Reupholstery

When we moved into our house, the previous owner had one more trip to make to take the rest of his belongings from the garage. In the garage he had an antique sofa. My mother-in-law commented how beautiful it was and the previous owner offered to leave it for her. The sofa's wood was in beautiful condition, but the material on the sofa was ripped and frayed. The sheet on the seat was covering a huge rip.

I spend most of my time in the den near the computer and the TV since it is the warmest room in the house. There is no where for me to stretch out and relax in there except for my desk chair. The sofa sat in the garage for about 8 months when I decided to reupholster it and use it in the den.

I started my ripping off the cording that was hot glued around the edge of the material - that ripped right off. Next, I took a hammer and screw driver and took out each upholstery tack one by one. They were all rusty. I had a coffee mug full of tacks by the time I was done. I also discovered it was reupholstered once before as well. I asked the previous owner and he said the sofa was about 100 year old, so that would make sense. After all the material was removed, The springs and padding were in great condition so I left them as is.

I found some great reversible fabric that was thin and red with gold swirls or gold with red swirls depending on how you used it. I used this for the curtains in the den. By pure luck I found a lampshade that used the same material at Wal-Mart so I used that to place behind the sofa. Per the suggestion of my friend B at work, I used a more durable material to cover the sofa - red microsuede with red embroidered swirls. I used the old material as a guide and cut out the new material and used a staple gun to attach it to the sofa. Once all the material was in place I found some matching cord and hot glued it to the sofa to clean up the edges as done before. My husband helped me move it in the den and now I can truly be queen of my household in my own throne!