Apartment Updates & Projects with mom

Hey y'all! It's been a minute since I've last given you guys an update on how my apartment is coming along so...here is what I have been working on!

As most of you have seen on my Facebook, I've been working on reupholstering a midcentury couch with my mom. It actually belonged to my best friend's grandmother, who was also like a grandmother to me. So not only is it the style I love, it also has some history behind it. 

I'll apologize in advance as I only managed to take iPhone photos of the entire process (what kind of photographer am I?!) but here is what it looked like originally. 

Beautiful shape, not so beautiful tweed. Not to mention it was extremely itchy. 

After a very brief search for new fabric, I decided on a light grey herringbone, trying to stay true to the time period but with a modern twist to it. 

I had never reupholstered anything before but my mom had done a few of our couches in the past. It's something I've always wanted to learn how to do as I love working with my hands and making things, and it's also just a good idea to continue learning new skills to exercise your brain! 

It took us several weeks to actually get the damn thing stripped. My mom and I are both busy bees, she definitely more than I, so it took a lot longer than it would have if we just sat down for a weekend and worked straight through it. 

I severely underestimated how long it would take and how much work it would be to remove the existing fabric. Not to mention you can't just rip the fabric apart; you have to keep the pieces intact so you can use them as a pattern for the new fabric. Otherwise your new upholstery is going to look lumpy and terrible and all of your hard work would go straight to shit. 

I thought we would never finish it. But alas...

We did it! Totally stripped to the bare bones. After seeing how simply couches are framed and put together, it almost pissed me off knowing how much people spend on them. 

So, after getting this babe ripped apart, my mom and I immediately started to cut the new fabric and lining out. Once that's done, the fun begins! 

My mom did all of the sewing and I helped with the manpower in the stapling. It's surprisingly fun! 

This is the progress my mom and I have made as of this week. She has been a tremendous help as I would likely never be able to do this on my own. All we have left now is the back panel and the cushions, and I'll finally have my first custom piece done! 

Natalie