Sometimes you have to say a word from your youth so you don't forget. We always called our couch the chesterfield. I miss calling it that. But I think movies and television shows homogenize the English language a bit so words get lost in the past.
So, this is the story about a chesterfield I found at Catholic Charities for $45. SOLD. I brought it home and began my first re upholstery job. It was awesome to take something apart and figure out how it goes back together again. (I don't know why my text goes to single spacing after I start putting in photos now.)
I would do some things differently if I were to do it again, of course. I wanted to cover it in denim or a canvas fabric, but I got wooed by a some medium weight fabric in the bargain bin that was $3.99. It was polyester, but looked okay and I figured polyester would be easy to keep clean.
Nope, DON'T BE LIKE ME! Get the heavy weight fabric. While the couch looks okay, you can see the little bumps of the cotton batting underneath. I think if you want to use thinner fabric you need to upholster it on two layers to smooth everything out. And it doesn't clean that well. Oh well. Live and learn.
I didn't like how the front of the arms were so I changed them to be more smooth and tucked. And I also removed the skirt to leave the legs showing. Still need to upholster the underside
I also am really liking the one long cushion lately, but I didn't want the expense of having a new foam cushion cut. Foam is pricey. So, I took apart the three cushions cut the sides so they were squared up more. put extra stuffing where the cushions dipped at the seams. covered them all in cotton batting and then slip covered it. I like the wonky, uneven piping. Weird I know, but it makes it seem softer and lived in to me.
The most fun was the tufting. While I really love diamond tufting, this sofa didn't come that way and I decided I didn't need the extra challenge.
So there you go, A new sofa with the total cost of around $175. Not including the upholstery gun I bought. You really need one and I didn't end up getting it until I was 3/4 of the way done.
Sorry for the terrible, unedited photos. All from my phone because my hard drive died taking all of my photos with it. And for a paltry $2000 I can attempt to recover them. My computer is still somewhat out of commission as well, I haven't loaded any of my software on the new hard drive because I have no idea what box it is in. I hope I have it.
4 comments:
one of my sisters and i were just talking about that a couple of days ago...that we called our couches chesterfields! Love it!!!!
and by the way- you did a great job!
I always associate the word Chesterfeild with long, low, tufted sofas like this. My mother-in-law just named her new Collie pup Chesterfeild. I want one (a yummy cognac leather Chesterfeild- not a Collie- ha).
Wow, you don't start small, do you? Nothing like tackling a complicated sofa for your first upholstery job. It looks great. Wish I could employ your help on my lounge chair.
My grandma used to call it a Davenport. I like that too. I'm really impressed. I keep wanting to tackle an upholstery project but I'm too intimidated. I even bought a chair once for $25, but it just sat in my basement. I like what you did with the arms and legs.
I'm up for a crafty road trip. Christy, I'll meet you at Joellyn's house.
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