I remember the day I bought my first couch. I wrote all about it here...I loved that thing, and I felt like such a grown up! I even build the damn thing myself...well with Laura's help... and let me tell you it WAS NOT easy. Not even a little bit. Over the years...between living in a college type house, my kitten that felt it was necessary (as an indoor cat) to sharpen her nails on the back edges every 17 seconds, 3 moves, and the final straw - my parents old cat (who is now up in kitty heaven) Olivia (yeah the cat's name was Olivia...we're into fancy cat names around here) peed all over it ---and by all over, I'm talking ALL OVER. As in it touched 4 cushions. not just one. four. three throw cushions. and a snuggy. why she decided it was necessary to pee in the middle of the couch on the one area where the chaise lounge connected to the sofa and and where all the cushions sat - I'll never know. but I was NOT happy - and that that was before I even knew what an extreme pain in the ass it is to actually clean OFF the cat pee. It took me about 2 weeks. No joke. I tried everything - until I found THE thing.
I tried a hydrogen peroxide soak. I tried a vinegar bath. I tried a baking soda paste. I tried this pet enzyme remover called Complete (that worked on the down pillows - helped on the cushions but still wasn't all the way better)...then my mom found this all natural enzyme cleaner (supposedly kills bacteria as well) from New Seasons. THAT was the trick!!!! It finally removed the last remnants of pee...(that smell seriously is gnarly). I highly recommend this if you're ever in the same situation. All you smell is a faint scent of lemon when it's dry!
Anyway the cushions were fixed!!! Of course the covers had to be tossed (it was probably time for them to go anyway)...but also let me tell you those babies are not cheap!! At least not the one's I was needed to replace...We're talking something like $400 - I wasn't exactly anticipating that... so I decided to go the cheapest route I could and I'm thrilled I did. It actually worked out better, cause the covers are Ikea's base color - white!! I'm really into white right now. White bedding, white trim, white furniture - it would probably be easier for me to be into something like brown or black, cause of course white is dangerous...but I can't help it, the white always just looks so clean and pretty!! And for a whole $98 bucks and a TON of leg work I was able to re-do my entire couch! It looks brand new and soooo cute! I also bought 4 pillows from Ikea. Two really cheap simple white ones ($4 bucks each), a black and white houndstooth printed pillow (I loved it!!! I couldn't say no - it was $12), and another all black one that I loved (it was more of splurge for $17) - I wanted more - I LOVE throw pillows on a couch...but I knew if I wasn't careful I would spend more money on pillows than my actual coverings - and the purpose here was to actually save money. (Not my best skill). So I decided to pinterest about it...I searched DIY pillows. Of course I found a TON that I wanted to recreate...but I settled on three. Drove down to Jo-Anns to get the fabric...spent $12 (much cheaper than buying 3 additional pillows that's for sure!!) Dug out my mom's sewing machine, opened up my computer, followed some great online tutorials...since it really was one of my first times ever sewing...for real.
Like this one here to create basic slip-back pillows. For my first one (the smaller ruffled shimmery one) I literally came across some clearance fabric that I liked...sewed together two square pieces of basic black fabric in the size I wanted, flipped it inside out, stuffed it up and sewed up the last edge to make the pillow. Then I created a basic black slip cover sewed the front edge of it to my fabric choice flipped it inside out, stuck the pillow in and BAM done!!
My second two pillows were a bit more elaborate. I followed this blog here to create the pulled effects. And this blog here to create the ruching bunched look.
Here are my final products!!!
Here is the entire finished couch! It took way too many hours, but I'm really proud of it!! AND I love it!! I'm not going to lie - I look forward to the day when I can just run out and buy the shit I need/want rather than spending hours and hours and HOURS trying fix, sew, clean, and repair things (especially things that are almost not even worth the time...I mean...an Ikea couch? it's not like it's some fancy designer leather piece...but I'm a substitute teacher so let's get real - clearance fabric is about all I can afford.) Anyway, here it is!!
And the couch is just a portion of the room...the room that used to be the playroom, then I turned it into my apartment, then my grandma lived in it, then my sister turned it in to her apartment, then it became storage, and now I am helping my mom to clean it out, brush it up, and make it an actual living space (filled with some of my things until I can get a full time job and actually MOVE OUT!!). Here is the almost finished right side of the Shepherd bonus room.
With Ikea's help I built those two book shelves and that coffee table. I'm thinking it's coming along!! The only problem is now...I came across this when I was looking for DIY pillows. A knock off pattern to a $400 Anthropology bedding set. Uh oh...
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