Friday, April 16, 2010

My $2.99 family room makeover ... the tease edition

Those are the mix-and-match fabrics I grabbed from my stash for a much-needed sofa slipcover.



Needed? Nah. (I am so mortified to post that picture. It's almost as bad as the kitchen before of yore after which Lexi exposed evidence, hotly debated by me, of a tequila/margarita "habit." Exposed stuffing... almost as bad as suspicion of drinking on the blog.)
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We've actually had a SureFit slipcover on this sofa for the past few years or so. I think the brand name SureFit is ingenious in the same way a small car becomes "comfortable" in the advertisements. Of necessity there's no mention that you can't get your knees to fit between the steering wheel and seat. In this manner, the SureFit slipcover, while cute, needs constant adjustment, tucking, cursing, and so it's time to make a fitted cover for the body and new upholstery for the seats to hold it all together.
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I wanted a new sofa even though this one is unbelievably comfortable. Well-made in that annoying heirloom furniture way. (Ugly but too good to throw out.) It's just, um, not my color scheme and it's HUGE. It takes up the entire den. So I wanted a new sofa even before some mysterious strange phenomenon (can you say "my children never jump on the furniture"?) started pulling the upholstery and underlying thin layer of down and feathers to bits.
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However: I shopped for MONTHS for a new sofa before deciding to tackle this project in the face of my shopping failure. (Hardly a first. Shopping and me, we're like t --- h --- i ---s.) I have slipcovered before, friends, and it's not a job for a girl in her third trimester with accompanying asthma, pre-term labor, a family to feed, etc.
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Nevertheless. I'm sewing. And I'll keep you posted.

6 comments:

Suburban Correspondent said...

Get thee to IKEA, my friend. Ektorp is the couch of your dreams - sturdy, comfy, and with washable slipcovers that actually fit! Also? Reasonably priced. Go!

Barb Matijevich said...

I'm that way with shopping, too. And you are channeling my life since Edward kitty has now peed on three of my upholstered pieces downstairs and I don't even know where to start with the making it good enough to have in the same house with my sensitive nose. Unfortunately? Sewing and me--we;re like t----h----i----s----.

Alexis said...

Hahahahha! I started laughing at the "Lexi exposed" part and couldn't even continue reading! Ok... I'll start over.

Alexis said...

Ok, so I'll wait patiently for the finished photos - and I promise not to look around at the other surroundings in your abode in the meanwhile *grin*

QuiltedSimple said...

i cannot wait to see it finished! are you going to do a tutorial?
kris

Abbi said...

I hope it goes well! It is so fun to see the finished product when it is done.