Assembling upholstered furniture yourself means providing yourself with a wonderful opportunity to save some money. As practice shows, in this way you can cut the cost of purchasing a new sofa by half and get a product of the size that will look most advantageous in a particular room. Let's talk about how to assemble a corner sofa with your own hands, advice from experienced specialists.
Have you thought about how to make a corner sofa with your own hands but need drawings? We recommend reading this article to the end. At home, this task is not so difficult to accomplish. You will need to decide on the design features and prepare drawings. Assembling your sofa according to a carefully designed drawing of all its details will be much easier and faster.
The assembly diagram should describe the dimensions of all structural parts: armrests, frame bases, backrest, seat, shelves, drawers. It should be as simple and understandable as possible.
Without significant experience in such matters, experts do not recommend taking on the creation of complex models with many drawers, shelves, and bar compartments. Experienced craftsmen do not recommend using expensive materials for self-creation sofa for the first time in my life.
With armrests Popular mechanisms
Small
Rounded
It is possible to assemble a corner sofa with your own hands. You will need to prepare an up-to-date set of various tools. The list may expand depending on the complexity of the assembled structure, but the minimum set is:
We'll tell you how to assemble a corner sofa without the help of experienced craftsmen: simple step-by-step instructions that will allow you to complete the job without additional difficulties. We will conditionally divide the operations into several stages, depending on the fact with which structural element of the future sofa the work will be carried out.
Step-by-step execution of work | Tips from experienced experts |
Making armrests | If desired, these structural elements can be neglected, but their presence increases the comfort of upholstered furniture. |
Left side assembly | Quite a noisy and dirty activity, get a vacuum cleaner for surgical removal crumbs and wood dust from the floor surface. |
Right side assembly | If you have a high-quality tool, the work of assembling the sofa frame will proceed faster. |
Covering the frame with foam rubber | In order not to spend extra money, use every available piece of foam rubber to cover the future sofa. Large pieces are on the seat, small pieces are on the armrests. |
Making a cover and upholstery | Choose the most practical, but at the same time amenable stitch on your sewing machine fabric for sofa cover. If the unit cannot process the material, you will not be able to make a cover yourself. |
A sofa made by yourself can become not just comfortable linen, but also a worthy decoration for your home. The main thing is to do the work without haste. Then all processes will proceed easily. For maximum comfort of upholstered furniture, it is worth giving it two armrests on both sides; they will be mirrored.
We will make armrests 90 cm long, 20 cm wide and 55 cm high. To construct them you will need:
Before final gluing, experts recommend cutting off the sharp edges and corners of the upper part of the structure. To do this, use a coarse file. Experts insist: foam rubber cannot be glued to back wall armrests. This area is sealed with a layer of batting.
Now let's move on to the next stage of assembling the model, for which we will need to fasten 2 chipboard parts by using a plywood overlay with screws and wood glue. Make 4 screws on the halves. And 2 racks of timber are screwed, and with their help a screed is made. Next, a “ladder” is fixed on the main sofa, in which the upper beam is closely adjacent to the lower one and rests on it. When assembling the seat frame, it is worth remembering that a large load will be placed on it. Therefore, it is better to select high-quality timber without knots. If there are knots on the timber that occupy more than 40 percent of its cross-section, you should refuse to purchase such material.
Do not forget to check the diagonals of the assembled frame for the same dimensions, after which it must be installed in the frame of the future sofa.
To make it easier to insert the frame, you will need to loosen the fastening of the front beam. Experts also recommend lubricating all surfaces. adhesive composition and then tighten with screws. Screw the long screws into the ends of the longitudinal bars (the length of the last 7-9 cm).
After assembling the left part, we state: half the work is done. Next, you need to move on to the layout of the parts on the right side. Let us remember that its bottom can be conveniently used as a linen drawer.
