Reupholstering a Couch: Part 2-- The Dirty Work

We did it!!  Mel and I had the best time last week working together to give her pretty, abused couch a fresh new look.  If you've ever wished you could replace the upholstery on a sofa, chair or headboard but were shocked at the costs, we hope we can inspire you with this guide for reupholstery.

This little guide can be helpful for you if you are considering taking on a project of your own, but each piece of furniture will require a slightly different approach. Mel and I are by no means professional upholsterers, but we are willing to spend some time and a lot of elbow grease on a project in order to save some money and make something our own.

Everything I consider reupholstering myself needs to be doable for non-professionals like us-- in other words not too complicated.  You should probably steer clear of attempting to recover anything of special value or expense, since you don't want to risk damaging it somehow with your less-than-perfect attempts at the job.  And finally, stick to affordable fabric choices, just in case you really do botch the job.  Not that you would:)

Now, I know that paying a professional to reupholster a piece of furniture can get expensive, but don't forget there's a reason for all that money.  After tackling just a few projects myself, I can promise you that the work is hard and sometimes tedious--when you're in the middle of removing your millionth staple or upholstery tack you realize how much these jobs really are worth.

But if you have a piece of furniture that's got good bones and isn't in need of major structural repair, then give it a go!  One thing we can promise you is that if you do, you will be bursting with pride and a sense of accomplishment.


With that in mind, let's get started! To begin a project like this, you'll need a few basic tools.  I love Singer's Upolstery Basics book, and now they've come out with an updated "Plus" edition.  It takes you step by step through the process and provides detailed instructions for upholstering everything from a sofa to dining chairs to ottomans.

For stripping the old fabric, staples and nails you will also need:
1. Standard flat head screwdriver
2. Needle nose pliers
3. Tiny flat head screwdriver
4. Bowl for collecting the millions of tacks and staples
(not pictured: Camera)

via Little Green Notebook

Step 1: Take lots of photos, drawings, and notes before you begin.


It's so important to remember when you tackle a project like this is to take lots of photos of how the piece is already constructed.  How is each piece of fabric layered and attached to the sofa?  Trust me, you will be so glad you did!  Once you've stripped it, you won't want to rely just on your memory of how to put it all back together.


For example, here we took a photo of how the top roll section was attached to the frame over the backrest part of the couch.

Measure everything carefully, and it's best to measure twice!  Unless you have lots of extra fabric, you don't want to risk cutting out the pieces wrong and running out.  It happend to me on this project where I measured carelessly on one piece and cut it too short, but thankfully we were able to salvage it without recutting the whole section.

Step 2: Remove all cording and trim.

This is where some of the fun begins.  Use the standard sized screw driver to pry the cording or welting loose at the beginning point and then just yank it off using your pliers.  Often your welting will be attached using glue, but sometimes you will find it was sewn to a piece of fabric or hand sewn at the end.  Don't forget to make a note of how it was originally assembled to keep you from panicking when it's time to put it all back together!  

Once your welting is off, you'll be able to see the many staples and nails that were used to attach your old fabric.  Now comes the manual labor!  Using your flat head screw drivers to pry up underneath your nails and staples, get a section started and then come back with your pliers to pry them out.  To save yourself some energy, use the frame for leverage whenever you can to help you with the work of removing the staples.  They'll come out faster this way with less work on your part.

via LGN

Try to preserve the shape of the pieces of fabric you remove rather than ripping them up, since they can provide a pattern for you later when fitting the new pieces to your furniture.

Whew!  Stay tuned for Friday's installment on how to reupholster a sofa, plus the after photos!!

Liza