Couch: Reupholstered

When we first moved into our apartment, we had very little furniture and bought this loveseat for $50 at the thrift store across the street. Considering both the price of things in this city– and our small budget, it was a good deal. The velour was rubbed off on parts of the pillows, it was a weird color, and it was sagging a bit in the middle– but it was roach and bedbug-free, didn’t smell, and gave us somewhere to sit other than the floor, the futon mattress, or the desk chair.

Fast-forward five years, and the poor thing appeared to be destined for Sunset Scavenger. The seat  pillows had ripped open, and had a bad habit of sliding off of the actual couch. The remainder of the velour was dingy from spending much time next to an open window on a busy street. We tried creatively draping it in blankets, and I even attempted to shop online for one of those stretchy couch covers. The blankets persistently fell off, and the couch covers cost as much as we had paid for the couch itself. 

I bought a bunch of really intense vintage fabric a few weeks ago at Goodwill– White polyester with yellow and blue diamonds, and a canvas checkerboard pattern with daisies. They went together alarmingly well and the grand total was $4.49. I had somewhat nebulous plans for the fabrics– but everything came together yesterday at the laundromat when I was folding the polyester– “wow, this thing is bigger than my couch!” That afternoon I bought a staple gun– and 500 staples and a few hours later I had a “new” couch.

This is the first thing I’ve upholstered, and hopefully it won’t be the last!

before:

after:

 

 

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