It is worth applying a protective varnish to the chipboard if you refuse to purchase laminated chipboard. You can also cover the side of the timber and chipboard parts facing the inside of the linen drawer with teak before assembly. But before that, it is recommended to “scratch” the sharp edges of the finely dispersed sandpaper so that in these places the textiles do not fray during the use of the furniture.
As described above, you need to fasten the chipboard parts with a plywood overlay, and then assemble the blanks according to the drawing. The blocks are screwed along the entire perimeter with high quality, because the boxes will subsequently rest on them. You can use bars of any quality. Next, the fiberboard bottom is nailed.
Under the lifting mechanism you need to arrange holes for the bolts. They will look out from the side of the beam. You need to glue a foam rubber cushion for a seat as follows: there is a solid layer of foam rubber on top, and the other two are stuffed from pieces.
Before covering the frame with foam rubber, you need to take measurements from all surfaces, since the material needs to be cut according to them. Once one of the pieces is cut out, glue it into place. This will simplify the process of adjusting the remaining parts to it.
In the case of a seat, it is recommended to use foam rubber with a thickness of 10 cm. If this is not available, you can glue two sheets with a thickness of 4 cm and one with a thickness of 2 cm. Do not neglect the scraps, you can cut out suitable ones from them geometric shape and fitting the pieces to each other.
It is necessary to prepare patterns for each surface to be covered so that the process of upholstering the sofa is as simple as possible. They start by taking measurements, for which the sofa should be visually divided into sections. You need to cut the parts in the shape of a rectangle, even if the future product has a non-standard shape.
You need to measure both armrests, the backrest and the seat. Next, you need to make patterns, for which you can use any type of paper: wallpaper, newspaper. Be sure to check the drawings as you work.
Patterns allow you to cut textiles as rationally as possible. If you find this operation difficult, try placing the material on the seat and marking the boundaries with chalk. The fabric should be pre-washed and ironed. Then, it needs to be cut with the wrong side up, having first laid it on a smooth surface and leaving seam allowances of 5 cm. If the material crumbles at the edges, leave even larger allowances.
The cut out textile parts are fixed to the frame with pins, connecting the individual parts into a single fabric manually with threads. The cover will fit without any problems, taking into account all the angles and bends of the model. And after sweeping, the excess is simply cut off so that the seams stitched on the machine are neat. Once all the stitching has been completed, turn the cover right side out to ensure it does not require any adjustments. The self-made cover is fixed to the frame using a construction stapler with small increments.
The aesthetics of the furniture in the house determines the impression one gets of the entire room, so it is very important to keep it in good condition. refers to that functional part of it that is very often in use. In this regard, it quickly wears out and loses not only its attractiveness, but also performs its intended functions worse. However, in the conditions of financial instability, which each of us faces from time to time, replacing it is not so easy.
But there is a way out! If you know how to work with certain tools, you can make anything yourself. This will not only save money, but also give you a truly unique and inimitable experience!
Creating a sofa yourself is quite easy. But first of all, it’s worth deciding on its appearance and functionality. Depending on this, the design is selected. They are divided into non-folding and non-folding, but they are distinguished as follows:
We offer you the most common and popular schemes. Also decide on the availability of storage space. Depending on how your structure will be laid out, it is worth purchasing special mechanisms.
To make a sofa by hand, you will need certain tools. For work, it is best to use those devices that you have encountered not for the first time, or to practice. Before you start creating furniture, make sure you have the following tools with you:
The materials you will need to make such an important and large item depend on its type and functionality. But in any case, you need to purchase:
The parameters and quantity depend directly on the model being manufactured. It is important that they are of high quality and environmentally friendly. When working with wood, pay attention to the quality of sanding. It's best to do it yourself. When choosing glue and varnish, do not buy materials containing toxic substances.
