre sprucing up your own home and the costs are running a little further north than you anticipated as always seems to be the case why not consider hanging on to your old fabric sofas for a little while and giving them a bit of a face lift yourself?
Although this article is focused on couches, bear in mind that once youve successfully re-upholstered this piece and you have a good idea of how the process works, you can do your chairs, loveseat, etc.
Its not half as difficult as you might imagine. I know; Ive done it and heres how. First off, carefully remove the old sofas cover pieces piece by piece and keep a note of which piece goes where.
In most cases, the fabric is stapled to the bottom of the frame. You will probably also need to remove the feet. In most cases they will simply unscrew. Try to keep the fabric pieces in one piece if at all possible.
Use the Old Fabric as a Template
Now place the pieces on your newly chosen fabric, cutting out the new fabric out with an inch or two to spare all round. Chances are you will need to do a bit of sewing. One good way to take care of this chore is to pick up an inexpensive hand-held sewing machine on-line at Amazon.com.
For the next, youll need to gradually replace the old pieces in reverse order, carefully stretching the new fabric into place. You can use a good staple gun for this job, fastening one side at a time which makes things a lot easier and quicker.
You may need a little extra stuffing here and there; it all depends on how old the old sofa is and how worn/compressed its insides have become. Once again, look to Amazon.com for supplies. On the other hand, if you are stuffing an arm cushion and it is a bit tight, a bit of spray silicone on the stuffing will help.
Doing up an old sofa in this way is something of a pro-tem solution unless youre a real expert, but it will make your home look a lot smarter for relatively little effort, very little cost, and a little creativity particularly in the use of color and materials.
Alternate Ways to Upgrade Your Furniture
Another alternative is to try your hand at getting hold of a good free second hand sofa and chairs to match. There are plenty of websites for people who want to get rid of their old furnishings without simply throwing it away or selling it for relative pennies.
These websites are always worth checking out if youre trying to do up your home cost effectively. One of the best ones is Craigslist. Then again, sofas are cheaper than ever these days, relatively speaking, so it may be easier to find the best sofas sale you can and doing it that way. Its all horses for courses. So there you have it; you don't have to be an expert to re-upholster your sofa.
Did you find this article helpful? Thanks for supporting this free site with a small donation! We rely on our readers rather than a paywall to keep the lights on.
About the Webmaster:
Kelly R. Smith was a commercial carpenter for 20 years before returning to night school at the University of Houston where he earned a Bachelors Degree in Computer Science. After working at NASA for a few years, he went on to develop software for the transportation and financial and energy trading industries. He has been writing, in one capacity or another, since he could hold a pencil. As a freelance writer now, he specializes in producing articles and blog content for a variety of clients. His personal blog is at I Can Fix Up My Home Blog where he muses on many different topics.