Unusual sofa from a profile. How to make a sofa with your own hands: options, instructions and assembly diagrams

Important role The home sofa plays a part in every man's life. There is no need to be ironic about this. Many creative plans and ways to implement them were conceived on this piece of home furnishings.

You can buy a good sofa in a store, today this is not a problem. But is it real? House master will miss the chance to try his hand at making upholstered furniture?

Financial incentive is another powerful argument in favor of the “couch project”. If you calculate the cost of the materials needed for the work and compare it with the price tags furniture showrooms, then the savings will be very impressive.

In our article we will look at the implemented options for homemade sofas and give short description their manufacture. In addition, the topic will be covered self-assembly corner sofa, from drawing to finishing trim.

So many sofas, beautiful and different...

Having decided to make a sofa with your own hands, it will not be superfluous to take a closer look at ready-made examples of home “sofa” creativity.

Let us note the main features of this type of furniture so as not to confuse it with a regular bed in the future. The main distinguishing feature of the sofa is not the soft bed, but the backrest on which you can lean. The bed does not have this element. Side rails with armrests are another classic element of a sofa design.

IN modern models Armrests are often abandoned, leaving only the backrest. In some designs, it can be swiveled and turned into a mattress.

Photo No. 2 Sofa with swivel back

This system is called the “Eurobook”. The principle of its operation, as can be seen in photo No. 2, is very simple: a block with a seat on wheels moves forward, and the backrest, with a slight movement of the hands, rotates on hinges and turns into an additional sleeping place. Anyone who decides to make a sofa at home can take note of this option.

It’s not for nothing that they attract the attention of home furniture makers. These are ready-made durable modules. Of these you can minimal costs money and time to build an original bed. A sofa made of pallets, made in a deliberately rough, fashionable loft style, looks great with a dump truck wheel serving as a coffee table.

All you need to assemble such a structure is a screwdriver and a jigsaw. Having secured the base pallets with screws in pairs, the sidewalls are attached to them. They are made from the same pallets, cut at the level of the “bobs” - thick wooden inserts. This sofa has no back. It is replaced by two wide pillows leaning against the wall. Two thick foam mattresses add a pleasant “softness” to the entire structure.

When planning to make a simple sofa, try to enlist the help of your spouse. Her sewing machine will save you from the need to go to a workshop to sew covers. If your wife does not share your grandiose plans, then buy construction stapler. With its help, you can carefully and quickly complete the upholstery of the frame.

Some people like wood, while others cannot live without metal, making everything they need from it, including a sofa. If your old cast iron bathtub has not yet been scrapped, then use in an original way turning it into a comfortable bed. There is no better material for a garden patio than enameled cast iron.

Such an outdoor sofa is not afraid of either snow or rain, regularly bringing its owner respect from guests and neighbors.

Modellers and designers make not only models of ancient ships, tanks and aircraft. Furniture items often fall into their sphere of attention (photo No. 6).

Why don’t we make such a sofa by increasing its miniature layout to the required size? The idea of ​​this design is simple and rational: the base is made of a profile pipe, to which thick plywood or OSB boards A.

After practicing assembly techniques on a smaller copy, it will be easier for you to work with a full-size sofa.

If the farm does not old tire, then making an original round sofa is not easy. If rubber “shoes” of the tractor are available, you can cover them with fabric and attach a high back. Stand with legs and soft pillows made of foam rubber will give the structure an ideal appearance.

How to make a corner sofa yourself?

You cannot begin this work without a detailed assembly diagram. A corner sofa consists of several parts, the manufacture and joining of which require precision. The best fastening material for a beginner is self-tapping screws. Tenon joints frame - the level of an experienced carpenter.

So, to assemble a corner sofa you will need the following materials:

• wooden block (section 30x50 mm);
• board (25x80 mm);
• plywood or chipboard (thickness 12 mm);
• plywood (thickness 5 mm);
• foam rubber 10 cm thick;
• thin foam rubber or batting (for making a lining for the casing);
• PVA glue for attaching the soft lining;
• furniture upholstery fabric.

To work you will need the following set of tools:

• screwdriver;
• jigsaw and hacksaw with miter box;
• construction knife for cutting foam rubber;
• scissors for cutting furniture fabric;
• stapler;
• self-tapping screws;
• sewing machine.

Before you do corner sofa You yourself need to clearly decide on its layout diagram and once again look at all the prepared drawings.

The base of each corner sofa block is a frame made of plywood or chipboards, fixed to a timber frame. If the thickness of the slab is large enough (from 16 mm), you can do without a block. In this case, the self-tapping screws are screwed directly into the ends of the slabs, drilling guide holes of small diameter into them to prevent splitting of the material.

For rational use internal space in blocks No. 1 and No. 2 can be made removable covers. To support them from the inside along the contour of the frame, you need to secure a block with a cross-section of 2x3 cm, lowering it below the upper cut of the slabs to the thickness of the lid (12 mm). In order for the lid to be easily lifted, two holes are drilled in it for the fingers.

In terms of design, blocks No. 1 and No. 2 are the same, but we will make block No. 3 with a drawer-seat that increases usable area sofa This is the simplest option that does not require the installation of transformation mechanisms (retractable or rotary). Their correct installation and adjustment for beginners is a complex process.

Our drawer will have a lid made of chipboard or thick plywood. Assembling it is not difficult, but making comfortable folding legs is a problem. They will interfere when sliding the drawer into the sofa body. Instead, we will increase the height of the drawer face plate. It will play the role of a support platform when unfolding the sofa.

For easy pull-out reverse side On the front panel of the drawer you can attach two wheels from office chairs. The wheel body will not rest against the bottom of the sofa if a small cutout is made in it in advance.

The lid on block No. 3 can be made removable to put bed linen there.

The dimensions of the seat cushion should be equal to the dimensions of the drawer platform. Having pulled out the drawer of our corner sofa, we remove the back cushion and place it in place of the mattress.

Next is our step-by-step instruction contains a description of the backrest assembly. For all corner sofa blocks, their design is the same: vertical racks connect three boards. The two lower ones serve to secure the backrest to the sofa, and the upper one provides rigidity and serves as the basis for attaching the upholstery.

Having assembled the back frame, the front and back need to be sheathed with plywood 5 mm thick. All sharp corners are processed with sandpaper to avoid snags and unevenness when installing the upholstery fabric. For all facial and side surfaces you need to glue batting or thin foam rubber to make the upholstery softer and more voluminous.

