Cheap DIY Couch Inspo

Cheap DIY Couch Inspo - Reupholster using Painters Drop Cloth Canvas

Painters Dropcloth: To keep things on a budget, I spent several days googling "how to reupholster a couch super CHEAP" and "am I making a mistake trying to reupholster my couch by myself without experience" and  "wine delivery for when you are overwhelmed". To my surprise, I found this amazing blog post about recovering your couch using only a $30 painters dropcloth and liquid RIT dye. HOORAY!!! Now, her directions are fantastic for dying, however, I live in an apartment complex and my husband is wary of us throwing 8 bottles of RIT dye in our washing machine (owned by the complex). So, being the creative wife that I am, I decided to turn to Pinterest and keep researching some inspiration. That's when I found a fabulous article on bleaching canvas (particularly painters dropcloth) to give it that soft, light feel and look. 

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Mud Cloth Inspiration: It's hard to ignore that mud cloth is heavy trendy right now, however I've always loved the visual stories and aspects of African art. When Daniel and I are cruising around any of my favorite antique malls, he always points out anything that has a tribal feel and says, "you love that, don't you?" and I'm like "YASSSS QUEEN". This is an amazing read on some of the meanings of the patterns and colors commonly found on mud cloth, where they originated and how it's done. 

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Creating a Design: The sofa in the center of this collage is a $4800 designer settee that I think is absolutely beautiful but way over my budget (obvi). With my "do it myself attitude", this gave me the idea to find a way to achieve such a beautiful sofa cheaply and in my own way to so it feels truly me and fits in my home. Bleaching the canvas to a blank slate and using RIT dye to create a design is a great start. I think a simple mud cloth inspired design would work really well for this but I can also see myself doing more of a "splatter paint", "cowhide" pattern, like the gorgeous settee above. The best part about this is that I can pretty much create, paint, dye, bleach any design I want! And since I am not really a patient person, this design will probably be perfectly sloppy.

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Color & Texture: When I originally decided to reupholster our craigslist,  vintage couch, I was dead set on finding a rich velvet fabric in green, blue or grey. I was inspired by so many options and the thought of having a luxurious velvet sofa with patterned pillows, a vintage throw and my fluff ball, Marble, sitting so cutely - was a dream! *Give me a moment, I need to sighhhhhh* To solve this little "bummer moment", I am going to create that luxurious feel with different colors and textures brought in through pillows. 

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​Pillows & Cushions: The game plan is to leave the back cushions of the couch alone (and out of sight) and use loads of throw pillows in different shapes and sizes, as the back of the sofa. We already have a ton at my apartment from my random Target and Ikea purchases and collecting vintage or hand-me-downs over the years. I've also found a few quick, cheap DIYs for cushions and pillows like this one from Apartment Therapy. I'm excited about finding or making pillow covers that can be switched in and out as my mood or style changes. Such a cheap, fun way to create a unique space and bring character to our home.

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It might be coming up on two months since this vintage couch re-do has been in my life and in my dining room, however, I am pretty stoked to see the final product. If I ever do.