How to update an old sofa. New life for old furniture: how to update a sofa? Old furniture: photo design options using painting

Sometimes people become attached not only to living beings, but also to the city, home and even furniture. After all, how sometimes you don’t want to throw away your favorite chair or ottoman, which brings you warmth, comfort and convenience. But what if the thing you love is outdated? Believe me, it's not as difficult as it seems at first glance. You just need to breathe new life into it, that is, update upholstered furniture. Of course, you can call specialists and pay a lot of money for the upholstery and reconstruction of furniture, but it will be easier and more interesting to do it yourself, putting all your original ideas into your favorite thing.

To get started, make a sketch of your plan, think about how your “new” furniture will look like. The decor style of the converted product must necessarily match the entire appearance of the room or room. Thus, by choosing the right textiles, you can easily and for little money update and give fashionable chic even to the most “decrepit” sofa or soft ottoman.

Style

By choosing the right design style, you can transform any outdated upholstered furniture beyond recognition:

Ways to update upholstered furniture

The first and easiest of the ways is to sew covers on the sofa, armchairs or chairs. Today it is quite a fashionable and popular option, in which the update upholstered furniture happens quickly and without special costs. Heavy velvet covers or light and cheerful "clothes" for furniture with all sorts of decorative elements in the form of assemblies, ruffles or bows, they will perfectly update your "worn" furniture. In addition, the covers are quite practical. After all, they can always be washed or replaced with new ones. Having bought desired material and tailoring the selected style, having previously processed all the edges with an overlock, the cover should be fixed with an elastic band so that it does not slip off the furniture.

The second way is to create an application that will be appropriate on both the new upholstery and the old fabric. With it, you can hide the flaws that have formed or even give the furniture your own special style. Applications can be sewn onto the upholstery fabric, glued, and also applied with special paints for fabric under the stencil.

But the most common way is constriction. At the same time, the very form of the old furniture will remain the same, but its appearance using cloth with bright color, unusual texture, can be radically changed. Getting started, you must first completely disassemble the old product.

Upholstering a sofa or easy chair

For stretching you will need:

Foam rubber. It is used for the softness of the product.
A synthetic winterizer is used to separate the upholstery and the inner filler.
The upholstery itself. For furniture that will often be used for its intended purpose, it is best to choose a dense and wear-resistant material.
Working tools: enough sharp knife, ruler, scissors, construction tape measure and a special stapler with staples.

As mentioned earlier, the fabric for the waist should be very dense. Synthetic leather, beautiful jacquard or tapestry are perfect here. It is very important to correctly calculate right amount footage with a good and sufficient margin. If the upholstery material is patterned, then in order to combine all its details, it is necessary to increase the consumption of fabric by about 25%.

After you shoot old upholstery, do not rush to throw it away, because it can be a good pattern for a new cover. After laying out the new fabric face down on the floor, place the old one on it and straighten it well, removing all unnecessary and folds. When drawing a contour, be sure to learn what old stuff may be deformed during the operation of the product. When carefully cutting out a stencil of future upholstery with scissors, it is better to make a margin for more allowances. All excess tissue is removed already during the work.

The next stage is the replacement and laying of foam rubber on those parts that need to be updated. Then we put the synthetic winterizer and cover it with a new one on top upholstery material. After making sure that the upholstery takes the desired position, we fix it with a stapler. Staples need to be fastened every 2 cm, while carefully bending and watching the upholstery so that it does not wrinkle or move.

Pay due attention to the wooden elements of upholstered furniture, because they have also worn out over time and need proper restoration. Wooden openwork linings, armrests, legs and other solid elements are best re-varnished or painted (also under varnish), if it is appropriate in the general style of the room. wooden surface carefully processed first. sandpaper. Cracks should be eliminated with a special putty for wood, followed by surface treatment, but with fine sandpaper. After all the preparatory procedures, the tree is varnished in a suitable color.