The last stage of production is covering the sofa with fabric. You can buy it in a specialized store, having made a preliminary calculation of the sheathing area and not forgetting about the 5-10% reserve required for cutting and turning on the frame.

To do this, all the front parts of the body and back need to be measured and pieces of material cut out according to the resulting dimensions. They are attached using a stapler to the invisible ends of the panels. To prevent the fabric from wrinkling at the corners, make cuts in it and pull it tightly before shooting the staples.

Cushions for the back and seat of a corner sofa are best made from foam rubber with a thickness of at least 10 cm. Optimal design covers for them - a removable zipper with a lock. When dirty, the covers can be easily removed and washed. If you do not have experience in sewing, then draw a simple sketch of a pillow and order the sewing of covers in the studio.

Today, the upholstered furniture market is abundantly filled with various offers. But sometimes you really want something special, made with your own hands. By choosing this path, you can make furniture of the size and design you need, and save money.

Sofa size chart.

So how to make a soft sofa with your own hands? Let's figure it out, because a DIY sofa is a task that almost everyone can do.

The first stage is preparatory

How to make a sofa with your own hands? This question interests many. The design of a sofa is quite complex for beginners in creating furniture, so before you start making it, you need to carefully study all the nuances and features relating to the production of such furniture.

First you need to make a drawing of the future sofa on paper. All its components must be drawn on paper indicating the exact dimensions and other characteristics. A high-quality and detailed design of the future sofa is the key to simple and fast work for its production. The standard version of the sofa means its length is 1.9 m, but the height of the backrest, counting from the floor, is about 0.8 m. Please note that the height of the seat itself (excluding the size sofa cushions) should correspond to a value of approximately 0.3 m.

Before answering the question: how to make a sofa, you need to figure it out constituent elements. What does a regular sofa consist of? This:

Scheme of the side of the sofa.

1. Frame construction.
2. Armrests or railings.
3. Sofa legs.
4. The back of the sofa.
5. And the seat itself.

Everyone understands that the basis of any type of furniture is frame construction. The service life of your furniture, in our case a soft sofa, will depend on how it is made. That is why experts advise choosing for frame installation only those materials that have high quality. And also, pay attention to the dimensions of the frame structure, since during operation, if even minor errors are made, problems may arise regarding the deformation and deflection of the sofa you made.

What else should you pay attention to when making furniture? These are her legs. They are the main support of a sofa, but sometimes the design features allow them to perform an exclusively decorative function. In this case, the entire load falls on the frame. The legs of the sofa are made from balusters. Usually oak is chosen. These legs look great in almost any design. In addition to aesthetic appearance, this material has enough high strength, which is also important.

How to make a sofa: preparing what you need for work

So, to make a sofa with your own hands, you will need:

Sofa reupholstery scheme.

• Chipboard and fibreboard;
• beam;
• plywood;
• foam rubber, synthetic winterizer, etc.;
• fabric for upholstery;
• furniture glue;
• nails, screws, etc.

This is about materials. They must be selected taking into account quality and safety for human health. The best option for purchasing is a well-established construction market in your city. And now a few words about tools. All you need is:

• electric jigsaw;
• drill and screwdriver;
• sewing machine;
• scissors and knife;
• stapler for furniture;
• hammer.

Having prepared all of the above, you can safely begin manufacturing the frame structure. This is one of the stages that allows you to answer the question of how to make a sofa yourself?

Sectional diagram of a soft sofa.

Using previously prepared drawings, you first need to make the base of the sofa. It is cut out either from plywood or wooden shields, which remained from some old furniture. If you chose plywood, then you will need an electric jigsaw for the job. With its help, you can easily and quickly make a base of the shape and size you need.

Very often, when producing furniture of complex shape, its base is cut out of several parts, which are subsequently connected to each other.

Having finished making the base of the future sofa, you can proceed to assembling the frame structure. It will consist of racks and partitions. The racks will be vertical, the partitions will be horizontal. Don't forget that the height of your sofa should be calculated in advance. This indicator should be chosen based on the purpose of the furniture and the place in which it will be located. If this is a sofa for the kitchen, then its height will be slightly higher than usual, since dining while sitting on low furniture is very uncomfortable. But a sofa for a living room or bedroom implies a lower height, since its purpose is relaxation.

Sofa upholstery scheme.

On next stage The frame structure is covered with plywood. Its installation is carried out using adhesive composition, in addition, self-tapping screws are used. The space created inside is very suitable for storing bed linen.

So, the frame is assembled, now it’s time to start making the back of the sofa. If your sofa is ordinary and is not folding or other movable structure, then installation work for attaching the backrest are carried out using the same method described above. It is clear that the back should match the size of the base of the sofa. The block in the upper and lower parts of the back should correspond to a size of 9 cm. But the length vertical parts Usually it is about 45 cm, with the width of each part being about 6 cm. To properly fasten the back to the base, metal corners are used.

As for the angle of inclination, here you can choose the option that is convenient for you.

Making a sofa comfortable is very simple, you just need to choose a position that is comfortable for you.

Transition to covering the sofa structure

Now we have everything ready, all parts of the sofa are assembled, which means it’s time to make soft furniture parts. Don't forget to pre-treat the frame with sandpaper, then paint it in the color you want or apply a layer of colorless varnish.

Using furniture fabric and foam rubber, you need to make two bases, the thickness of which will be approximately 20 cm. As for other dimensions, for example, the width and length of these parts, you need to proceed from the parameters of your frame. More precisely, you need to take the parameters of the back of the sofa and the base as a basis. In order for foam rubber to serve you for a long time, it needs to be wrapped in padding polyester, so it will be much less subject to wear. You can connect two soft parts together using a stapler or sewing a zipper between them (preferably a detachable one).

After this, you need to attach the prepared pillows to the base of the sofa. For these purposes, so-called Velcro tape is used. If you have excess fabric, foam rubber and other materials left, you can additionally sew beautiful sofa cushions. They look beautiful in the interior, creating coziness, and are very functional during relaxation.

Scheme of forming a sofa on a spring block.

