Work in progress...

We inherited an old sofa from my mom and dad. It was my dad's grandparents and even though it is not the most comfortable thing in the world it has a couple of things going for it:
1. It was free
2. It is very sturdy if not in a state of disrepair
3. It is "greener" to inherit than to purchase new
4. Nich and I like projects.

This is a photo of the sofa when we first got it (It's alright, you can laugh, you are supposed to!)

The photo doesn't show it very well, but the whole bottom front is so bowed that the 2 dowels holding the  center supports are out. Every time you sat on it, it made the worst creaking noise. Also, one of the arms would come off and swivel. The cushions were a little worn down and sagging.
For the obvious, yep, those are bright orange and red totally 70's flowers on the fabric. Wait, here's a closeup:

I could deal with most everything, but being such a fabric whore, I couldn't abide the clash between sofa, curtains, and wall. Since I chose the curtains and the wall, I am guessing the sofa fabric had to go. It is a testament to the durability of the fabric that my mom picked out eons ago that it is still in great shape and colorful but I think some things are allowed to go every 30 years or so.

The last time that I was in Reno visiting my sister and family, we went into my favorite fabric store, HomeFabrics and Rugs. If you haven't heard of this place, you need to check them out. Love it, love it, love it. The rugs are great and who wouldn't love a warehouse full of upholstery fabrics at super cheap prices! It is definitely my go-to place for fabrics. In Reno, I found a fabric that was no longer available at my local location and that coordinates with our curtains perfectly. It was on clearance and they were offering 20% off of clearance. So I found this perfect fabric for $2.80 a yard! Ridiculous!

I really wanted to test my upholstery chops on this sofa and cover the cushions myself but I was hesitant since it is our main source of seating and there are buttons and piping. Perhaps a litttle out of my league. So, I called around for a local upholster and found one close that would cover them for $95 each. Sounds like a great deal to me. Said it would be about a week so we dropped them off and started work on the frame.

Our friend Neal is the best! He not only has a garage full of important things like nuts, bolts and screws, he has a plethora of braces and the knowledge to use them. He came over and Nich and he blocked our poor sofa. Filled the dowels with wood glue and clamped everything down until it was back to being a square frame. Here's some photos of that process:

The sofa had to sit in this state for a couple of hours. In the time we didn't have cushions, we talked about stain. It is a beautiful maple frame but a little light for our tastes.  We wanted to bring out a little more of the orange/red that would work in contrast to the fabric and tie into the curtains a bit. We picked out a sedona red and then didn't use it. Life happened and we just never got a chance to work on the stain. Nich tells me later, that he was waiting for the cushions to make sure the stain was right. Of course he was!

For a week, we sat on the floor and tried to keep Imogen from playing on the springs. Finally, got the cushions back (a couple of days later than expected but that is normal.) At least they were done well and I love them! Here is a picture of the sofa the day we brought the cushions home:

Guess Nich likes it too! Now all we have to do is work on the stain and make some throw pillows. Like I said, a work in progress. I'll keep you posted