Kim's personal links
MY FAVOURITE DECOR SHOPS IN OTTAWA
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kitchen remodel in my last house
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my twin sister's mostly kid's rooms decor blog
I saw the following photo on Sköna hem and had to post it as Jo and I are huge fans patchwork sofas. While I don't love the florals used, the other fabrics are working for me and it looks so loungey and comfortable. I also love that it has no legs. That way all the cat toys don't collect underneath. :) (I know, this isn't a full post but it's Sunday night and frankly I'm dying to try out this cake-in-mug-recipe before it gets too late.)
My DIY sofa is finally complete! I had agonized over what to do about fabric for cushion covers, which proved to be a bit tough since I had a forest backdrop to work around. Having never had to plan such a fabric venture before (since I'm not an interior designer, I see why folks hire them for stuff like this) walking into a major fabric store was a tad daunting. But I think my choices worked out OK in the end. I had asked my mom to make the covers for me (I have no clue how to sew) and she opted to send the pillows to her seamstress instead. Which turned out to be a brilliant idea, because her seamstress made covers for 13 pillows, 12 of which she did piping, and it only cost about $100. Yes, that's $100 CDN (!!!). I found a purple tie-dye-ish linen type fabric and knew I had to have it so I worked the other fabrics around it. I wanted all linens/linen blends because I love wrinkles. I'm considering dying the base cushion covers but will let them be for now (they get pretty dirty with 6 cats all over them constantly). I also switched rattan chairs and am using the white lime zebra print one in the living room now since it matches the green cushions. One project down, a zillion more to go (although I am trying to find a silver tray to replace that yellow one on my coffee table)...
So I finally got around to getting the instructions for my DIY sofa from my boyfriend and he took a few photos to illustrate some key points. Sorry for the delay folks but I have a terrible memory and have been super busy lately. These are in his words, including the title (which I don't want to take credit for LOL). (Thanks Jeff!!)
First thing is to measure the cushions you are going to use (we used the Ikea's Lillberg sofabed cushions). You want the cushions to fit tightly into the sofa. This will keep the cushions fluffy and in place as you get comfy. The pillows should sit 2-3” below your sides depending on the height of your pillows. You can see the difference in this picture:
The frame is made from 2x4's, the width ones that attach to the legs are first and then 2x4 lengths lay on top around the edges.
Another 2x4 is cut to fill in the gap so the 2x6’s on top sit evenly.
FYI – do not screw your wheels/legs to the couch like this. Use proper screws, something I forgot on the trip to Home Depot. And we're going to switch out 2 of the casters on each of the 2 moveable pieces to finials, because despite using lockable casters, they still move around too much.
Lay some 2x6’s lengthwise on top. You could use whatever width of wood you want, heavy is good so the couch won’t move around when you are. You can see in the first photo an end view without the MDF.
The ledge on the back was made by raising a 2x6 so it would make a space for pillows. If you are going to make a pillow ledge remember to take that into account when making the frame (it was an afterthought on this one).
The sides are finished with the MDF and cut at 45 degree angle at the corners.
The MDF we used (8") is the perfect height to reach from the top of the legs to 2-3” above the frame. The couch sits 12” high to the top of the MDF.
Fill the holes and cracks, prime (we bought pre-primed MDF), paint and accessorize as required (mine still require new pillows - hoping to tackle that ASAP).
I decided a little while ago that my living room sofa was not working for me. It was cute, I'll give it that. But it was NOT loungey. Definitively not wide enough for my boyfriend and I to sprawl on and watch movies. I'm hoping to find it a new home since I have no other room to put it in. I knew I'd never find a sofa that would suit my needs and my budget so my boyfriend and I built one. Since our carpentry skills are limited, I am quite surprised it turned out as well as it did. We finished building it a few days ago, and I painted it Friday.
Since I wanted something low and loungey, I figured the easiest way to get what I wanted would be to get some cushions, and basically build boxes for them. Instead of buying foam for the cushions, I went to Ikea and bought cushions from one of their sofas where they were sold separately from the frame. There were 4 cushions - 2 for the base and 2 narrower ones for the back. So working with that we built one main base that houses the 2 larger cushions and an individual base for each of the narrower ones. This is the main base before I painted it.
We used rounded fence post toppers (?) for the feet of the main section (I have pieces of furniture pads underneath them in the photos because it weighs a ton and I'm worried it's going to dent the floor), and casters for the feet of the 2 smaller sections. This way the smaller pieces could be wheeled around the living room to accommodate different seating arrangements. Because I wanted a pile of pillows along the back of the main section and I was concerned they would take up too much space, we built a ledge along the back (which you can see in the third photo) to house the majority of the pillows, leaving ample room for sprawling.
I've had a couple of chances to try out the new sofa (I'm on it as I type this) and it's incredible. It's so versatile and ridiculously comfortable. I need to make new covers for the seat cushions. I bought the covers from Ikea for them but they are a thick canvas and cat hair sticks to it in an obscene way so I need something more cat friendly. I also just threw on a bunch of pillows for the photos below, but I need to buy fabric for new pillows as well. I'm thinking of sticking with neutrals, with lots of texture, and maybe a couple pillows in jewel toned colours to work with the rest of the living room and kitchen. I'm also considering stenciling the frames, but I have to give that more thought.
Here are some photos I took of the sofa with different placement of the smaller pieces.
Georgia wrote looking for some inspiration for a project: "I have inherited and begun to restore a lovely old chesterfield couch belonging to a recently deceased great uncle. It's a labour of love and I want to love it and pass it on after me. Do you have any images of restored chesterfields? I think I want to step away from that men's club vibe and modernise it somehow with the covering... any input would be amazing. I think I'm heading away from tufting though, in an effort to modernise and simplify (the upholsterer gave me the biggest smile when i decided this, less work for him). I'm not having much luck locating images of nice revamped chesterfields (leather or otherwise) without the tufting... do you know of any?"
Now I don't have a photo of Georgia's chesterfield, but the photo below is what I always envision when I hear the word chesterfield. Leather, black (or brown) with thick rounded arms and lots of tufting in the back.
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| Angus McRitchie | Lucinda Symons |
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| Sean Myers | Domino |
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| Suzy Hoodless | The Rug Company |
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| elledeco | Joe Schmelzer |
Mon, 7 Dec 2009