According to this simple principle You can update any old furniture. Of course, in every case you need skill and experience, and in order to understand all the intricacies of the work, it is better to start with simple products, for example, from an ottoman or chair, and only then proceed to update more complex upholstered furniture.

Not every old and sagging sofa has a place in a landfill. Restoring upholstered furniture can bring as much joy as buying a new one. And maybe even more if you like to do things with your own hands. In this article, Dekorin will tell and show how sofas and armchairs are reupholstered with new upholstery, how pillow filling can be replaced, how to repair springs and mask minor damage. Let your old furniture be a source of pride!

Restoration of upholstered furniture inside and out. Step by Step Examples

Repair and restoration of upholstered furniture may consist of the following steps:

Disassembly of an object into its component parts. This is usually required for furniture with wooden legs, armrests or other parts that need to be repaired or replaced.
grinding wooden elements with sandpaper, followed by cleaning with a damp cloth. A wet cloth should absorb all the small particles, so that the paint (or varnish) will lie evenly and last longer.
Wood painting. Before applying paint with a brush, it is recommended to coat the surface with a primer. We still recommend using spray paint, which applies easily and evenly, which will greatly simplify your work and save time. Usually 3 layers is more than enough. After the paint has dried, it can be applied protective covering which will prevent cracking.

Replacement internal filling and upholstery. About how to rest the springs inside an old sofa or chair, we will tell you in detail below in this article. As for the upholstery of upholstered furniture, it all depends on the characteristics of the restored product. For example, the seat of the chair in this example was enough to wrap with a new fabric, which was fixed with a stapler. See more examples with step by step photos below!
Assembling a piece of furniture into a single whole.

How do you like this transformation?

Restoration of pillows for sofas and armchairs

Perhaps this item is the simplest and most inexpensive in the process of restoring upholstered furniture. You will need to measure the height, length and width of your pillows and, based on the data obtained, purchase the required amount of foam rubber. Subtract about 5-10 mm from each edge to get the right dimensions to fill the pillow. For softness and longer service life, be sure to wrap the foam rubber with batting or padding polyester. Here is what the finished filling looks like in the photo:

Repair of spring upholstered furniture: the best way

This repair method spring sofa or the chair is considered the most reliable of all existing ones, although it requires high costs by time. Consider its implementation step by step:

Make sure you remove all remnants of upholstery, staples and nails from the frame. In this case, the furniture body was already completely ready for the installation of the seat (cleaned, sanded, washed, painted). The springs were removed and set aside for later use. Before that, the master took a few photos so as not to forget how they were located.
Install the straps (slings) on the lower part of the seat for attaching the springs. The more of these strips you install, the stronger the seat will be. Secure them with a stapler, leaving a couple of centimeters of matter on each edge. The tension should be moderate so that the sling sags slightly when pressed on it.
The extra centimeters from each edge should be bent and also attached to the frame with a stapler. Repeat these steps until all vertical lines are installed, then move on to horizontal lines. Remember that they should intertwine with the vertical ones, and not just go under them.
Reinforce the strength of each webbing with three small upholstery studs. This is how the whole process of repairing upholstered furniture looks like in the photo:

5. Now you can proceed directly to the installation of springs. You can use an old photo or just evenly distribute them on the support from the lines. The end of each spring should "facing" in the same direction as all the others.

6. The springs are attached to the straps either with special tool, or with a thick thread of twine and a special button. Each spring must be fixed at three points.

7. Drive 2 nails at the end of each vertical and horizontal row of springs.

8. Measure the length of the twine, which will be 2 times the length of the seat plus 40-50 cm. Fold the piece in half and create a loop around the nails, as shown in the photo below. After that, pulling the twine, hammer the nails with a loop to the very end with a hammer.

9. Now our goal is to intertwine the springs together to form the seat and connect all the springs together. Start and finish tying knots at each end on the second "ring" from the top, then immediately move on to the top rings. This will allow you to get a dome-shaped seat.

