How To Make Your Old Sofa Look New Again!

Don't we all love a good plump sofa? A nice cushiony one that we can sink into and that will bounce right back even after we have sat on it for ages! One that even after you toddler has jumped his life out on it, it won't look like you've had it for 10 years. Yes, I certainly would, but even I know that's not always possible and that eventually our sofa's won't look so new anymore. 

Because sofas are usually the main focus of living rooms, having to look at a sad, saggy one can be a little frustrating. Especially after it's only been a year or two that you've had it for! Yes, it definitely happens, sometimes we'll buy a sofa thinking it will last ages, only to find out after a year that it had been made out of the worst filling and it starts to sag. Well, fear not, you don't have to live with it anymore! And you don't have to pay lots of money to an upholsterer to fix it!

The solution is simple, and I have it all planned out for you. All you have to do is follow my simple 5 step instructions and you're a step closer to having that plump, cushiony sofa you first bought. Brace yourselves though, it's cheap, but it involves a lot of yanking, pulling and filling! 

Okay, so from the pictures you'll see I had been working on making this sofa look brand new again. After meaning to do it while now, I finally had the chance. But how I was going to do it had me quite unsure.  I had done quite a bit of research, especially because spending too much on it was not on the agenda! So whilst searching online to find the easiest and most cost effective ways to get it done, I came across Apartment Therapy's Sofa Solutions on How to Plump up an Old, Saggy Sofa for Under $30 and I thought that's it! I read the post and was such a simple and cheap way to do it. I used their method of using Poly-fil to fill the sofa's up. Read along and I'll show you my version of the 5 simple steps I took to plump up an old sofa.

Just before we start, let's have a look at how worn down the sofa was. It pretty much didn't have much life to it anymore. It's such a great sofa so just throwing it out would have been such a waste! It looks great and I love the colour. I am all about recycling old furniture especially if they're still in great condition. When appearance is the only thing that needs changing, there really isn't any point of getting rid of it. Maybe that's just me, my creative mind and hands just can't wait to get myself stuck into another project. 

For this one, I took out all of the cushions, opened them up and stuffed them up to the rim. Until there was pretty much no airy spaces. I did leave a little bit of space for manoeuvring when it comes to filling the cushions up again later. It's very simple, it's all really jut about opening it up, unpicking the stitches, filling it up and closing it back up again. Let's start with what you'll need. 

What you'll need:

• 1. Hollow fibre stuffing (also known as poly-fil) I bought about 10kg, which ended up being quite a lot as there is loads left over from filling 2 sofas.
• 2. An unpick-er/small scissors (if you don't have an unpicker)
• 3. Normal sized Scissors 
• 4. Thread

1. First things first, Poly-fil, I searched online and bought about 10kg of hollow fibre stuffing from amazon for £23.49. Since the sofa's needed some serious filling, running out halfway through wasn't an option. Mind you, I still have loads left which is good because I'll probably use it to fill other things around the house. (If you have cushions, always a good idea to get your hands on those as well, they're always loosing plumpness).

2. Secondly, after unzipping the cushions, I found I had to get through to the inside to fill them up with the poly-fil. So with an unpicker, I opened up the thread and got inside. If you don't have an unpicker handy, you could always use a small pair of scissors. You only really need to unpick a small section, enough for you to stuff and spread the poly-fil.

3. Once inside, I started filling and filled until it was pretty plump. I left a little manoeuvring space for sewing the fabric back up.

4. Once filled, I pinned the fabric back together and hand stitched them back up. I made sure to stitch it quite firmly so it doesn't come undone. Neatness in the stitches doesn't matter too much as it's only going on the inside.

5. Put the covers back on the cushions, repeat the steps for all cushions and seat cushions and place back on the sofa.

And Voila! Here are the results! Plumper than ever! It's literally made the sofas look brand new again! I am really pleased with the results and hoping it will give the sofas at least another 2 years of life. Even if it doesn't I will still be pleased because it was cheap as chips. And if you have given it a try, please feel free to comment below with your experience. I'd love to hear about how you guys have made your sofa's new again.