Couch Re-upholstery Project

OK so I decided it's time to post before and after pictures of things I've done. I feel like I've been holding out. I am going to hold out a while longer with pictures of the house. It's just that we have details left undone that I'd like to finish first.

So my first before and after is going to be an old one. My couches.When we got married we bought an old sofa and love seat. Together they cost $100. We could not in our right minds justify more than that. But - they were hideous. This is the couch in it's former shape!

I'm not sure what the pattern was called in it's glory days - but to us it was Pastel Tex-Mex. We didn't waste time finding cheap slip-covers. I also found some cute napkins and sewed pillow covers for some cute decor.

But alas, as those of you with slip covers know - they are terrible to deal with. I was constantly stuffing the fabric back into place, pulling on it. It was like sitting on your bed right after you finished making it. After a few months I was determined to find a better solution.

It wasn't too hard to find - but I'll admit it was a lot of work. A trip to a local Home Fabric shop and I found some really nice green upholstery fabric for $3/yard! I bought the rough estimate amount. I think it was 17 yards.

Another trip to the BYU's library had me about 7 books on upholstery projects. During one of our road trips to Canada I read the books, narrowing down the pile of useful aides to about 2 books. I learned as much as I could from those books.

Then one day when classes were cancelled and I didn't feel like studying I grabbed the tools and started demolition. I pulled those couches apart (1 at a time) as fast as I could. The worst part was pulling out the old staples. My hands were so sore. My wonderful husband helped when he came home, and he helped with the next couch. Bless his heart for putting up with all my craziness.

I used the old fabric pieces as patterns for the new fabric and began re-forming the couches. I can't even begin to describe the difference the new fabric made so I will show you instead.

There's the love seat in all her glory! All together the re-upholstery cost $150. I bought new legs later (the nice bun feet style) and painted them black. Another $80. So all told the lovely couches (yup both of them) cost us $330. A few months after we finished my hubby and I saw couches like these at Pier 1 for $800/couch. Oh yeah - talk about saving $$$!

Later, after all was said and done I found more napkins and made the red pillow covers. I also found the lace to put on them at Jo-Anns. I still can't believe how well they turned out for a first timer.