10. After you tie all the springs together, wrap the twine around the stud and hammer it in with a hammer until it stops. Fasten the free end of the thread with a stapler.

11. For the second thread from each fixed loop, repeat steps 9 and 10, but only it should be tied exclusively on the upper rings, without “falling” to the second level from the top.

12. Tie all the vertical rows in this way, then the horizontal rows and, to be sure, you can still walk diagonally. As a result, none of your springs will be able to move separately from the rest. be guided step by step photo for fixing springs in the seat of upholstered furniture:

Finally, there is still a constriction of the finished seat. In this case, the master simply sewed on the fabric (which could also be done with a stapler), and masked the seams with a ribbon.

Upholstery or upholstery replacement of upholstered furniture

Reupholstering upholstered furniture can also be quite a chore, but it's definitely worth it, especially if you don't have any special plans for the weekend. Next, you will learn how to properly reupholster an old sofa or chair with your own hands.

Stage 1. Removing the old upholstery

You may think that you know this piece of furniture by heart. But still, before removing the upholstery, take a picture of it inside, outside, front and back, taking close-up especially difficult areas around the armrests, etc.
Carefully remove the old upholstery, being careful not to damage either it or the furniture itself. You may need a staple remover, screwdriver, and other tools for this. It is recommended to remove the fabric in the following order:

From the bottom base (turning the sofa on the back or upside down);
From the outer part of the back and armrests;
From the inside of the back and armrests;
From the seat.

The old upholstery will be used by you as a template. Before putting it on a new fabric, we advise you to iron it with an iron.

Stage 2. Sewing new upholstery and upholstery of upholstered furniture

Use your photos and old upholstery as a guide. Start upholstering furniture from the bottom base, then work on the armrests, backrest and seat in that order.

2. Cut the fabric according to ready template subject to the following:

At the edges that will be sewn together with threads, leave an additional 10-15 mm of fabric;
At the edges that will be stapled, add about 50mm, which will be used to stretch the upholstery over the sofa.

3. Sew the sections of fabric where necessary and pull it over the bottom, securing with a stapler around the edges.

5. Following her - outer part armrests.

Notice how the master managed without seams and secured the outer armrest padding with a hammer.

The photo below shows Alternative option armrest restoration. The master fixed them with a stapler, after which he covered the staples with a beautiful braid.

Let's return to our example. After the armrests came the turn of the back. A rope sewn around the perimeter gives it an interesting and expressive shape.

This technique can also be used to give expression to the armrests, which was done during the restoration of this chair.

The outer part of the backrest is fixed in the same way as the outer upholstery of the armrests. Additionally, the sofa was decorated with buttons and new legs. On the next photo you can compare the sofa before and after the repair and upholstery.

Restoration of upholstered furniture: photos before and after

At the end of this article, we offer you a few more photos of upholstered furniture before and after restoration. We hope that these examples will clearly demonstrate to you that any furniture can be repaired beyond recognition and bring you pleasure with its new style, color and upholstery!

Also read: Furniture transformer for a small apartment

Also read:

And if you don’t have a desire to restore and reupholster furniture, then here are a few simple solutions for masking problem areas and repairing upholstered furniture with your own hands:

Do-it-yourself upholstered furniture restoration: tips with before and after photos updated: April 20, 2018 by: Margarita Glushko

If we don’t have enough money to buy new furniture, or we just don’t want to part with things dear to our hearts, we begin to think about how to update old furniture? Experienced carpenters claim that old frames for sofas, armchairs and chairs are more reliable than new economy options. In addition, refurbished furniture will cost 1.5-3 times cheaper than the cheapest new one. And also, self-restoration of furniture is creative process, bringing moral satisfaction and pride in its result. Moreover, it is not so difficult as it seems at first glance. Repairing pieces of furniture on the spot will save you a lot of time and effort.

