Super Special, Ultra Exciting Project (mostly) Complete!

Last week I showed you the project I was going to tackle during my trip to visit my family in Utah- my brother's couch.

He got it for $25 second hand while he was a bachelor in North Carolina, then hauled it across the country when he and his girlfriend (now wife) moved to Salt Lake City, Utah.

They both liked the couch fine, but it was clearly in need of an update. Enter- Big Sister Sarah and her bag of tools.

My baby and I travelled from my parents' house on Tuesday and when I arrived that evening I started stripping the couch almost immediately. My brother helped me tear off the trim and most of the fabric that was attached with about 16 trillion staples.

Here's how it looked on the morning of Work Day 1.

And here it is at the end of Day 1.
Do you love that fabric they chose? It's velvety soft and is a beautiful color- sooo nice to work with.

New buttons were covered (in advance) and applied, fabric was wrestled, many MANY knots were tied, folds were made, muscles were strained and my spine screamed by the end.

Like the action shots my brother took?

Day 2 was a little less of a struggle. The inside and outside arms and bottom front all got covered.

Day 3 started with me running around the Salt Lake Valley trying to find a walk-in clinic for my baby (who'd been sick almost our entire trip), then sewing the double cording which would trim out the rest of the couch. Day 3 was when I'd hoped to finish, but that flew right out the window.

Day 3 was also when my two other littles were delivered to me by my wonderful Mom who worked a 5 hour day then drove another 5 hours to bring them up from her house.

Day 4 was spent putting the last pieces on and trying not to cry when things went wrong, while my wonderful brother and his wonderful wife took my two oldest littles for a fun-filled day to keep them out from under my feet.

By the end of Day 4, I had accomplished all that I'd hoped to during my visit.










Obviously, the couch isn't quite done. I brought the seat cushion covers home with me to use as patterns for the new ones, which I'll sew up this week and mail back. Then they'll take the actual "after" shots for me and I'll post them the instant that I get them!

All in all, this project turned out to be exactly what I'd expected it to be- BIG, challenging, fun, scary and rewarding.
I encountered a lot of unexpected problems which I had to find solutions for.
I had to undo a LOT of my work on several occasions to get things just right.
I learned techniques that I'd never used before and now have the confidence to use again, and turned out a finished product that I am happy with.
Hallelujah.