When doing work on upholstering a sofa, you need to listen to some advice from professionals, then during the work you will not have any problems and will not have to start all over again. So:

1. Before you start cutting, you must carefully measure all the details of the structure. Do not forget that you need to add a couple of centimeters to the obtained parameters to make seams.
2. In order to determine the amount of fabric more accurately (to save money), you can first lay out the cutting details on paper. Don’t forget that you need to take into account both the pattern and the direction of the pile, if any. If these are seat parts, then the direction of the pile should be from the back, and vice versa on the back parts. If you choose a fabric with a large pattern, such as stripes, then most likely you will have to adjust the pattern, and this will take a significant amount of material. So be sure to purchase extra fabric.
3. Do not cut all the parts at once, as some nuances may be revealed during the work. First cut and sew one of the parts, and after that, after evaluating the result and making the necessary adjustments, you can continue working. For example, some furniture fabrics tend to stretch in one direction or both, while some, on the contrary, are not susceptible to this at all. All these points must be taken into account both when cutting and when directly upholstering the sofa.

Summing up the above

Now you know how to make a soft sofa with your own hands. Agree, despite complex design, the work on its production is available for self-execution. And the result of the work done will certainly please not only you and your family members, but also guests who will be able to appreciate your work after spending the evening in your home.

Don’t be afraid to do something wrong, because experience only brings benefits, and by gaining it, you become a truly professional master who can perform any, even the most complex, tasks.

The sofa often becomes the centerpiece of a patio, living room or dining room. And it’s not at all necessary to shell out a tidy sum for this piece of furniture - it’s stylish and comfortable sofa You can do it yourself, even without any special skills. This review contains sofa ideas that will tell you how to turn things that sometimes seem like outright trash into a cozy sofa.

1. Spring bed

An old metal bed can easily be turned into an original boho sofa. All that is needed to realize this idea: new mattresses, upholstered with bright fabric and paint to update the details of the bed.

2. Baby cot

A crib that can no longer be used for its intended purpose can be turned into a small but cozy sofa. Just get rid of the front side, upholster the mattress with a bright fabric and add a few throw pillows.

3. Bath

Old cast iron bathtubs can be used to create original sofas that are suitable for decorating your home and garden. Of course, such work is very labor-intensive; you will need tools and certain skills, but in the end you will receive a unique piece of furniture.

4. Pallets

Charming low sofa with two drawers below, to create which you will need three wooden pallets and soft linings for furniture.

5. Wooden beam

A simple and at the same time elegant sofa, made of rough wooden blocks and laconic light pillows, made to order, will fit perfectly into the interior of a modern living room or into the landscape of a country house.

6. Furniture panels

A stylish and laconic sofa that you can make yourself from furniture panels and large sofa cushions will become a real highlight of the living room, regardless of its design style.

7. Boards

People who are no strangers to handicrafts can make a sofa from ordinary wooden planks and furniture pillows. This piece of furniture is perfect for arranging a summer patio or living room in a private home.

Video bonus:

8. Boat

Creative small sofa made from the bow of a dilapidated wooden boat, will become a spectacular interior detail and bring romantic sea notes to the room.

9. Pallets

A low corner sofa with shelves for books, which you can make yourself from wooden pallets and large furniture pillows, will fit perfectly into the interior of an apartment decorated in Scandinavian, rustic or loft style.

10. Plywood and wood

An original, comfortable and ergonomic chair with shelves for books around the perimeter, which can be made from plywood and wooden boards.

11. OSB boards

A simple sofa, which you can make yourself from OSB boards and a thin mattress, will fit perfectly into the interior of the hallway.

12. Wooden boxes

Charming and very original armchairs, which can be made from wooden boards and soft furniture overlays, will become a creative detail in an introvert’s interior.

13. Cinder blocks

A bright, unusual sofa with space for shoes below, which is easy to make with your own hands. To do this, you will need cinder blocks, which should be stacked on top of each other to form a frame, a bright mattress upholstered in a pleasant fabric and several sofa cushions.

14. Suitcase

Video bonus:

17. Natural wood

A stunning natural wood sofa with a shelf back that can serve as a workspace or dining table, will become a stylish and functional detail of a small living room.

Especially for those who are seriously concerned about their own balcony, we have collected.

Available in every home. Some have them only in living rooms and are intended for family gatherings, while others use this furniture as an additional or main bed.

Of course, every person wants to install a huge orthopedic mattress in their bedroom. You can relax on it, relieve fatigue and get a good night's sleep. But not everyone has this opportunity. Since most city apartments are not very spacious.

If you live in small apartment, then installing a spacious bed is out of the question. After all, having installed in common room bed, there is simply no room left for a sofa on which you can have a good time with friends.

So, if you have decided to install a sofa in your home, it is worth considering best option folding models. The most ideal solution will be the installation of a sofa bed.

During the daytime, the furniture will not take up much free space, and you can spend your leisure time on it in front of the TV or with family and friends. And at night, such furniture will completely replace the bed.

Making a sofa bed is quite easy on your own. This way, you will acquire original and exclusive furniture, and will not spend your personal savings on buying a sofa.

A special feature of the sofa bed is the presence folding mechanism, allowing the furniture to be used as a sofa and as a bed. This sofa can come in various shapes, designs and sizes. With your own hands you can make a small sofa for one person or a spacious piece of furniture that can comfortably accommodate two or three people.

The advantages of a sofa bed include:

Advice: the use of various upholstery materials will allow you to make furniture to suit any interior style.

Material: solid wood or pallets?

You can make a sofa bed from different materials. The main thing is that they are:

• natural and safe;
• hypoallergenic;
• affordable in terms of price;
• attractive in appearance;
• convenient to work and maintain.

As for making the frame, the following are suitable:

When choosing upholstery, you should give preference to fabrics:

• resistant to dirt;
• easy to care for;
• does not fade under direct sunlight and ultraviolet rays;
• resistant to snags and tears.

Also, the selected material must be breathable, hygroscopic, hypoallergenic and safe.

Reference: the presence of synthetic fibers in textiles makes the material resistant to stains and easier to use.

Most often, people prefer the following materials:

The following are used as fillers for making a sofa bed with your own hands:

• foam rubber, at least 2-3 cm thick;
• padding polyester (used as a lining between foam rubber and upholstery fabric);
• coconut flakes;
• natural latex;
• holofiber.

Drawing

Before you start making a sofa bed, you need to decide on its:

• dimensions;
• design;
• manufacturing materials.

Before manufacturing parts and assembling them, you will need to make a preliminary drawing in all projections. This will prevent errors in the work process and greatly simplify making a sofa with your own hands.

