Buying your own couch for some people is like buying a house. A lot of thought is involved because this is the master piece of furniture in your living space. I have in the past bought some cheap furniture as a student and now I am keen to look for a more stylish comfortable couch. Everyone who has been through this process will have come across some amazing pieces, which cost as much as your car.
Choosing your couch is like choosing your only dress for the next 10 years ahead.
Now, I don’t know about you but every time I come across something which is very expensive I instantly thing about comparing the product with the price of my car. Like the day I tried some wedding dresses. I could not justify paying for a design dress the same amount of money as something so complex and vital in my life as my car! I can feel that this topic could start a new post, so let’s go back to the couch!
So, thinking about the construction of the couch, the most complex stage is the upholstery and I do recommend that you seek a professional at this stage. Upholstery is the final touch of the couch and essential to the overall look. Other than that the construction is quite straight forward for someone who has a basic carpentry skills. With that in mind I had the excellent idea to build my own couch with a cost saving of 4 times from the retail value. At this stage my thinking was that I didn’t have to go thorough any engineering course to build the product that I like – unlike the process involved in building my own car! Hopefully they will be all electric when I decided to do it!
Going through the process now I have to say… it looks easier in theory. The 40 years of experience in some professionals over You Tube videos seems a quite achievable and easy process! Until you start building it! First of all you have to decide which type of construction you are going to build. Basically you have three different types:
Only foam
Foam+Horizontal springs
Foam+Vertical Spring (more expensive, comfortable and hard to find now a days people who still build this style)
If I count how many times I sleep in my couch, I should consider that my couch should feel like a mattress, which is why I chose the most comfortable, hard and expensive type of construction!
Secondly, I had to gather the material and spend two days putting the jarrah timber through a thickener to prepare it (this is going to be the heaviest couch on earth!). Kindly my father in law helped me at this stage which created some beautiful laughs in the family every time we stepped into our home looking like we have spent the day in the middle of the jungle, with our teeth and eyes the only white parts of our bodies. You could easily skip this stage by going to Bunnings and buying the material yourself (structural pine is fine). With the help of 3D program I designed the couch and worked out the exactly amount of materials required. Brackets, bolts, plywood, staples, nails, twine. Imagine if you owned Bunnings? Dreammmmmm… The frame is done.
Now comes the part that requires a little bit of experience, the webbing and vertical springs. I recommend using DIY Upholstery Suppliers diyupholsterysupplies.com.au. They are in Melbourne and have reasonable prices. For the construction of the webbing you will definitely need a staple gun and air compressor. They are hard to use in the beginning but fun and dangerous after you think you are in a “007-How to die building a couch” movie. To choose the height of the springs you have to know which type of seat you would like…soft? firm? the higher the height the firmer your seat is going to be. I used 10inch (yes! they are in inches, don’t you hate that?). However I would recommend using 7 or 8 inches (it all depends also about your frame height. My frame height was 250mm, so the 10inch spring was to high for my frame). You can either sew or attach the springs into the webbing with hog ring. By now I have spent $1,200 in supplies so I decided to sew them! (God bless my patience!). Finally the harder stage… by far! Connect all the springs in what they call “8 way hand tie”, so each spring will connect to each other and the frame in 8 different directions. It requires a lot of patience, hand strength and hand cream! Cover the couch with any type of fabric and send to the upholsterer of your choice and VOALA! (My couch was upholstered by Clark Street Upholstery from Dunsborough, Western Australia)…Now the couch is ready to be “carefully” used!!!
It was a hard and long process project but nothing is as satisfying as building something with your own hands! Good luck!
