Recovering the couch: Part 1

Way back in February I mentioned my plans for updating our guest room. I talked about our plans for finishing things of and our amazing score on fabric here . I eventually got Started to covering the couch about two weeks ago when we had a public holiday (and I bought a staple gun). I thought I'd share the process with you :)

the origional couch looked like this:

we inherited the couch from my aunt and we used it as our couch for a while before buying the daybed. It was a solid piece of furniture it just needed to be updated. Its been living in our spareroom as our 'Spare bed" as we needed a double bed in there for when people come visit :) Its been covered up under a sheet to make it blend in a bit more 

well to get started I removed the sheet and most of the pillows to plan my attack. I realised I could remove the inner mechanism which would make it easier to work with:

Once that was out there was a lot more space :)

the back pillows were originally attached to the chair. I cut them off to be able to use the existing covers to make a pattern.

I figured starting with the front panel would be the easiest so I draped the material over the piece I wanted to do and cut to size.I had lots of material and so probably wasn't as careful as I could have been in using materiel. I guessed for most of it. Measuring is probably a smarter way to go if you are tight on fabric.I also left the Original fabric in place an covered over it. You could take it off but I was lazy and I figured if I ever wanted to recover it again it might be good to have a 'professional guide' again.

then I pulled tight and started Stapling. No major instructions here. I found the wood and made sure my staples were in the frame. I did this for the front and the back. I decided to not reattach the pillows for two reasons:

1) the pillows sag in the middle if they are attached (see the top photo for evidence)

and 

2) I had no idea how to reattach them :)

at this stage it looked like this

I left flaps open at the back to hide the staples from the arm sections.

and simply kept pulling tight and stapling (technical I know )

Slicing your finger open is optional in this tutorial. It was ouwie!! 

our arm panels are curved and have a front panel that you can take off to hid the circler material under.

at this point I ran out of staples and as it was a public holiday the shops were closed and I had to wait till Saturday before I could carry on.

I used the existing covers to make patterns for the pillows

I'll finish my story in another post :)

its looking good and was surprisingly easy and physical. I had muscles hurting the next day I didn't know existed :)