You can make a drawing of any piece of furniture different ways:

• Draw by hand with a pencil on a piece of paper. To do this, you need to be able to make diagrams and correctly calculate the dimensions and number of parts.
• Find a suitable ready-made option on the Internet. In this case, you can only change the color or texture of the upholstery. But you shouldn’t experiment with changing sizes. This will lead to a reduction in the calculated load on the product during operation.
• Take advantage of special computer programs. Ability to use personal computer will allow you to quickly and competently draw up a drawing in all projections with accurately calculated parts and their dimensions.

Tools

To make a simple sofa bed small sizes The following supplies will be required:

Tools that will be useful:

• electric jigsaw;
• Circular Saw;
• drill with drills;
• square;
• furniture stapler;
• hammer;
• screwdriver

How to do it at home?

We will consider in detail the manufacture of a sofa bed measuring 1 m by 2.2 m when folded, and 1.4 m by 2.2 m when unfolded.

The process of making and assembling a sofa bed will look like this::

Attention: when installing the folding mechanism, you must leave a gap of 10 cm between the backrest and the seat when unfolded.

That's the whole process of making and assembling a sofa bed. Now you can move on to the final finishing - covering the frame with fabric.

Finishing

The finishing treatment of the sofa bed is:

1. Nailing non-woven fabric onto the slats and laying 6 cm thick foam rubber on top.
2. Next, the covers are sewn and put on the seat.
3. Now the sides are attached to the seat and the sofa is completely ready for use.

Photo

Options for decorating the result can be seen in the following photos:

Useful video

The process of making a sofa can be seen in the following video:

Conclusion

To summarize, it is worth noting that making a sofa bed yourself is not only an interesting, but also a useful activity. This way, you will save money and get a high-quality, strong and durable piece of furniture.

In contact with

A sofa is an absolutely necessary piece of furniture. In small apartments, a sofa can replace a bed, a wardrobe, even a living room, in a set with a coffee table. And at the same time, the sofa is a very complex product, one of the most complex in furniture production, therefore, the prices for sofas are considerable, and amateur furniture makers take on them with caution and take inexpensive sofas for samples, which are relatively low in functionality and are not particularly strong and durable. This publication is intended to help them better understand the designs of sofas and understand how to make one that will be passed on to their grandchildren, unless they have to reupholster it. And designed for premises with the widest range of conditions of use: from garden gazebo to the kitchen and children's room.

This is not as difficult as it might seem and making a sofa with your own hands in the luxury category (not to mention simple ones for a summer house, a nursery, temporary use until you can get some money for furniture) is quite possible in a garage, barn and even on a balcony. This is how old-time furniture makers worked. High-tech “bells and whistles” make it possible to reduce weight and dimensions, expand the range of operating conditions, obtain new product qualities and create fundamentally different designs, but the basis of exclusive quality remains unchanged at all times: conscientiousness, accuracy, good knowledge of the properties of materials and a complete understanding of the essence of each production operation. And the furniture design is very conservative. Operations that require production conditions during its manufacture can almost always be replaced by even more labor-intensive ones that require skill with more ingenuity than that of a well-trained biorobot on a conveyor belt, but can be performed hand tools.

Corners that sofas

One of the most popular today is the corner sofa. The reason is high functionality, which is especially clearly manifested in small-sized housing. For example, a sleeping-living room sofa corner, pos. And in the figure, when folded, it does not have any sleeping appearance and the most orthodox moralist will have nothing to complain about. But at the same time, its right (according to the figure) section is already a single bed, and when unfolded it turns into a double bed. These are also called bachelors’ sofas: I’m tired, I don’t have the time – I’ll fall asleep in the one-room apartment. And the next (or forever only) passion has arrived - there is enough room for two to settle down, as it should be in such circumstances. Structurally, there is nothing complicated: a single bed and a folding or roll-out sofa, uniformly designed and put together, like those described below.

The second most popular is the classic soft corner, pos. B. Sitting in the corner is not only Bad sign, but also inconvenient, so in recent years the corner seat is increasingly being replaced with a casket-bar, as in pos. In, or, for the kitchen, a casket-table. Diagram of such a device kitchen corner shown in Fig. below. You can dine on it alone if in a small kitchen the table is occupied for rolling, cutting, etc. And the casket and trunks (as sofa boxes are called) will serve as bins for vegetables, storage of household goods, etc.

This kitchen sofa is made according to the so-called. simplified beam diagram (see below). Its peculiarity is that the seats are narrower than those of the sofas on which they sleep, 400-450 mm versus 550-700 mm. The length of the side sections is according to the location in the room; other sizes are standard, see below. The sidewall material is 40 mm hardwood board or 36 mm chipboard. The bottom of the sofa is 12-16 mm chipboard on a frame (also see below) or OSB of the same thickness without a frame; the rest is a 30 mm board, 50x50 mm and 50x30 mm beams (shelf supports). Assembly - with self-tapping screws, dowels and half-timber inserts, all with PVA or “Moment” gluing. At current prices, no more than 3,000 rubles worth of materials is required.

Device and dimensions

The sofa consists of a supporting (load-bearing) structure, most often including a drawer, a bed - a sofa, if there is a lifting drawer, a backrest and armrests. In transformable products (sofa bed), a transformation mechanism and, possibly, additional pillows stored in a drawer are added to them. Typical sofa sizes:

• Length – 1200-1900 mm.
• The width of the sofa is 550-700 mm.
• The height of the armrests is from 100 (ottoman) to 400 mm.
• Back height, without extras. pillows – 200-700 mm.
• Backrest tilt – 5-20 degrees.
• The height of the “sitting” surface of the sofa above the floor is 400-450 mm.

The last parameter, in turn, consists of:

• Legs – 50-70 mm.
• Support frame – 50-100 mm.
• Box – 150-250 mm.
• The bottom of the sofa (with frame) is 55-75 mm.

This leaves up to 120 mm for soft padding with sheathing. If its thickness exceeds 70 mm, the sofa is considered soft, 40-70 mm - semi-rigid, up to 40 mm - hard.

About cutting and sewing

The most difficult and responsible part of the work of making a sofa is its stuffing, upholstery and upholstery. These are different manufacturing operations; each of them separately and all of them together determine the consumer qualities of the product and its durability more than woodwork. True, craftsmen are intensively promoting themselves on the RuNet, promising to reupholster a sofa in an hour or even in 20 minutes, but, firstly, they work mainly with nonwoven materials(fleece, etc.), which in themselves are short-lived. Secondly, they are covered using a simplified system with the corners turned inside out, which is unhygienic and guarantees rapid abrasion of the covering. And most importantly, with this method of work there is no reliable information about: a) the durability of the product before the need for reupholstery; b) whether any of the primary clients contacted this specialist again.