First you need to establish the cause of the damage and determine ways to eliminate it. Then, you should buy necessary material and right tool. Ordinary old furniture can be updated simply by painting it. First, check for wood-boring bugs in the furniture. If, nevertheless, you find the passages beaten by them, then they must be purged with a pump. After that, it is necessary to drip in these moves special composition, against woodworms or ordinary kerosene. Previously, before painting, the holes are sealed with wax or wood putty. Now, carefully, without damaging the surface of the wood, remove old paint. Oil paints and varnishes are removed with turpentine or white spirit, alcohol and bakelite varnishes - with ethyl alcohol. It is necessary to work with gloves paint brush or a tampon made of cloth wound around wooden stick. Still needed wooden block with an oblique cut edge for scraping softened paint. After that, the surface of the furniture must be treated with sandpaper so that it is not rough. Sand along the wood grain. The paint must be based on alkyd resin.

coloring old chest of drawers and replacing the old handles with new ones, we got an exclusive thing.

Wicker furniture can be made beautiful again by applying a coat of drying oil and then a coat of clear varnish. You can also paint wicker furniture.

If cane furniture is sagging, then it can be restored by washing it on both sides with hot soapy water and common salt, and then drying it thoroughly. Wicker furniture can be cleaned with a brush dipped in a salt solution and dried on fresh air. If the furniture is simply dusty, it is cleaned with a vacuum cleaner or brush.

You can also update old furniture with wallpaper. It can be scraps left over from pasting the walls.

An old bed stops squeaking when the parts are rubbed with wax.

And jamming of the cabinet is eliminated by rubbing drawers or guide rails with candle wax. If the jamming is more serious, it is eliminated by grinding the rubbing surfaces with sandpaper.

A loose cabinet door can be fixed by picking up new hinges. Wooden plugs with glue must be driven into the old sockets from the screws that fastened the hinges and fill the sockets with pieces of wire wool. Place new screws under the hinges, slightly longer than the old ones.

Upholstered furniture is easy to update by changing the old upholstery to a modern new one. In this case, the old upholstery does not need to be removed. Buy for work furniture stapler, and for the furniture itself - upholstery fabric. If you intend to change the shape of the sofa or chairs, for this, purchase foam rubber or synthetic winterizer. With the help of them, you can build up the armrests and headrests of a sofa or chairs and give them the shape of rollers. Secure the foam with a cord or baste with thread directly to the old upholstery.

When the base is ready, proceed to the furniture upholstery itself. To do this, first make an upholstery pattern by measuring the dimensions of the fitted furniture. You can also carefully remove the old upholstery and cut out a new one on it, then securing it with a stapler. The fixing points can be decorated with finishing tape or decorative tape using the same stapler. Clean wooden armrests and legs with sandpaper and cover with colored enamel or tinted varnish. Reshaped and decorated modern materials your furniture will sparkle with new colors.

For pillows on the sofa, you can also change the covers by inserting zippers into them.

After updating the sofa and armchairs, change the upholstery on the chairs as well. It's easier than ever. Remove the seat and remove the old upholstery from it. Replace the old foam if necessary. Also with a stapler, fasten new upholstery. Treat the wooden parts of the chair with sandpaper and paint in any color you like and varnish. Then, fasten the seat back to the chair.

Also, as an option, removable covers for armchairs, sofas and chairs. This is fashion trend and also very practical, as they are easy to remove for washing or replacement.

The fabric is selected according to general style rooms.

The choice of fabrics is huge: silk, muslin, linen, velvet or fluffy fur.

If you don’t feel like sewing at all or you need to quickly update upholstered furniture, you can simply throw fur on an armchair or sofa.

If you have no experience in upholstery, you can practice on an old chair by sewing a simple cover for it.

Furniture upholstery should not only restore old armchairs and sofas, but give them a new life.

It's no secret that over time, the upholstery of upholstered furniture loses its original view, especially if there are pets in the house, old furniture often does not fit into new interior after the repair. In this case, you should not change existing furniture for new interior items.

