Saturday, September 19, 2015

The Mid Century Sofa Demolition....

Last year I had a couch, it was from my student days, a 1980's leather Castro convertible, with a queen sized mattress tucked inside.  When my brother offered me a leather couch that was in much better shape, longer and more comfortable, I ditched mine.  Waiting waiting waiting, I get the call that the couch that was in the storage unit had invited some unwanted guests, and would I like a termite ridden couch..... ah no.  So off I went to my thrift stores to search for a couch, something with a small footprint, and stylish.

This is what I found, it looks good doesn't it?  It is in dire shape actually, the frame is in perfect condition, the cushions need to be restuffed, and the fabric is dirty.



Aside from creating new cushions and wrapping them in batting, I have little experience with upholstery projects but I thought this might be easy because the seats are all separate frames. Easy right! I can't tell you how difficult it was to peel off the covers.



 Ok, not so easy, these cushions are actually  molded into shape.


The foam is in good condition so all it needs is a little more batting. The additional batting will not allow me to reuse the cover that is spinning in the washing machine upstairs.  The covers will need to be shaped from scratch.  As luck would have it, Joann's only had one bag of cushion wrapping, I had to order the other online, so it should be in next week.  That will give me enough time to think about how I'm going to go forward, and to look for a good adhesive to hold all of these pieces together.


They won't have exactly the same shape as before but they already look better.

Stay tuned.... 




Sunday, September 6, 2015

Tyvek, Fashion, Quilts and Textile Storage

We all know what I'm doing, now that I've scored these great rugs, I have no place to put them until I move into the big house. Sigh.  In researching rug storage, Tyvek is recommended for not only rug storage but for shipping quilts, who knew, and that's not all, designers are using it as another paint in their palette of design.... So of course, I need some.


I'm itching to start sewing again.

There's even a Tyvek blog, so you can see what everyone is doing with it.


Thursday, September 3, 2015

Flir One and Home Inspection...

The inspectors that arrived to perform the inspection on the homes, brought a Flir Camera, a professional quality for home inspection.  I just happened to have a Flir One camera that attaches to the back of the iphone.   I had them compare their images to mine, and while theirs were more defined, the readings were the same.  The bungalow has it's hot spots, and after having a meaningful discussion with the contractor, I showed him proof.  Because the inspection was done in December, these were more difficult to spot, everything read as blue (cold) because there was no heater running.
This is the wall with an air space behind it, and you can see the furring strips holding up the drywall.
So not only does it serve to show hot spots, but it's a stud finder as well.


Here is the addition, where they plastered the cinder block, there is no air space and the room is warmer.  No studs, one of the many future projects will be insulating the wall, maybe fabric will come into play on this project.