To properly sew covers for sofa modules, serious preparatory work will be required. Its essential subtleties will be described below; Beginners are advised to reupholster the sofa with old in an amateur way with saddle stitch fitting. The pros don't do much work for them, because... it takes a lot of time, and who will pay for it? But during the heyday of stagnation (or stagnation of heyday?), when you had to sign up for furniture reupholstery a year in advance, and even give a bribe, it was successfully used by “complete dummies.” The sofa is covered step by step like this:

1. The wooden base is covered with technical fabric - canvas, matting, burlap (possibly propylene);
2. Install soft padding, most often foam mats;
3. They cover the soft material, in order of preference, with spandbond, padding polyester, or batting;
4. On a piece of decorative fabric, the drawstrings are swept under the cords, if decorative scars/straps are provided, see below;
5. The decorative cut, without cutting, is thrown over the product with the wrong side out, pulled in as described below, and the corners are swept away with a harsh thread (now reinforced with propylene) with the scar facing out;
6. After a day, check to see if the pattern is wrinkled, sagging, or distorted, especially geometric ones, and if necessary, adjust the angles;
7. If everything is OK, mark the seam lines, cut and sew;
8. Tighten the cords into the drawstrings for tightening, if necessary;
9. Throw on the cover, make the final tightening, starting from the corners;
10. After another day, check the drawing and adjust the tension threads;;
11. Everything is OK – the lapels are secured;
12. Decorative ties are formed.

The procedure, as we see, is quite complicated and lengthy. This is explained by the fact that the properties of fabrics, incl. upholstery, vary noticeably within a piece. Previously, upholsterers were guided by intuition and experience; now the technical parameters of a particular sample are directly entered into professional computer cutting programs. Homemade templates from wallpaper newspapers do not provide this and do not take into account the initial tightening of the fabric. However, it is useful to make them - to determine the fabric consumption. A rough estimate of the method: the length of a cut with a width of 150 cm is equal to 2 widths of the sofa + 2 its lengths, gives a large waste. Determining the length of the cut using templates (allowance from 15 cm) saves lengths of up to 1 m (!); how much is it in money - see in the store.

Note: for the same reason, if you are reupholstering a sofa, it is undesirable to use old upholstery as a pattern. Under a microscope or magnifying glass, it is clearly visible that the structure of its fabric has changed significantly compared to the same jacquard or tapestry from the same loom.

Paragraphs also require additional clarification. 1-3. If you stuff the skin hastily, wood-glue-sintepon-foam-rubber-decor, then after a while you will find that the skin is greasy, sticky to the touch, especially in summer, and the dearest parts of the body feel uncomfortable on it. Let “some” be 3 years, but what kind of lifespan is this for furniture? Therefore, soft padding mats need porous pads on both the bottom and top to remove evaporation/sweat/dirt from them. In furniture with spring blocks, by the way, too, see fig.

What to do?

The basis of the sofa is the supporting frame, pos. 1, with a box attached to it, pos. 2. The backrest is attached to this assembly, then the armrests; most often - already sheathed. The frame and drawer, if the design of the item does not include any visible wood, are also sheathed separately before assembly. Fabric folds at the joints in this case do not reduce the strength of the connection because vertical loads do not tear off the upholstery, and horizontal loads are supported by additional loads. fasteners, see below.

Note: The famous tank designer Christie once said that the idea of ​​silent blocks in tracks came to his mind when he was renovating his sofa. It’s not surprising that the rich man tinkered with the furniture himself; Christie was an engineer of the second class. Ι genus rearranges pieces of paper at the table, and ΙΙth can do everything he comes up with with his hands.

A sofa and its lifting mechanism(in the simplest case - piano/card loops and a limiter cord). Perhaps the sofa will be hard with a loose mattress lying on it. In any case, the sofa is also covered separately in advance.

A special case is office sofas, etc., used in unfavorable conditions with the possibility of careless use. Their supporting system is made in the form of a three-dimensional beam structure, pos. 3. But it is not recommended for those who like to use the compounds shown there with confirmations obliquely. With special equipment and accessories, “oblique screws” are economical and technologically advanced and therefore widely used in industrial production furniture classes up to middle. But, firstly, such a connection is not as strong and durable as traditional furniture ones. Secondly, drilling very shallow oblique holes with a hand tool to a given depth, exactly at the right angle and in 2 mating parts at once is problematic, if not impossible. And self-tapping screws that move to the sides or along the corner (which is not noticeable from the outside) will significantly reduce the strength and service life of the entire product.

A drawing of a simple beam sofa is shown in Fig. It is most suitable for a gazebo. Due to the influence of bad weather, the pillows are brought/taken away as they are used, and before assembly, the parts are individually impregnated with an oil water repellent for wood (can be worked off) or twice with a water-polymer emulsion. Finish – acrylic varnish in 2 layers.

At the dacha, where rain still doesn’t pour through the roof, it will be easier to make a homemade sofa with a simplified beam system, its arrangement is on the left side of the trail. rice. Its basis is strong side armrests and a pair of cross beams. Completes power circuit box-bridge; in this case, it is necessary to have 2 bulkheads (partitions). Materials:

• Armrests - 20-24 mm plywood with board overlays on top (to make them wider) or, if the cottage is heated (does not dampen) 30-36 mm chipboard.
• Box – oak/beech board 30 mm; bottom – plywood from 6 mm.
• Beam legs - any commercial wood.
• The back is the same, shield, (300-400)x40 mm.

Assembly - on wood screws with gluing. Pay attention to how the box is assembled; this method will be useful to us. The second feature is that the box is attached with self-tapping screws not only to the timber beams, but also to the sidewalls from the inside using a zigzag (snake) in increments of 120-150 mm, with a distance of 30 mm from the edge of the board. The back is also attached to it.

If the workloads are smaller, but with a larger proportion of dynamic alternating signs, a simplified scheme with 2 longitudinal beams works better. They need to be raised by about half the height of the sidewalls, otherwise the working deflection, in this case already noticeable, will tend to pile the sides on top of each other and the sofa will soon become loose. According to this scheme, a children's sofa with drawers, shown on the right in the figure, is assembled; The diagram for assembling the boxes is there at the bottom right. The material of all lengths is oak/beech 30 mm; the sides and bottom of the sofa are plywood 18-24 and 10-16 mm, respectively. Assembly - with glue.

