Throwback Thursday post about Covering Ugly Couches

Back when we were living in our little rent controlled apartment in Mar Vista we had two of the ugliest couches know to man. They were really comfortable, but they looked old and tired. So I went to the garment district in downtown LA one Saturday, and bought a selection of purple fabrics. It’s never been my favorite choice of color, but I needed a lot of fabric for the L-shaped couched and chose a purple denim, and I wanted to cover the smaller two-seater couch in corduroy — and for both couches, purple was the only viable option (e.g. it was on sale).

Even though I’ve made cushion covers, curtains, and duvet covers before. Me and my sewing machine had never undertaken a project of this size. I didn’t have a pattern to follow. I simply placed reversed bits of material on the couch and cut them to size. I should have kept the design simple, but I opted for piping around all the seams. This seemed like a good idea at the time, but 4 layers of denim fabric became quite a challenge, especially around the corners.

I covered the smaller couch first in a mix of fine thread purple corduroy, and in my scrap bag I had some left over black thicker thread corduroy, and I’m glad I did this couch first. If I’d done the L-shaped one first I don’t think the smaller couch would have got done. I got my feet wet with the smaller project, so by the time it came to the larger couch I still had the enthusiasm for it. But if I’d done the larger one first, I would have run out of steam. Part of the challenge was that the large couch was also a sofa bed, so I had to create the cover in such a way that we could still get the bed out (thank goodness for velcro!)

Both projects took longer than anticipated, because after a hard day at work I didn’t fancy sewing until the early hours, so my sewing was done mainly at the weekend.

Before and After – L-shaped Couch

Here’s the ugly sofa bed couch before it was covered (I thought that the cushions I made would make it look better—but that didn’t work!)

I must have finished this around Christmas time, because I have my home made fairy lights hanging around my Van Gogh pastel portraits.

Before and After – 2-seater Couch

Here’s the ugly two-seater couch .. the throws we covered it with only made it look worse, so it was time to give this a new lease of life.

The couch was purple corduroy with black piping, and the back of the couch was done in the black fabric too. I also made some coordinating black cushions with purple piping.

One the couch was looking smart, it was time to paint the walls. Neale also did a black and silver paint technique on the big mirror and Bob Marley photo frames.

This dining room area became a cosy looking music room area where Neale could strum on his guitar whilst listening to his tunes.

Now that the room is purple, the guitar stand I made him no longer fits in with the color scheme—oh well! That’s why we love the eclectic approach to interior design, it doesn’t all have to be matchie-matchie.

Yes guilty your honor! I saw this purple door stop in the shape of a lizard and had to buy it. Not that we have any doors that we need stopping. I just couldn’t resist.