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05.15.2000

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got a decorating mishap to share? don't be a wallflower! jump to the discussion boards and talk talk.
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other recent LOUNGE articles:
o The Furniture Facelift Fiasco, part I 
o
Minor Makeover Miracles  
o
Handy Household Tools  

o Lighten Up!  

copyright ©1999-2000
DigsMagazine.com.

 
the Furniture FACELift Fiasco, a cautionary tale in two parts: PART II | 1 2 3 4 
continued from page 2

The top cushion, on the other hand, proved slightly more complicated. Pulling the fabric taut across 
the width of the cushion, and tucking the unfinished edge under itself approximately an inch, I began by shooting
four staples into place -- one on either side of the cushion, on both the front and the back -- to get a rough idea of exactly how tightly I ought to stretch the fabric before I proceeded to staple the new fabric more firmly in place. As it turned out, it seemed a bit too loose – I then re-adjusted the fabric, pulling it tighter, then stapled it in place again. Satisfied now, I stapled the remainder of the fabric to the sides of the cushion frame. The area at the top of the cushion, where the fabric wrapped over from front to back, was a bit trickier – essentially I just pleated the fabric as smoothly as possible, then pulled it down towards the wooden cushion frame, stapling it into place. Now all that remained was to staple the bottom of the fabric to the bottom of the cushion frame.

The cushion looked quite nice at this point – except for a deep stubborn crease in the fabric at the top. In my haste to get the re-upholstering started, I’d neglected to iron the fabric first. (I highly suggest that you iron your fabric before proceeding with the upholstering – that stupid crease still hasn’t gone away). Also, I’d failed to take into account the fact that the original cushion had been curved, not flat – the old upholstery had been secured firmly to the foam by means of buttons, but because I’d decided against using buttons (frankly, I hate the way they look … too fussy), my fabric no longer conformed exactly to the shape of the cushion. This gap was not apparent at first … that is, until you leaned back against the cushion and found that your back met the fabric first, and the cushion a good fraction of a second later.

In retrospect, I’m sure I ought to have replaced the cushion with new foam, adding enough padding so that when upholstered, the fabric wouldn’t have been floating in front of that middle section. To be honest, though, initial weirdness aside, the cushion still looks great, and is remarkably comfortable to lean back against. It may not have been proper re-upholstering technique, but it did, ultimately, more or less do the job.

putting it all back together again

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