The classic canapé is beautiful upholstered furniture that cannot be transformed. You can easily come up with its design yourself. The drawing and assembly diagram of the model can be viewed below. They consist of:
The legs are made of timber or purchased ready-made in the store - plastic, iron or other material. It is necessary to knock down a rectangle with a lid made of boards or chipboard, and then screw the legs as indicated in the diagram. At the back, attach a beam or board covered with fiberboard, or a sheet of chipboard.
To make the product soft, we attach the foam rubber with PVA glue. Next, which is secured with a stapler on the back side of the structure.
For the past, chipboard is best suited. In this case, it is enough to simply cut out a piece of the required size, which will be placed on the short sides. It is covered with foam rubber. It is important that the top of the sheet overlaps the bend of the sheet. The next layer is the upholstery fabric. It is fixed at the junction of the frame with the base.
If you want to do more functional model, it is worth using a different scheme. A U-shaped fragment is assembled from boards or chipboard. Halves of moving mechanisms are attached inside, parts of which are attached to the separately assembled box, which allows it to function easily and correctly. The seating area is installed on top of the base. The rear part of the structure is also attached to it. Cover it all with foam rubber and fabric, as in the first case, or lay it down.
You decide for yourself whether to attach the armrest. True, it is worth noting that its presence can add functionality if it is rectangular in shape with a wide top and, unlike the side and end sides, is not covered with upholstery. In this case, the armrest can play the role of conveniently placing a book or a cup of tea on it.
It is important that the furniture is not only functional, but also has an attractive appearance. Main role choice matters when decorating upholstery fabric. Today there is a wide variety of products on the market, among which the most common are.
A sofa, a corner one, and even more so a folding one – the design is much more complex than a bed. The fact is that it combines the features of frame and upholstered furniture. In addition, a sofa, unlike a bed, is not a utilitarian object. It is designed for a comfortable, pleasant pastime and should also decorate the interior. And these functions - additional convenience and grace, require much more skill.
A sofa of any shape is a complex project. Its production begins with the development of a drawing. And the expected size is far from the only factor that will have to be taken into account. The shortest list includes the following:
In addition, it is necessary to at least approximately calculate the total load on the sofa - its own weight, the weight of all users and dynamic load, and, accordingly, strengthen the frame elements properly.
The drawing includes projections of all working components of the sofa, so that without the ability to draw or knowledge of the relevant computer programs it's impossible to get by.
You can use a ready-made scheme on website pages. The working drawing must take into account all the above factors and include three projections of each module. At the same time, it is not recommended to change the dimensions of the sofa or its parts: the design is designed for a certain load, and if you change the dimensions without taking into account the redistribution of the load, it will lose both strength and reliability.
The only change that can be introduced here is the color and texture of the upholstery. Even using a different material for filling is not always advisable, since the project is developed for a seat and cushions with a certain rigidity.
If you have no experience in creating furniture, but have skills in working with wood and soft materials, then it is recommended to order a drawing based on individual dimensions and carry out the project yourself. Collect by ready-made diagram working units and parts are much simpler.
Below you will find drawings and diagrams with dimensions that will tell you how to make it yourself, for example for the kitchen or living room.
Drawings and diagrams of corner sofas
East style
Small
With armrests
Sofa
Short
With shelves
Rounded
With an American folding bed
After the drawing has been developed, and the determination to make furniture with your own hands has not faded, you can begin to select the material.
Wooden beam coniferous species– 30*50 or 50*50 depending on the size of the structure;
Before use, wooden beams are treated with antiseptics. Plywood and chipboard do not require preparation.
You can cut out the parts yourself from sheet material, or you can order cutting. In the majority construction stores such a service is offered. At the same time, the sheets will not only be cut faster and better, as professional tool by default it is more powerful, but it will also process the edge.
The list of tools includes both mechanical and electrical mechanisms for making a corner sofa from scratch or reupholstering a corner sofa with your own hands:
We often have old sofas that are a pity to throw away and unpleasant to look at. Then knowledge of how to cover a corner sofa with your own hands will help you. Believe me, there is nothing complicated about it, and the sofa turns out like new.