More simple solution there will be a replacement of upholstery fabric and soft lining upholstered furniture. In most cases, this is not at all difficult to do. In this short review, detailed instructions how to pull a sofa with your own hands.

Self-upholstery of sofas

It is quite possible to update the upholstery of upholstered furniture on your own or with the help of professionals. When doing work on your own, you may encounter the following difficulties that are difficult to overcome without special skills:

Problems can arise at the first stage of disassembling furniture. Sometimes without special skills and tools to do this is problematic. Therefore, having decided on this work, you need to test your strength by pulling at least a stool. On this simple task, you can hone the technology and pick up a tool.

Sofa details may have complex geometric shapes. Therefore, it is difficult for them to make the correct pattern, and then carry out the correct stretch. It will be easier to make a pattern if you copy it from an old upholstery.

Pulling a sofa book, which essentially consists of two rectangular halves and two sidewalls, is much easier than not folding sofa with large armrests and extra cushions, or when the pattern consists of several pieces of fabric.

When restoring old furniture, it may not be enough to just replace the upholstery. Often, replacement of the filler, repair of the frame, and even replacement of springs in old sofas is required.

Antique furniture requires very careful handling, it is better to entrust its repair and renovation to professionals.

For finishing, materials difficult to work with can be used. Leather is much more difficult to deal with than fabric. For the first hand-made upholstery of the sofa, it is better to choose fabric materials.

Work performance technology

This task is labor intensive, but doable work. Drag the sofa at home is not difficult at all, if all the steps must be performed carefully and in accordance with the recommendations and instructions.

At the first stage, the sofa is disassembled: overhead elements, seat, backrest are removed. Fasteners are useful during assembly, so they are carefully assembled.

Next, the old upholstery is removed. This is done with an ordinary thin flat screwdriver. The cover should not be thrown away, as new pieces of fabric will be cut out according to its shape. After removing the cover, you need to check the condition internal structure and clean it up.

Foam rubber requires mandatory replacement, as it has a short service life compared to natural materials. Instead of foam rubber, a relatively recently appeared synthetic winterizer, which has a long service life, can be used. In addition, you need to correct and check the fastening of the metal springs.

Then patterns are made from new material. They are very easy to make using the removed old upholstery, you just need to add a few centimeters on each side for an allowance, the excess of which is then cut off. Similarly, all fabric blanks are made for both pillows and for the sofa itself.

Upholstery fabric is best purchased with a small margin. Since with inaccuracies in size and calculations, it may not be enough and in the worst case it will not be possible to buy it in addition.

Depending on the purpose of furniture purchased various materials. They can be made of breathable natural but non-wear-resistant fabric, perfect for sleeping, or they can be made of hard-wearing leather, suitable for long hours. permanent use, for example, in organizations.

Buying fabric or leather is a very responsible undertaking, so before dragging a sofa, you should study photos of various design solutions, choose your individual style, choose suitable fabric and shop.

Material selection

The choice of materials should be made with great care. It is necessary to select fabrics not only for their design and combination, but also for their quality.

Textile good quality shouldn't smell bad. The pile must be firmly fixed on the base, there should be no molting. Its consumption depends on the pattern of the fabric, since in some cases it is required to set the pattern in a certain direction.

The synthetic winterizer is also not the same and requires a choice. When buying it, you should pay attention to the fact that it must be white, odorless, durable, not torn in the hands.

Foam also happens different quality. The main characteristic is the size of the bubbles. In high-quality foam rubber, the bubbles are small in size, and in the material they are more Low quality they are large. The size of the bubbles, oddly enough, determines the durability and wear resistance of foam rubber.

Upholstery with fabric is the final step and is carried out using construction stapler and glue. This operation is easier to perform if you take photographs of the furniture before disassembly.

Self-upholstery of furniture at home is quite feasible, but requires certain skills and patience. A neatly executed hauling will bring pleasure and save a lot of money.

