Everyone likes change.If your old but beloved and familiar sofa has worn out, and you haven't saved up enough money to buy a new one, you can update it by covering it with new beautiful upholstery. You need to figure out how to choose the material, and then .
If your sofa is worn out and looks unsightly, then the way out of this situation is to reupholster it. You need to start with the main thing, without which it is impossible to start work, with tools and materials.
Tools and materials
How to upholster a sofa yourself? You need to prepare the tools you have at home in advance:
In the process of reupholstering a sofa, you will need a construction stapler.
- a hammer;
- Screwdriver Set;
- scissors;
- hexagon socket wrenches;
- Screwdriver;
- knife;
- Nippers;
- building stapler;
- pliers;
- pliers.
Now about the materials.First of all, it is upholstery fabric. The main requirements for it are as follows: it should be strong, easy to clean, contact with the external environment, not lose its original appearance. The following fabrics are most often used for upholstery:
In addition to the upholstery fabric, you will need to prepare braid, furniture tape and piping. You will also need:
- plywood sheet;
- foam rubber;
- sintepon;
- special staples;
- piece of chalk;
- strong thread or twine and needle;
- nails;
- screws and bolts;
- glue joiner or PVA.
To change the upholstery of a sofa you will need foam rubber. When buying foam rubber (polyurethane foam), you should note its following properties:
- softness;
- density;
- elasticity.
The thickness of the polyurethane for the sofa bed should bebe at least 4 cm. Its density can be determined by the marking, where the letters indicate the brand, the numbers - density (the first two) and hardness (the last two). For the sofa seat, you need foam rubber with a hardness of 40 to 50 units. For different parts of the sofa with unequal loads, polyurethane is selected with different densities: for the seat - with a higher one, and for the back and armrests - with a slightly lower one. The greatest load is directed at the seat, so you should choose foam rubber with a density of 40 kg / m³ (brand EL4050) for it, but you need to lay super-soft polyurethane foam on top. For the arms and back, you can take foam rubber with a lower density, for example, 25 kg / m³. Return to the table of contents</a>
Disassembly of the old sofa
To remove upholstery from a sofa, usea nail puller or a screwdriver. Before starting the main work, you need to carefully inspect the condition of the furniture. Using a screwdriver, remove the upholstery from the furniture. Then it is recommended to pry up the staples. If they are firmly fixed, then you need to use a flat screwdriver and pliers. To repair an old one, you need to inspect all the wooden elements. For a detailed inspection of the frame, you need to remove the backing. All joints and fastenings must be checked for strength. It is better to replace screws and bolts with new ones. Broken and old structures should be replaced with new components made of wooden beams, fiberboard or plywood. In case of minor damage, the product can be corrected using construction tape and wood glue. Particular attention should be paid to fasteners. Their replacement will extend the life of the sofa for a long time. To repair a sofa, you need to separate the seat from the back:
There is no need to rush to throw away the old upholstery, it can be useful as a template for a pattern when sewing new covers. Return to contents</a>
Repair of internal parts of a sofa
To unscrew the old springs from the sofa, use pliers and a hammer. First, you need to repair the spring blocks inserted into the back and armrests:
If the springs on the seat are particularly worn out, they can be made elastic again:
If there are sagging springs, you shouldn't replace them.throw them away, you can stretch them, and they will still serve. To make the sofa more voluminous, you can put synthetic padding on top of the polyurethane. When all the above-mentioned works are behind, you can start sewing covers for the sofa. Return to the table of contents</a>
Upholstery and furniture pulling
Every detail of the sofa should be cut outseparately. Now you need to understand how to upholster the sofa. First, you need to cut the fabric. The fabric chosen for drapery is laid out on the floor or a large table, old covers are placed on it instead of patterns and outlined with chalk. The fabric is cut, leaving allowances, and new covers are sewn on a machine. When sewing, it is necessary to take into account that the seams are subject to a lot of stress during use. Therefore, their strength is essential. You can use reinforced threads when sewing and sew in 2-3 layers. In the joints, you can use decorative tape or braid. These materials will cover up extra or unsuccessful seams and give the product a decent look. When everything is ready, you can put new covers on the seat, armrests and back. The attachment points for the new upholstery should be in the same place where the old covers were attached. You can attach the covers with a stapler, each time pulling the material when driving in the next fastener. The upholstery on upholstered furniture should be well stretched. Fasteners should be located every 2-3 cm. This will ensure a strong and reliable fixation of the upholstery. Sagging fabric is unacceptable. But excessive fastening is also undesirable. Therefore, this procedure requires caution and accuracy. During finishing work, it is necessary to control the degree of fixation. In order for the upholstery to lie flat, you need to find the middle of the long side of the sofa, drive in the fastener, and then gradually move from it to the edges, alternately driving in the fasteners from one side, then from the other from the first fastener. Having finished with the upholstery, you should assemble the sofa with your own hands in the reverse order:
Anyone can upholster a sofa with their own handswill want to do this, because there are no barriers for an interested person. To decorate the sofa and mask the flaws, you can make several decorative pillows from the same fabric. This will give an organic and inseparable look to this design. Such a set looks great and will be complete. And the pillows will also perform a practical function: it is comfortable to lean on them. They will act as side backs. Now you know how to upholster a sofa, and you can do it yourself.
