Sofa build?

[Steven Mikes]

Has anyone made a full sized cushy sofa by hand? I need a sectional for the living room and don't feel like paying $1000+. Seems like it would be pretty cheap to make the frame out of pine and then cover it with foam+upholstery.

[John C Cox]

I have seen them built on several TV shows and it always intrigued me...

The thing they talked about was that you could use all sorts of different woods for the "innerds" because they were all covered..

[Joel Thomas Runyan]

If your time is free and your taste austere it's potentially cheap (relative to a $1000 starting point), but upholstery is not something that is easy to learn or affordable. From past experience: source/price the upholstery first.

[John C Cox]

That is a very good point.

It's also worth pricing the wood before you dive in.... Unless of course it's already sunk cost... Then it's "free".

If you have to pay retail prices for your lumber, upholstery, and hardware - the couch is probably going to exceed the $1,000 mark... Especially if you have to buy a serger or some sort of upholstery sewing setup...

I would be lying if I told you that I primarily do woodworking because it's cheaper than buying new... Don't tell my wife I said that by the way. .

[Tony Leonard]

I made a settee (mini couch I guess). The joinery is not easy, but the material cost for the frame was not much. I used poplar. HOWEVER, the upholstery was very expensive. Remember , there is a tremendous amount of labor beyond the woodworking. Do some research on the upholstery stuff and it becomes obvious. So, no, I didn't save any money. Probably spent more. But I knew that going in. I just wanted to try it and make something to fit a space. Worked out great though. Also, talk to your upholstery person first (or do plenty of research if you plan on doing your own) to find out what sort of internal structure they need/prefer. They need bars to pull around and such. I've done some chairs and an ottoman that the same guy covered for us. Oh, you can spend a small fortune on fabric too! And, designing the frame is not tall that easy either. Lots to consider with the angles. heights, and accommodation of upholstery thickness, etc.

I believe that Norm did some upholstery and even visited a factory. Might be some youtube vids out there.... I was going to cover my chairs myself...glad I decided against it! I'd still like to learn upholstery, but I just have too many other things going.

Its all relative - $1000 for a couch sounds very reasonable to me if it is decent comfort/quality. I'm not going to say how much we paid for ours! ha!

Tony

[Chuck Nickerson]

Price out buying cushions and building the sofa frame to match the cushions.

[Bruce Haugen]

I’ve never made a fully upholstered anything, but I have made a Morris chair, ottoman and a foldout futon couch/bed. Price the foam first. It’s very expensive.

[Todd Mason-Darnell]

Just to echo the other comments, the cost is not in the wood frame, but in the foam and upholstery. For a large sectional, good foam ( and the batting to wrap it) that will be comfortable and won't collapse in the first 3 months will be north of $500 if you have to buy it retail.

[Steven Mikes]

Just to echo the other comments, the cost is not in the wood frame, but in the foam and upholstery. For a large sectional, good foam ( and the batting to wrap it) that will be comfortable and won't collapse in the first 3 months will be north of $500 if you have to buy it retail.

But I'm guessing that quality would be equivalent to buying a sofa at least 3X that price no?

[Kevin Hampshire]

Steven, This is my opinion but, Short answer is no, it won’t be 3x better.

You may want to do tons more investigation of how a sofa is made and what is involved in making a quality sofa.

First, many upholstery shops can replace the fabric on an existing sofa, but very few can build up a frame from scratch. It’s far more complex than using some foam, batting and fabric.

Secondly, you’ll want some deep pockets before you start. Even the best upholsterers can screw things up. I’ve ended up buying fabric 2 1/2 times because the job went wrong. Interestingly, two good friends had the exact same thing happen to them in the last couple of years. That was just on a reupholster job and didn’t involve fitting out the bare frame.

FWIW, A well built sofa cushion isn’t just a foam block. All of my cushions are 8-way hand tied springs with multiple overlays of fabric, batting and padding. The actual foundation of the frame is nearly as complex.

BTW, My shop time today was spent prepping patterns...for the 77” sofa I’m building.

[Prashun Patel]

I made a quick sofa for a theater production last month. Here is what I learned:

Plan the cushions first. Build your size around that.
Good fabric is not cheap.

[John C Cox]

But I'm guessing that quality would be equivalent to buying a sofa at least 3X that price no?

You would be much better off comparing your prices against hand made sofas rather than factory made fare... Factory made stuff costs way less than you could ever match - even for high quality factory made things....

Manufacturers get materials at no higher than wholesale prices.. Many "old time" furniture companies had their own sawmills and kiln dry facilities - and cut their stock specifically for their needs... Do that today and you are talking about Walnut, Cherry, Oak, and Poplar hardwood lumber at less than $1.00/bd-ft...

Wood Pieces are cut on machine shapers in seconds... Clicker presses cut upholstery, foam, and batting to shape in seconds.. And professional upholsterers and finishers do that work far faster and cheaper in volume than you can ever match buying retail....

I am not saying don't do it... It's going to be fun, challenging, and rewarding... What I am saying is that thinking you can make good furniture cheap is a mistake.... But you should still do it unless your goal is cheap... If your goal is cheap - find a $50 thrift store couch that sits well and have it reupholstered...

[Malcolm Schweizer]

My wife's mother is a professional seamstress and interior decorator. When she was visiting, we asked her about making a fabric cover for our sofa. Once we looked at fabrics and did the math, we could buy a new CUSTOM sofa for not too much more than the cost of making a cover for the old one. By custom, I mean we pick the style, type of cushions, fabric, etc., and they make it to order. The manufacturer can do it cheaper because they buy in bulk.

[Karl Andersson]

If you've never seen the guts of a modern sofa, try to find a free one on Craigslist and deconstruct it layer by layer without just cutting it apart. I have done this re-upholstering a few in the past. You'll see all the parts involved and what the frame looks like underneath, and what the strategies are for attaching the fabric without the staples/ tacks showing. Of course, free ones may not be the best quality, so try to find a "named" one (shouldn't be hard in NC) that's just worn out or stained.

You can find affordable upholstery fabric, but you'd have to be flexible on the color/ pattern - try salvage and "re-store" type places for bolt ends from factories or upholstery shops. The foam does tend to be pricey, but the good stuff lasts a long time while the cheap stuff gets buttprints in it after a year.

You may be happy just reupholstering a damaged one vs building from scratch; with todays "throw-away mentality", there are likely a few good deals out there that just have cosmetic issues. Oh, and unless you're doing leather, a decent standard sewing machine is all you should need for doing the cover- just learn how to adjust the tension and what needles you need.

Those are my thoughts, good luck
Karl

[Dan Hulbert]

About 15 years ago I made a pair of Morris chairs with matching ottomans. Between leftovers from other projects and new wood, I think I spent about $150 on materials to build them. Off to the upholsterer they went for custom made leather cushions. $1400 later they came home.

All these years later they still look great, but I learned my lesson.

Good Luck