The following video will tell you how to reupholster a corner sofa with your own hands:
The general assembly diagram is as follows:
Making furniture with your own hands always takes much longer than in a workshop or workshop. This is also related to the manufacture of parts. non-standard sizes, and with fastening conditions. Each of the units, assembled with glue, requires drying under pressure - in a clamp, and this takes at least a day. However, it is precisely this feature that ensures the greater strength of such products.
You can also use the following video when you decide to make a corner sofa with your own hands. it contains 3 options for a homemade frame:
The transformation of a frame product into a soft one is carried out at the very last stage. The first step is to make the armrests, otherwise, the sides of the model. Typical dimensions for them: height - 55 cm, length - 90 cm, width - 20 cm. The height is given without legs, that is, only the sidewall itself. The dimensions may be different, but it is important that they exactly correspond to the parameters specified in the drawing.
The second armrest is also made, taking into account the fact that it is a mirror image.
To produce the main part of the sofa - the left one in this case - more effort will be required.
Assembly of the left side, which includes the corner module, is more difficult. As a rule, it is equipped with a linen drawer and, in addition, may have the most different shapes depending on the type of sofa. The left part is assembled according to the same scheme: first, the sidewalls are cut out - the lower and upper parts are made of chipboard, fastened with plywood and wooden beams. All workpieces are mounted on a frame made of timber, reinforced with vertical bars according to the drawing - in the corners, of course. If the design provides for an external corner, here the parts are assembled onto metal corners.
If the left part is lifting, or a storage box is assembled under it, then this part of the sofa also has a bottom made of chipboard. It is recommended to cover all internal parts of the drawer or storage box with wear-resistant fabric.
The order of assembly is different: here the lower part is assembled first, and then the frame for the back is made. The lifting mechanism, if provided, is installed according to the instructions depending on its type. The assembled frame is covered with foam rubber - first with a sheet 4 cm thick, possibly in fragments, and then with a whole piece of foam rubber 2 cm thick.
The next step will be cutting out the fabric and upholstering the sofa with fabric.
The corner sofa for the kitchen has its own characteristics. In most cases, it is not folding, although such options exist. The space under the seat is almost always used as a storage compartment with a hinged lid. Angular kitchen sofa always stands on legs, since in the kitchen dirt appears on the floor much faster and should not be allowed to accumulate under the furniture.
Below you will find a video that will help you make a simple but comfortable sofa for the kitchen:
Pallet or pallets – wooden box decent dimensions 1 * 1.2 m and a very small height - 12 cm. As a rule, the distance between the bottom boards reaches the width of the board itself or so. Less common are options with a solid bottom.
Making a sofa from pallets comes down to assembling structural elements - pallets - into a single whole of the required shape, and decorating it.
In addition, the pallets can be painted, stained, aged, or varnished with colored varnishes.
This option looks great at dachas and open verandas, but it will also be useful in modern urban interiors, decorated in loft, industrial, and avant-garde styles.
DIY photo of a corner sofa made from pallets
Making such a piece of furniture is not an easy task, especially if we're talking about about a homemade corner sofa on a metal frame, made with your own hands. But if House master Having mastered this design, now he can handle any furniture for an apartment.
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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, a sofa is a very complex product, one of the most complex in furniture production, so the prices for sofas are considerable, and amateur furniture makers take on them with caution and take inexpensive sofas as samples, which are relatively unfunctional and 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 rooms with the widest range of conditions of use: from a garden gazebo to a kitchen and a 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.
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.
Second most popular - classic couch, 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. The layout of such a kitchen corner is 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.
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:
The last parameter, in turn, consists of:
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.
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 actively promoting themselves on the RuNet, promising to reupholster a sofa in an hour or even 20 minutes, but, firstly, they work mainly with non-woven 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 upholster a sofa using the old amateur method 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:
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.
