How to ReCover a Couch – Before

I was going to title this “How to Reupholster a Couch,” but I couldn’t pass up the play on words - How to recover a recovered couch. Get it? No? Ok, keep reading.

A year ago last October hubby and I got a couch off of FreeCycle, hence a recovered couch. (we ended up taking home a cockatiel too, but that’s another story)

It’s ugly, I know.

But, we don’t have a guest room or guest bed, so here’s why we got it:

Yup, a free, full-size sofabed. Awesome. And it’s relatively comfortable (for a sofabed) and didn’t smell funny and no major rips or tears. However, it’s ugly. Good lines, but the burgundy plaid was not only sooooo not my style, but it was also worn. If you look closely at the left arm you’ll notice where it was repaired with tape. Yup, tape. Not by me, btw, by the previous owner.

It was a no-brainer that it had to be recovered, and my first thought was a fitted slipcover like I did for the living room couch. BUT – then I’d have to take it off every time we want to use the bed part, and then my guests would be inundated with ugly. So, no. I thought of making a modified slipcover that had an opening for the bed to pop out of, but frankly that just got too complicated.

So I sucked it up, bought some unbleached cotton drop cloths, got out my trusty staple gun, and went to town. And it only took me seven months. Well, really, it took three sessions of 1-2 hours each, but finding those 1-2 hours when I didn’t have a little helper (and even sometimes when I did) and when I didn’t have something more important to do took a while. But it’s done now! Stay tuned for the tutorial...

Links below to the rest of the tutorial!
STEP 1 
STEP 2
STEP 3
AFTER!