Big Summer Project!

So, my friend Emily posted on facebook that she had a sofa that she need to give away. A friend of hers had given her a French sofa, replica, and she had no place for it, so she couldn't keep it. I was debating whether it would be a good idea to take it, since we are staying at my parents at the moment and really have no place for it except the garage, but I told her I wanted it. I thought it was a little worn and run down from her picture but it actually isn't. It was built in 1989 and has been reupholstered once in 1993.It has some hideous fabric and I want the wood to be darker, so this is my BIG SUMMER PROJECT! I am soo excited about it and can't wait to get started on the hands on work. Its actually a pretty comfortable old couch. You don't sink in it at all and its nice and firm.

 

I have this vision of what I want it to look like.

I want to stain and refinish the wood in a deep deep cherry. I think it would be gorgeous like that. The picture makes it look dark but its a medium tone wood right now.

I wanted to make all the cushions one big long cushion but it would be very expensive to get a piece of foam sturdy enough to sit on and that long. So I have to stay with the three cushions.

Then I want to change the part you lean against, the inside back, to be completely flat. No tucks or buttons. Its a lot of work to do those, and the buttons are old fashioned I think. So I am thinking of a style like this one:

 

I will still have three cushions, but it will look similar to this.

Then we need to pick out the fabric and of course Gabe will help with that because we both like this antique French Rococo Style sofa. Look that up in google images and you'll see what I mean. The woodwork on some of those is beautiful. But anyway, the fabric I am thinking of is a nice French silk brocade or paisley, more on the warm pastel colors than the dark ones. Sort of like this:

Just picture this fabric on the white couch above. Wouldn't it look really beautiful?

I really think this with the dark wood finish would be gorgeous. I also like solid colors, like the couch above. We'll see what we like when we go looking for fabric samples.

The great thing about this is our neighbor Jean, has done tons of reupholstering so she has all the tools and the knowledge and she came over this morning and helped me measure everything so I know how much fabric I'll need and she estimates that altogether this shouldn't cost us anymore than $200 bucks. Which is great. I was thinking around $350 or $400 which was what put me off about the whole project anyway. I don't want to spend all that much money. But the couch was free and that is a good start. Jean said for a 22 year old couch she is surprised by the great condition it is in. All the springs are still in place and work like new, so I don't have to replace those, which she says is the hardest thing to do. She hates it. and the woodwork is simple, so this is a good first project to learn on. The fabric is has now, which is 19 years old, is actually really ship shape still too. Sister Hosking, who helped me go pick it up loved the fabric that it has and doesn't think I should change it, but I am not big into the floral patterns. Its old fashioned to me. Like old great great grandma-ish. (hehe).

So there you have it. This is my project and it is going to be a beautiful sofa that will one day grace Gabe's study when we have a huge house to put all his books and he will have ladders to reach them all because it will look like the library in The Beauty and the Beast. haha. 

I'll keep ya updated on the progress! Doesn't this look like fun??!