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 are installed on the box (in the simplest case - piano/card hinges and a limiting 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. In the presence of special equipment and accessories, “oblique screws” are economical and technologically advanced and therefore are widely used in the industrial production of furniture of classes up to medium. 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 the power circuit of the box-bridge; in this case, it is necessary to have 2 bulkheads (partitions). Materials:
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.
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 in them hiding places 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 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.
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 in a rough-looking piece of iron there are curved surfaces made with sufficient high accuracy, 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). Excessive seat width assembled form in this case, it 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. On the base of the armrests - 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 place the box on legs.
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. We can talk about a double standard of openness, but from a simple point of view common sense sofa-book click-clack - that's it.
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.
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 manual frezer woodworking skills, 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 the sofa, the chipboard/fibreboard bottom will show itself in all its glory - when you tear out the old staples, the layered material will be torn apart so that you can no longer attach the new upholstery.
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 connected with a shaped strip made of hard 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.
The basis of the supporting frame of the backrest (item 1 in the figure) is spar A made of hard board (120-150)x40 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 struts, makes up bottom belt backrests 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 made of 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. On the last one - blunder, which simplifies the work and allows you to quickly get paid for it, but seriously degrades 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?
Assembling a backrest with a support is exactly the case when metal fasteners in furniture are necessary. 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 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 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. The decor on the 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.
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.
The upholstery of different sofas and even different modules of the same sofa is done different ways, but they all have a common sore spot - 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 with a special tool like a small shoe spoon. 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.
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.
Individual cushions for a sofa are sewn in the same way as blocks of a frameless chair:
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.
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 into 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.
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 angles (internal) along the grooves in 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: generally a machine - 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.
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, to a 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 principle of an Adirondack-type garden chair, 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:
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...
Any interested person can make a sofa with their own hands or another practical furniture at home. Regardless of the type of product, the cost of producing a Eurobook, corner model or sofa bed is several times lower than purchasing a ready-made option.
Before you start work, you need to familiarize yourself with the technology, stock up on tools, and buy the necessary materials.
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Anyone can make a sofa, armed with necessary tools, materials and manufacturing instructions. A homemade sofa will cost much less than a purchased one and will decorate the interior of any home.
Self-made furniture fits well into the room in style, size, shape, as well as ideal for a specific family in terms of functionality.
Before moving on to the question of what a sofa consists of, you should outline its main purpose, highlight the main design features. - this is large-sized cushioned furniture, intended for daytime use, primarily for sitting.
You can sleep on it, but this is more of a guest option: the pillow filling used on the orthopedic side is not always suitable for proper rest. There are three main elements in the design of any sofa: a rigid frame, soft seats and backs, and folding mechanisms.
The huge number of types of sofas is explained by the desire of furniture designers to create products that fit organically into any interior. They are placed in different rooms, regardless of size and purpose: small bedrooms, children's rooms, hallways or spacious living rooms, halls, halls. Today the most popular are folding, retractable and composite transforming models: they allow you to quickly get an additional sleeping place.
When the need for bulky structures disappears, the sofa can be easily folded, and excess pillows are stored in a special niche, drawer or container. The most common types of sofas are as follows:
Advice: If the owners decide to make a sofa with their own hands, but have no experience, then it is recommended to start with simple models in a minimalist style. You can practice by making a bench, ottoman or pouf.
The following types of rigid materials are most often used to make the frame:
To make a sofa with your own hands at home, the craftsman will need boards and/or chipboard. Tree - suitable material for the production of durable furniture that will last for decades.
Chipboard – a budget option: it is cheap, does not have great strength and moisture resistance. The frame can also be assembled from metal, but this requires specific skills, equipment, or seeking welding services from specialists.
The soft back and seat are filled with polyurethane foam or made from spring blocks. For a homemade sofa as a filler For soft pillows, you can use synthetic winterizer or foam rubber of varying degrees of density.