Over the past ten years, it has become popular to restore old upholstered furniture - Soviet sofa-books, dining chair seats, favorite armchairs. The reasons that make people give new life to old things are practically sentimental - a relic sofa brought by great-grandfather as a trophy from the war, or an armchair in which grandmother knitted a lot of socks for the family in three generations.

But more often we are surprised to understand that solid Soviet furniture in terms of quality and integrity of the frame is much better than the new one, which is in the low and medium price ranges. Such furniture is often made of raw timber, cheap spring blocks, and is pulled over with cheap and low-quality fabric from above.

A great many master restorers have appeared - there are even craftsmen who can transform the appearance of an old sofa so much that it will not differ from modern counterparts in design and content. But, in fact, with minimal household skills, desire and patience, do-it-yourself upholstery of upholstered furniture is a simple and even creative task.

Do-it-yourself furniture restoration and upholstery methods

Furniture restoration allows you to completely transform old interior items

There are two ways to update the appearance of upholstered furniture: washing and replacing. Both options are quite time-consuming and technically cumbersome, but doable! All efforts will pay off when you see and feel the fruits of your labor with a sense of complete satisfaction.

This option is best suited for small pieces of furniture: chair seats, stools and small armchairs. If you like the upholstery fabric on your favorite old sofa, it is well preserved, has a unique woven pattern, and you understand that the modern analogue is not affordable, then the sofa cover can also be washed.

For washing large furniture covers it is better to use the services of a professional laundry

Saving money - you only spend time with small expenses, including the cost of laundry detergents and furniture fittings(staples, lining).
The revival of the authentic look of the piece of furniture.

Minus one, but significant - it is likely that the cover will “sit down” or even spread when washed. Since the upholstery fabric is not designed for washing, it is not treated for shrinkage, as, for example, clothing fabrics.

Complete upholstery replacement

This path is the longest and most difficult, but true. Old and dilapidated upholstery is mercilessly thrown away, and the sofa can please you with a brand new fabric in fresh colors. Complete replacement You can make a furniture cover yourself at home. But be prepared for the appearance of problems hidden under a leaky cover: cracked frame beams, broken springs, a broken fiberboard or a faulty lock mechanism.

If, having opened the cover, you are disappointed to find internal breakdowns, do not despair - just the operation to replace the cover develops into a more complex, capital phase of upholstering upholstered furniture.

Padding

This relatively new concept includes not only upholstery replacement, but also: complete renovation frame, replacement of foam rubber, locks, spring blocks, everything that is required. In fact, reupholstering is a major overhaul of upholstered furniture, as a result of which you will receive a new interior element made to your taste.

Overhaul allows you to save even the most "killed" furniture

Necessary tools and materials

In order for the work on the upholstery of upholstered furniture to proceed comfortably, measuredly and without unnecessary nerves, you need to prepare the necessary tools in advance.

Instruments d for disassembly and assembly work

Large flat screwdriver and pliers - hook and pull out old staples.
A Phillips or flathead screwdriver to fit the slot of the screws that secure the lock to the frame.
Set of wrenches for nuts and bolts.

Almost all upholstered furniture frames are bolted, so you can’t do without a set of keys

Roulette - do necessary measurements when replacing body parts.
Stapler - construction or pneumatic. The second one is preferable, because, without any effort on your part, it drives long, strong staples deep into the wood of the frame, even through several layers of fabric.
Staples - from 6 mm to 10 mm, depending on the thickness and density of the selected upholstery fabric.
Garbage bags (bigger and denser).

To sew new covers you will need:

New upholstery fabric - the choice in stores is breathtaking, choose according to taste and cost. In order not to make a mistake with the footage, sketch out an approximate detail before buying. Consider standard width roll - up to 145 cm (together with the edging of the edges of the canvas) and the location of the patterns relative to the pile and gloss of matter.
Lining fabric for padding rear surfaces backs and seats. It is not necessary to do this, but the lining layer will protect the furniture from dust getting inside, and the cost lining material small. Therefore, it is better not to neglect this simple operation.
Sharp scissors, best of all special tailor's for cutting.

