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LAURA DE BARRA regularly brings her lifestyle and home maintenance masterclasses to the Glenveagh Home Magazine on TheJournal.ie. This week: a masterclass in reviving a tired, saggy sofa in under 20 minutes.
OVER TIME, A ONCE comfortable couch can start to feel and look beyond its best. Seat cushions may dip, back cushions may feel lumpy and overall, things don’t quite look as they should.
Before you go and buy a new couch (or reach for another throw) take a read through my guide below. What many people do not realise is that there are some simple steps you can take to give your couch a whole new lease of life, instantly bringing back the comfort and visual appeal…
Step one: Plumping cushions
If you have natural filling like down or feather, you will be able to shake and massage your cushions back in to shape very easily. Plumping your cushions weekly will ensure they do not lose shape so badly again.
However, most couches that sag are filled with a synthetic filling that can get really lumpy over time. It can also slip and gather lower down in the cushion, leaving the top lacking the volume needed to sit comfortably. First of all unzip the cushion cover and take out the insert. (If your cushion cover does not have a zip, you can carefully unpick the stiches, go for the ones on the bottom so the restitching isn’t seen.)
Some inserts will simply need a massage. Work your way around the insert, massaging out lumps and bumps and ensuring the filling is evenly distributed throughout the insert.
Step two: Getting rid of lumps and bumps
If your insert needs a bit more love, unzip or unpick the side and get your hands right in to the filling. The lumps can be pulled apart gently and this will bring some volume back in to the filling. Again, just make sure you are distributing it evenly and pay particular attention to the corners.
Step three: Topping up the filling, if needed
If you feel that the volume is really lacking, this is normal. All couch filling reduces over time. You can buy top up filler (it’s usually labelled as ‘cushion and soft toy filling’) easily, it’s pretty inexpensive and looks like a bag of candy floss. Use it to fill the voids to bring the cushions’ plumpness back. I prefer to place it inside the original filling so it’s less obvious. An even better alternative is to use any sagging scatter cushions you may have. Just slice open the insert, pull apart the stuffing to plump it up, and stuff the couch cushion insert. Simple, free and effective.
Step four: Checking regularly for any necessary repairs
This step takes us out of the 20-minute timeline but is worth it to boost your couch’s longevity. If you feel that your couch has a dip that has nothing to do with the cushion, it is most likely broken suspension. This will be a broken spring, loosened webbing or snapped wire. It can be expensive to investigate fully and repair but there is a handy alternative. All you need is a strong but comfortable sheeting, available from most popular online shopping sites. These unfold to fit the base of your couch, and form a platform rigid enough to support the seat cushions over a dip, but not so hard that it’s uncomfortable.
Want more tips and hacks? Laura de Barra’s debut book, Gaff Goddess: Simple Tips And Tricks To Help You Run Your Home is on shelves now, published by Transworld Ireland. Buy it here or in all good bookshops, and follow Laura on Instagram for even more cleaning and lifestyle tips.
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You spend ages waiting on a bus and then 800 come along at once…
@The Alchemist’s Head: Rail seems to be the only way forward for inner city commuting. Its a logistical nightmare trying to set it up but I’d say its well worth it in the long run.
Great news but did I miss where the country has won the lottery recently? Where is all the money coming from? Or is it a case of when you are broke you might as well spend big?
@Bo bo: Interest rates are set at zero or negative by the European Central Bank and they are printing endless amounts of money for capital spending. The EU is providing lots of funds for green initiatives as well. There will never be a better time to do this.
@Bo bo: credit card!!
And where does the recharge power come from? Solar, wind, tidal? No, it would be fossil fuels.
This is window dressing.
@Fred the Muss…: Fossil fuel is being phased out rapidly. Moneypoint and coal will be gone by 2025.
@Fred the Muss…: The thousands getting hosed down by, & / or inhaling, diesel exhaust fumes daily probably won’t agree with that… besides, electric from renewables increasing every year – 15% in 2010, 33% in 2018, 37% in 2019. Compare that to the 15 years Euro 4 to Euro 6′s been around – zero improvements required re: CO2, & as for NOX – well, we all know how manufacturers have been getting around that.
@Fred the Muss…: yes Window Dressing that’s a great way of putting it, how the power is generated (electricity) and all the manufacturing processes especially the batteries the maintenance etcétera, then it has to start somewhere for it to develop
Good news for the environment but I wonder what the lasting impact of COVID on public transport will be. As someone sitting on a bus writing this right now it’s very hard not to view them as giant germ boxes with poor ventilation and inconsiderate fellow passengers. Will everyone who swapped the bus or train for the car over the past few months suddenly rush back after there’s a vaccine? I have my doubts.
@David Law: very simple. Your Leap card is replaced with the microchip you get as part of vaccination. You can’t get in the bus without the microchip.
@David Law: They will if the traffic is appalling.
How is the electricity required for the batteries produced?
@Claude Saulnier: How are the batteries actually produced ? Interesting to see how manufactured and recycled at scale when everyone drives electric
@Wadi:
‘We now have a contractual agreement with our cell manufacturers that they will use only green power to produce our fifth generation battery cells,’ BMW Chief Executive Oliver Zipse said…
https://uk.reuters.com/article/us-bmw-electric-batteries/bmw-to-source-battery-cells-produced-using-renewable-energy-idUKKBN24114R
As for battery recycling, VW’s building a plant for that
https://www.volkswagenag.com/en/news/stories/2019/02/lithium-to-lithium-manganese-to-manganese.html
At what cost?
Don’t suppose any of these buses will be running all week so i can use them for work? or will it just be part time like the rest of them?
This looks like total greenwash as (It’s reported) the buses will still run for about 85% of the time on diesel and all need to be recharged at night at the same time. A much cheaper and better solution would be to buy the sort of modern Trolleybuses that are used in 300 odd cities worldwide. Modern Trolleys have enough battery power to run 50 or 60 Km in town and recharge from the overhead wires while in use. They also have lowered floors like all other modern buses. Also the problems with the poles coming off the wires is largely solved now but most importantly they are POLLUTION FREE.
@mmz: ‘the buses will still run for about 85% of the time on diesel’
Huh? This tender seeks buses with a 300kWh minimum battery. Think you’re confused with the hybrids.
Its a start but they will be refundant in 7/8 years with the batteries depleted and the cost of replacement prohibitive…..why are we once again the last country to look at hydrogen fuel cell technology…we should be following the advances made in Japan, Korea, China and Australia and adopt hydroggen for all HGV goods as well as promoting a whole new indusry for green hydrogen production….
have your say