In order to make your own sofa from wood or other easily processed material, you will need the following tools:
cutting tools: hacksaw, jigsaw or grinder, carpenter's knife, scissors;
They always start with an idea - choosing a model, drawing up a project, sketches, drawings, patterns. You should study the technology in more detail, find step by step instructions, get acquainted with the intricacies of work and advice from experts.
Then they make the purchase necessary materials, tools, when everything is ready, they begin to implement their plans.
The job will require a variety of skills: carpentry skills, the ability to cover the frame, to uniformly stuff pillows with soft material. Minimal training is enough - you can master these skills during the manufacturing process of the product.
Making a sofa bed with your own hands will solve the problem rational use spaces in small apartments, small houses, studio apartments. A beautiful sofa, equipped with a special mechanism, decorates the interior during the day, and in the evening it can easily be transformed into. Traditionally, all types of sofas designed for sleeping on are called sofa beds. They can be laid out in different ways:
Design of sofa beds. The general structure of all modifications of sofa beds is the same:
Depending on the operating principle of the mechanism - roll-out, sliding, folding - the sofa gets its name. Some models are equipped with rollers for ease of movement and movement of structural elements.
Home craftsmen make a corner sofa with their own hands quite often: this option is appropriate in small apartments and dachas. Typically, suitable corner models are not available for sale: it is difficult for buyers to find a model that would fit perfectly into a small room.
In addition, when individual production you can orient the product as you wish: make it right-sided, left-sided, or with the ability to rearrange the small attached ottoman cabinet in any direction.
Corner sofa, like others homemade product for your own use, they are most often made from environmentally friendly materials: pine timber, plywood. Soft pillows are stuffed with foam rubber or holofiber. Experts recommend using reliable fittings and practical upholstery.
The corner structure can be made with a roll-out drawer, equipping it with an inexpensive “dolphin” mechanism, which has proven itself in the market as strong and durable. Folding out the sofa according to the “dolphin” principle is based on the sunbed emerging from the roll-out box and aligning it with the level of the seat - effective area at the same time it becomes equal to 1.5 or 2 double beds.
The side seat of the corner model can be equipped with a lifting mechanism, adapting it to a linen cabinet. It is convenient to fold laundry in it; it can be easily opened by simply lifting it up by the edge.
You may be interested in information about why you need a partition in the room.
The Eurobook has a simple and elegant design: a seat, a backrest and only one side panel. Make a popular Eurobook sofa with your own hands according to drawings and diagrams , found on the Internet, lighter than other models.
If the folding of two parts of an ordinary “book” was ensured by the action of a steel mechanism, then the “Eurobook” works on a different principle: the seat rolls forward, moving along the guides. The backrest is placed in the resulting empty box, turning 90° . A flat surface is formed on which you can lie comfortably.
The step-by-step process of making a Eurobook sofa is as follows:
A children's sofa is made by hand using the same technologies as models for adults. The differences will be in size and design style - for children it is customary to use brighter colors of upholstery fabrics and practical materials. A number of other requirements for children's furniture should be noted:
A sofa made with your own hands at home from wood is one of the most durable structures, along with less common metal ones. In addition to standard models, drawings and diagrams of which can be found in large quantities find on the Internet, Exclusive original works are often made from wood.
The most expensive and durable sofa furniture is made from valuable wood species - beech, oak, mahogany. For less expensive samples, pine is used, but in this case, craftsmen recommend adding beech inserts: it is much stronger and does not sag under the weight of structures resting on the frame.
Separate wooden elements can be used as decorative design finished product. Homemade furniture often decorated with carved wooden sofa handrails and an original backrest frame.
Furniture made at home or in your own workshop is much cheaper than store-bought samples, and is in no way inferior to them in terms of aesthetic appearance and functionality. Information on how to make a sofa with your own hands will be useful primarily to people who are not used to spending several monthly salaries on the purchase of expensive and not always practical furniture.