When cutting new covers, tailor's scissors will be simply irreplaceable

Crayons or thin pieces of soap.
Threads - no less than No. 10, and better - special reinforced for hard fabrics.
Meter line.
Pattern paper, if you are going to modify the appearance of the product: change the shape of the front, back and seats.
Sewing machine.

Tightening technology

Dismantling old furniture

This is the first and dirtiest stage - you have to unscrew and remove the former, locks and disassemble the frame. Then remove all the old staples with which the upholstery is fastened to the frame.

After removing the upholstery, a rather unsightly picture may open up to your eyes.

Take care of the place of disassembly - you have to stir up the "dust of the ages" that has soaked the sofa or chair. And the staples have a nasty habit of scattering across the floor and digging into the soles of slippers (or feet). If it is not possible to disassemble the sofa on the street, cover the equipment (TVs, computers, etc.) with a film, and take everything you can to another room.

Keep garbage bags handy - you will have to throw away a lot of rubbish, which has turned into the internal stuffing of the sofa (armchairs, chairs, etc.). When you finish disassembling, immediately remove all the resulting garbage from the house. In the internal dust of upholstered furniture, various muck can lurk - from allergens to dust mites.

Repair work and replacement of parts

Having removed old case, you can find a number of serious breakdowns under the harmless scuffs of the upholstery, do not rush to give up and throw away the sofa, calculating in your mind how much it will cost to buy a new one.

All repair problems are solvable, and parts are replaceable - the list of breakdowns and how to fix them is not as extensive and scary as it might seem at first glance.

Cracked frame beams

All old sofas and armchairs are based on frames fastened with locks and glue. This is a strong and durable system, much better than modern installation with self-tapping screws. But when the service life ends, the corners of the frames give slack and crack. Beams need to be changed. Choose a dry tree, without knots, cracks and bark - bast or middle with an even straight structure. Otherwise, the beam, which carries a large load, and does not have strength and integrity, will quickly burst. A damp tree in warm and dry apartment conditions will begin to dry out and warp belatedly. It is better to repeat the lock saw - order a master carpenter or do it yourself. It is better to impregnate the joints of the frame beams with PVA glue before joining.

Broken parts made of fiberboard (pads-lintels of the seat and back frame)

Everything is simpler here - you measure the size and cut out new parts yourself with a jigsaw or make them to order in a furniture workshop. It is better to prepare separate parts of the jumpers (in old sofas there are usually three of them - the middle and two side ones), which are easier to change in case of a break. You can attach them to the frame with nails or a pneumatic stapler.

Broken springs not only impair the ammartization properties of furniture, but can also cause injuries and cuts.

A sore spot is the middle of the seat, where children love to jump and guests sit. Some craftsmen manage to "twist" spring blocks replacing broken springs with new ones. However, there is no guarantee that after some time some other old spring will not burst and for the sake of it you will not have to start all the work again. Therefore, it is more rational to replace the spring blocks completely.

Seat belt replacement

Any dense tape of a suitable width can act as belts.

Usually, the frames of the seats and backs of old chairs are pulled together with interlaced wide belts, on which foam rubber is laid. And the belts are very rarely torn, most often the junction of the belt and the frame is rubbed. Any belts that you consider durable will work as a replacement. The main thing is that they should be tightly woven, preferably from synthetic materials and a width of at least 5 - 7 cm.

Clumped foam

Any kind of foam rubber has such technical specification, as the number of compressions. This is an indicator of how many times the material can withstand compression and be able to restore its original shape and elasticity. Almost always, in old furniture, foam rubber has long outlived its usefulness in this parameter and has turned into dust or a viscous substance resembling sticky plasticine. Throw it away without regret and lay a new foam rubber.