Note: It is not worth using laminated chipboard - for children's furniture only phenol class E0 is acceptable, but this material is quite fragile and will not last long in such a loaded product as a sofa.

How to lift a sofa

With the simplest mechanism described above, you won’t be able to lift the sofa back: the back gets in the way. All that remains is to lift forward. But then, taking into account the height of the support, its upper edge, raised, will be 70-100 cm above the floor. If the owner is not two meters tall, how can she put/get something? Roll the whole thing into the box and squeak, kicking your slippers in the air?

Meanwhile, it is very simple and reliable, and most importantly - it does not require high precision execution; the lifting mechanism of the sofa can be made by yourself at home, on the principle of a lever-spring system such as an oblique diamond with 2 dead points. How it is arranged, and at the same time the sofa-ottoman with it, is shown in Fig.

Note: The author is aware of the curious case of an oblique rhombus. A drinking, but skilled man, while making this ottoman, fenced off nooks behind the levers (they say, there are some kind of mechanics there too) and arranged hiding places in them for bottles with the required drink. I even brought out the tubes under the trim behind the back. And the better half was more than 10 years old, until he went into a deep hole and split up himself, and it was not clear why this faithful person was a loser every day, but did not run to the store for a bottle.

About sofa beds

The sofa bed is, as they say, a classic of the genre. But in the amateur, and also in the professional, world, innovative works appear here all the time. The fact is that the mechanism for folding out a classic sofa-book is quite capricious. Either it jams/seizes, then assembling/disassembling the sofa is difficult for ladies' hands, or it turns out to be too expensive and not reliable enough. And an amateur who wants to repeat the selected sample discovers that the rough-looking piece of iron has curved surfaces made with fairly high precision, but there are no detailed specifications for them. Therefore, amateurs most often make sofa beds as roll-out/pull-out ones.

Here, the most common are 2 systems, with a free retractable half of the bed, pos. 1 in Fig., and in the form of a bridge, pos. 2. The first is less labor- and material-intensive, but its Achilles heel is its legs. It is inconvenient to recline them manually, and gravity ones (reclining by their own weight) will someday stand askew and break; the sofa sagging when pulled out will help.

The bridge circuit is more reliable, especially since its movable (on casters) supports will also serve as bedside tables. True, you will have to reach for them, unless users are prone to necrophilia and do not like to sleep feet first.

The structure of the sliding sofa bed of the bridge circuit is shown in more detail in pos. 3. The upper pair of rollers (guides/stops) run in the grooves of the drawer. Pay attention to Det. Q. This is not some kind of additional swearing, but simply decorative overlay. The surfaces of sleeping halves A and B are, naturally, flush. The half-box A is often made to fold forward on the same canopies as for B, hidden by the cover B. Then the small drawers D are opened. Lovers of “strawberries and cream” (erotomaniacs/nymphomaniacs, a surprisingly monotonous and primitive-minded public) consider them reliable hidden secret places and hide intimate accessories in them.

Both of these systems have a common drawback: transforming a sofa into a bed requires some extra free space behind the backrest. This doesn’t happen in a small bedroom, and trash accumulates there. Roll-out sofa beds of the console design, now for some reason completely undeservedly relegated to the background, are deprived of this defect.

How the console sofa bed is arranged is shown in Fig. on right. Its width when extended can be increased to 1500-1600 mm due to the proportional widening of the console and increasing the height of the backrest, and its length up to 2000 mm (this is already a normal two-bed bed). In this case, the excess width of the seat when assembled is compensated by pillows that, when extended, form half of the bed. In the original design (designed for a tiny sleeping compartment in the utility room), they are stored in a box. Some tilt of the backrest is achieved due to the piano hinge, its hinge. It can be increased by placing a plywood spacer under the lower hinge wing.

The main materials are 50x30 beams and 4-6 mm plywood. The armrests are based on solid waste construction timber. The console frame is of the same design as for the box. Connections - through tenons or met. corners, no matter. The height of the cushions is 150 mm, but they sag under the rider, so for use in normal conditions It is advisable to increase the height of the console and put the box on legs.

About Eurobooks

The concept of the euro is no longer being discussed. Moldovans, for example (they have experience communicating with local guest workers) dig euros in a trench (according to plan, profile and on time), get drunk with euros (to the point of death, to the point of a green serpent, blue devils and pink elephants), and go to the toilet with euros a lot (no constipation or diarrhea). And an ordinary folding sofa bed is now often on sale not just like that, but as a Eurobook. But this is still all right, but a Euro-book sofa of the click-clack type (see picture) is already something.

It unfolds and assembles really easily, yes, yes. And the mechanism is expensive, but reliable. To create a double bed, the armrests and sides of the backrest also recline. It is not clear what to call them. It doesn't look like headrests. Podkonchniks, or something. When unfolded, triangular gaps form in the heads/legs, which are covered by additional folding wings, which further complicates and increases the cost of the product.

The most important thing is that in order to unfold the click-clack into a bed, you need at least 0.7 m of free space along its contour. Where can I get it? Perhaps in a studio apartment, the occupant of which is embarrassed to show that he also sleeps here. However, such a state of mind is typical for today’s, and not only today’s, Europeans. You can talk about a double standard of openness, but from the point of view of simple common sense, a sofa-book click-clack – well, that’s okay.

How to do?

But how to make all these sofas? Where to screw, where and how to drill and saw? Well, let's get started. Just don’t forget that what is being covered must be covered before general assembly. We’ll discuss how to cover something after the carpentry, after all, the basis is in it, and the making of the sofa begins with it.

Frame and drawer

In a professional, artisanal manner, so to speak, the supporting frame is assembled on blind tenons with wedging and gluing. They provide a completely hidden connection and furniture on these lasts for centuries, but to make them you need a hand-held wood router, skills in working with it, or mastery of a hammer, chisel and brace.

It will be easier for an amateur to assemble a frame with inserted legs, pos. 1 in Fig. This is no less reliable for 30-40 years, and the seam is almost invisible. Beam cross-section from 50-30 mm; legs - from 70x70 mm. In any case, the “stump” of the leg must be at least 40x40 mm. The beams are fastened with pairs of diagonally located self-tapping screws from 4.2x60 using glue.

