Last Updated on May 21, 2023 by Kimberly Crawford
Let’s start with a simple question: Why is an old couch still there? Admit it — you love it. This piece of furniture reminds you of something pleasant, or it is so comfy that you have kept it all these years. Otherwise, you’d find a way to get rid of it.
So, you want to keep your good old couch, but stains, saggy cushions, and overall look make you sad once you see it. The surefire solution is to hide the issues under a slipcover, but it’s not the only way, as less radical ones are available.
You can fix the problem by contacting a local furniture repair team, which can be pretty expensive. Or you can do it yourself so that your family budget doesn’t suffer while you have fun giving a new life to your furniture! Here’re some tips and tricks you can use.
1. Clean it up
The first thing you should do is to clean your furniture. Depending on the condition, you can do it yourself or request a cleaning service. The choice is yours, but the result of your efforts might not match your expectations if you’re not a fan of the cleaning process with a few hours of spare time and specific tools. Having professionals do their job to get an immaculate couch is usually a better option.
Yet, don’t rush with calling for help. Some stains look nastier than they really are, so just try to clean a few to understand whether you need to call the pros to get the job done. Also, note that some materials are more challenging to clean than others and that your couch might not become as good as new even if you’ve paid a lot for the best service in town. It’s not the end of the world, though.
2. Throw chic textiles over
Natural wear and tear leave ‘scars’ and other marks on the couch upholstery. Unfortunately, you can’t reverse this process; even when cleaned, your cozy sofa won’t look any younger. Still, you can add some style and cover old wounds by throwing chic textiles over them.
The best news is that you can change them anytime you want! So your couch will be new with every cover you consider fitting the occasion. Isn’t it great to have such versatility for your interior?
3. Get some throw pillows
Add accessories! No, you don’t have to come up with something fancy to make your old couch look fresh. Just get some throw pillows to switch the accents and make them eye-catchers. Play with sizes, shapes, materials, and colors to express your inner designer.
Make these accessories stand out. Most probably, no one will notice old, out-of-color upholstery. Besides, you can always say it is a synergy of old-fashioned quality and a brand-new vision appealing to any eye.
4. Put furniture cover on
If you can’t fix the stain problem — cover it! Such a disguise won’t revive your couch, but undoubtedly, it will look fresh and different. The beauty of this approach is in its simplicity and diversity. You can use fancy slipcovers, blankets, throws, and anything that comes to your mind.
To rest assured that it will work, cover it all up with a high-quality slipcover, and your sofa will have a different look than when you bought it. That said, you don’t need expensive reupholstery to make your furniture look new. Moreover, you can change and combine the slipcovers’ colors, thus extending your couch’s lifetime.
5. Re-stuff saggy cushions
The functionality of your furniture is as important as looks. For example, covering up the age of your sofa is a great idea to refresh the exterior, but if it just doesn’t work as designed, you’ll waste the money. Cushions create the desired comfort, so the last but not least important step is to revise their condition and rejuvenate them if needed.
Take the cover off (if it’s removable), and inspect the cushion to decide how to make it feel new. Before adding cotton batting, check the resilience. If the cushion deforms just a bit more than you consider comfortable, think of applying a few layers of foam wrap or similar material. Sometimes, it can be enough to restore your couch’s shape for a while.
Bearing these tricks in mind, you can bring your old sofa to life with minimum expense! Besides, you don’t need equipment or specific skills to do it yourself in most cases. So make your old couch look and feel great again!