It is better not to save on foam rubber - this is not only a soft layer, but also protection of the internal structure from breakage

Replacing locks

It is also a common problem - over time, the steel mechanism of the lock becomes loose, a backlash appears in it or the springs fly off, snapping the lock into the “sitting” or “lying” position. Inspect the lock carefully, it may be necessary to change the screw or adapt a new latch spring. If not, then the lock will have to be changed - fortunately, this is not a problem, in furniture fittings stores you will be offered big choice modern castles.

Master class on sewing new cases

The most creative stage of work. You can leave the look of the furniture the same, in which case, you can use old covers as patterns. Before use, they should be thoroughly shaken and vacuumed.

When cutting new parts, carefully monitor the location of the weft and warp threads, as well as the direction of the pile. This is especially true for the patterns of the past and the seat-back, if the width of the fabric does not allow you to make a one-piece cover (meaning the upholstery of the sofa-book).

With your creative and sewing skills, you can transform the look of old furniture into a modern, comfortable, and personal style. The main part of the modifications is achieved by foam rubber overlays - soft rollers on the formers, backrest headrests are added. You can take into account the location of the body in a sitting position and add foam pads on the seat (under the knees) and inserts under the lower back.

When using darts, folds, figured parts, covers will get completely new form and become more modern.

In order to qualitatively and beautifully perform work on modifying the appearance of upholstered furniture, you need basic skills in cutting and tailoring. If you are not confident in your abilities, it is better not to risk doing it yourself, but to involve a specialist in the work.

The nuances of cutting and sewing

Leave a seam allowance of 1 - 1.5 cm, depending on the density of the fabric.

When cutting the fabric, be sure to leave 1-1.5 centimeters for the seams

It is desirable to process the edges of the sewn parts with an overlock or zigzag.

Coarse pile upholstery should be hand tufted before machine stitching to avoid shifting of parts.
If leatherette, artificial or natural leather is selected for upholstery, then when making facial finishing seams as a presser foot sewing machine use a special roller. In extreme cases, you can smear the surface of the fabric under the foot with a thin layer of machine oil.
In the case of sewing decorative overlays into the cover, baste the folds manually.

As often as possible in the process of sewing, do fittings - foam rubber, softening a rigid spring frame, pliable material, the shape of which is set precisely by the cover.

Fixing new covers on the details of upholstered furniture

Repair work has been done, the covers have been sewn, it's time to proceed to the crucial stage of stretching the new upholstery. You need to be clearly aware that the final result and the appearance of your chair or sofa depend on the quality of this stage. You will need patience and accuracy in your work.

At the stage of the last fitting, it will still be possible to correct mistakes - to sew in or loosen the corners a little, to alter the tucks. Do not be alarmed if the case is very tight on the frame - in the process of attaching it, you will still “shoot” it even tighter. Worse, if the cover is put on freely, because. attaching it with staples, there is a high probability of getting ugly folds and creases.

The sequence of work on fastening new upholstery covers:

First of all, put the covers on the parts and, while they are in a free position, straighten them as much as possible. The seams should be even and parallel to the edges of the parts, match the corners of the covers with the corners of the frames.
Then begin to fasten the cover with staples - holding the stapler in right hand, with the left constantly, with stroking movements, stretch the fabric from the middle of the part to the edge. Watch out for a smooth and evenly rounded bevel - this is especially true for the edges of the backs and seats of armchairs and sofas. It is better to start “shooting” with staples from the middle, so possible excess tissue will move to the edges, where they can be sutured by hand.

stapler - best tool for fastening furniture covers

When upholstering the former, carefully cut out the holes for the bolts with scissors and shoot the edges of the cutouts with staples. If necessary, use a hammer to drive the staples into the wood more tightly.
After stretching the upholstery, you need to close the wrong sides with sheets of lining fabric. Do not waste time carefully cutting and cutting out the lining with scissors. Having outlined the approximate length, taking into account the inversion of the edges of 3–4 cm on each side, make a notch with scissors and tear the fabric, the synthetic lining is torn exactly along the thread, which you will not get when cutting with scissors. Shoot the wrong side with the lining from the corners, pulling the fabric tightly.