The box is best assembled on triangular section bosses from 50x50, pos. 2. They are fastened to the box boards (oak/beech from 30 mm; pine from 40 mm) with self-tapping screws (4.2-6.0)x45, 2-3 pieces each. into each board, i.e. 4-6 pcs. on the boss; connections also with sizing.

Note: the box will be much stronger and more durable if you take the time to assemble the box on dowels, a pair per joint, before installing the bosses.

The bottom can simply be nailed with small nails in increments of 70-100 mm; it will lie on the frame and therefore will not come off. The choice of material is more important here. OSB is the strongest, but the staples of the stapler do not fit into it well, many bend and tear the casing; wallpaper nails too. Chipboard and fiberboard are fragile and delaminate. Suddenly the bottom gets wet and may simply fall through, leaving a nailed strip between the frame and the box.

Note: if you need to reupholster a sofa, the chipboard/fibreboard bottom will show itself in all its glory - when you tear out the old staples, the layered material is pulled apart so that new upholstery You can’t attach it anymore.

The best bottom material is plywood 4-8 mm thick, impregnated with a water-polymer emulsion. But, if you need a box without bulkheads, a problem arises: sheets of plywood as wide as the length of the sofa are not produced. The pieces need to be connected so that the joint is supported by the weight of the contents. The same question arises if there are scraps that are enough for the bottom.

In the industrial production of high-quality furniture, plywood sheets are joined with a shaped strip made of solid wood, at the top at pos. 3. You can make the “shape” yourself if you have a router. Its length is 2 board thicknesses less than the width of the box (equal to its internal width). The gusset is fastened from the inside to the frames (boards) with steel corners. If there is no router, the gusset is replaced with a prefabricated T-shaped beam made of 50-70 mm strips with a thickness of 15 mm and a 20 mm liner no less thick than plywood. It will give rigidity to the beam, and without it, the sheets assembled end-to-end will begin to mutually delaminate each other under work loads. Everything is assembled on small nails and secured in a box like a gusset.

Connect the box to the frame (remember, after the lining, if provided) with dowels in increments of 200-300 mm, this is enough to prevent it from sliding to the side. An option, perhaps in addition to the dowels, is flat metal lining from the inside and self-tapping screws, 1 in the middle on the short sides and 2-3 evenly along the length on the long sides.

Note: if the drawer is without bulkheads, the back height should not exceed 350 mm, otherwise the back drawer drawer will not withstand the loads.

Back

The basis of the supporting frame of the back (item 1 in the figure) is spar A made of hard board (120-150) x 40 mm. Most often, to simplify the work, it is made of sections, but a solid one will be stronger. This one is cut flush into the vertical posts and placed first on the dowels. It is also advisable to assemble the entire frame first on dowels, and then fasten it at the corners inside with corners or bosses, like a box. The bosses in this case can simply be scraps of timber, because The internal volume of the backrest is not used.

The height H1 is equal to the height of the support frame, without legs, together with the height of the drawer; H2 – the thickness of the sofa, but not less than the height of the spar indicated above. Thickness of the bottom slab made of oak, etc. – from 40 mm. It, together with the spar and rectangular parts of the racks, makes up the lower backrest belt. This is a very responsible node, because The normal operating load of people reclining tends to tear it away from the lower support.

The normal number of stands for a sofa up to 2 m long is 4 pieces. evenly along the length. If the back is wider than the sofa, i.e. also covers the armrests, then 2 more are added. The penultimate ones, counting from the middle, fall on the corners of the supporting structure, the outermost ones - on the outer planes of the armrests, see below.

The upper belt of the backrest is made of solid timber with a thickness of 50 mm. His “responsibility” is necessary when people stand on the back to reach something above or when the sofa is dragged by the back when moving furniture. Also here the upholstery is most likely to creep and wrinkle, so the top beam is planed into one plane with the supporting surface of the back and its edges are rounded (shown in the inset). As for the racks, they can also be pine.

The production of the backrest is completed by upholstering its supporting surface with plywood, chipboard, fiberboard from 4 mm, as shown in pos. 2. This is necessary to give the entire module the necessary rigidity for a strong connection with the support, but there is no need to sew up the rear yet!

Now compare poses. 2 and 3. The last one is a gross mistake that simplifies the work and allows you to quickly get paid for it, but seriously worsens the quality and durability of the sofa. How to attach this backrest to the support? Self-tapping screws into the ends of the boards? How long will a sofa like this last before the back comes off?

Connection to support

Assembling the backrest with support is just the case when metal fastener necessary in furniture. Together they are connected with corners from 60x60x4, and to the back parts with self-tapping screws from 6 mm, and to the drawer/frame - through bolts from 6 mm (heads into the drawer/frame), 3 of each per corner. Washers from 40 mm under the heads and nuts are required! There are still springs under the nuts; it won’t be possible to tighten them later!

You need 2 corners for each vertical joint in the back (12 with 2 intermediate posts), at the top and bottom, 3 horizontal ones in each section at the top, in the area of ​​greatest load (towards the spar), evenly along the length, and 1- 2 horizontally at the bottom. It’s better to have 2, in case the sofa is dragged by the back. For fastening to the spar, it is better to use unequal angles 60x40 with holes in a narrow flange, located in a row.

And only now the back can be sewn up with the same plywood, chipboard, fiberboard from the rear, covered with technical fabric, glued with foam rubber (40-70 mm), and completely covered. It is impossible to leave the decor for later, so as not to accidentally damage it during further work: it is unacceptable to insert the folds of the upholstery into the joint of the backrest and the support, and it will not be possible to cover it after installing the armrests.

Armrests

Armrests can be solid wood or framed like a backrest. They are also fully completed before installation. The load on them is less, so they are attached from the inside with self-tapping screws from 6 mm with an envelope or a snake to the box, and 4-6 pieces to the support. in a row.

Armrests of complex shapes are most often made of frames. In fact, technologically they are not that complicated, pos. And in Fig. Decor in inside reaches the bottom edge of the sofa. The backrest should also match the elegant armrests. Then it needs additional. sheathing made of slats approximately 30x40 and liners made of boards from 30 mm, pos. B. The sheathing is cut into the backrest posts, and the inserts are fastened with self-tapping screws into the edge.

Sofa

The bottom of the sofa (plywood or chipboard from 8 mm) is assembled on a frame made of 70x50 timber with at least 1 crossbar for every full or incomplete 70 cm of length; distribute them evenly. The frame parts are connected by a half-timber insert and reinforced with self-tapping screws using glue. The bottom plate is attached to the frame with small self-tapping screws or notched nails. The frame bars should be at the bottom, i.e. outside (see figure), and not inside, as is sometimes advised. True, in this case 50 mm of foam rubber disappears, but there is a significant advantage when covering it: staples/nails do not scratch the top of the drawer, and thanks to the extra bending, the covering of the sofa (the most loaded) lies more evenly and holds tighter.

Upholstery

Upholstery of different sofas and even different modules of the same sofa is done in different ways, but they all have a common sore spot - the corners. Form them with a fold, as in Fig. on the right is a common method, but therefore no better quality. According to GOST USSR, turned upholstery corners are generally a manufacturing defect. Only sewn corners are reliable and durable.

Cutting and sewing the corners of furniture fabrics is done in two ways: without a tongue and with a tongue, see fig. below. The first is preferable for very dense and durable fabrics (jacquard, tapestry); the second for those more susceptible to abrasion - velor, courtesan, chinchilla - and leather. But keep in mind that the numbers in Fig. approximate, fitting with sketch is required!

The covers are sewn, as usual, from the inside out and put on inside out. When putting on the finished cover, the wings (bends) of the scars are straightened special tool like a small shoehorn. It is called a bobbin, although it does not look like a braided bobbin. The tongue is not sewn into the seam; when sewing, it is folded back and left free.

Next comes tightening. If the corners have tongues, then the sheathing is leveled with them, and the tongues are secured. Then they pull the cover with a strong thread from the bottom along and across, 2-3 ties per 1 m of length and, tightening the threads, achieve an even, but not tight, tension; it is controlled by drawing. A cover with corners without tongues is straightened with threads. When the upholstery is stretched as expected, fasten the edges with a distance of at least 5 cm from the edge of the fabric. If the type of product allows, fasten with a hem.

Features for different modules

The supporting frame of the sofa and the drawer are upholstered as shown in Fig. The drawer is on 3 sides, the back remains open. This is necessary to ensure the strength of the connection between the backrest and the support, see above.

A pair of small trestles with a height of approx. 1 m, see fig. on the left, less than the width of the sofa, so as not to press down the fabric. As a last resort, the sofa blank is placed on a couple of stools. It’s not possible to simply cover the back, because... it is already attached to the support. Here, first, the fabric is attached along the line of interface with the box, from under the bottom it is pulled on the trestles, like a sofa, and to tighten it from the sides, you will have to temporarily drive small nails into the support. Well, the armrests can be moved as you like, there are no problems here.

Pillows

Individual cushions for a sofa are sewn in the same way as blocks of a frameless chair:

1. The foam mat is covered with technical fabric;
2. Sew the decorative cover inside out, leaving the final (lower back) seam unsewn;
3. 2 zippers are sewn into the final seam, fastened towards each other;
4. Insert the foam block into the decor and fasten the zippers.

Drawstrings

Sewing several pillows is boring, and dust collects in the seams between them. But a flat sofa does not harmonize with every design. Therefore, sometimes the pillows on it are imitated with drawstrings, see fig. There are also 2 options available here, for lighter and denser fabrics. In the first case, loops are sewn onto the edges of the cover under the drawstrings, and the drawstrings themselves are made when the cover is already secured. According to the 2nd option, the front scenes (tunnel sleeves) are sewn onto the workpiece under the cords and an even tension is achieved by alternately pulling the cords and the tension threads of the cover.

Beautiful scars

Another common way to decorate a sofa is with decorative scars, see fig. You also need to sew wings under them, but it is better to fill them with flexible multi-core electrical wire in PVC insulation with an outer diameter of 2-4 mm. Wire frames are formed on a template of nails driven into any (can be vertical) wooden surface suitable size, even for the wall of a barn or doghouse.

The ends are stripped of 25-35 mm of insulation, twisted with British twist (British, shaved, see the figure on the left), the joint is soldered and, so that the inadvertently exposed wire core does not dig into a sensitive place, it is wrapped with electrical tape. In the pillow, the joint, of course, should be at the back.

About one-piece cases

A one-piece sofa cover is already the highest aerobatics in the wallpaper business. However, what if a shabby but strong sofa made of mahogany or Karelian birch appears in your grandmother’s attic? Furniture restorers know their worth, but they love their work and respect smart connoisseurs. If you talk to them knowledgeably, they will charge a moderate fee and will put their soul into the work.

In such a case, as they say in “1001 Nights”, know that the basis for tightening a one-piece cover is the lines where the sofa connects with the armrests and backrest. They are fixed with cords, as shown in Fig. The cords are routed along the bisectors of flat angles (external) and the trisectors of triple (internal) angles along grooves in the wooden frame and, for triple angles, through holes in it. The cords are moderately stretched, their ends are secured and then the cover is straightened and pulled.

The drawstrings for the cords can be, depending on the design, front or back. The last case is the most difficult; the drawstring seam must be double and very even. To carry it out flawlessly, you need a professional 2-needle sewing machine.

Note: In general, the machine is the main problem when upholstering a sofa. Before work, look at your specification and check whether it sews jacquard weave fabrics with reinforced thread no thinner than No. 20. If not, you will have to rent or order upholstery at home. Or sew by hand.

What about simpler?

As you can see, making and upholstering a sofa is not a big deal. Isn’t it possible to do something quicker and simpler here, to the dacha, in new apartment? To throw on any pillows and collapse?

You can, the solution is called a sofa made of pallets. In general, a lot of things are made from construction pallets - pallets, including furniture, because pallets are inexpensive, seasoned wood of excellent quality.

The main thing here is taste and ingenuity. The simplest, most primitive garden sofa stack from pallets can be made much more convenient by using the same principle garden chair Adirondack type, on the left in Fig. It’s a little more difficult to use them to build a rustic-style pull-out sofa bed in the center. And if you press harder (with a tool, not a glass), you can get a sofa that you can’t immediately tell is from a discarded container, on the right. For example, see what a sofa was made by a seemingly completely inexperienced, but not at all stupid and not armless guy:

Video: DIY pallet sofa

This happens... with sofas...

Since we're talking about packaging, let's finish with a funny sofa. No comments are required, what is shown in Fig. speaks for itself. And it’s standing somewhere, they’re sitting on it, they’re lying...