Restuffing couch cushions

We've had our couches for over 10 years.  They aren't anything super special, but we bought them new and actually got to pick the pattern for them.  They are England brand.  (highly recommend that brand, by the way).  These couches have moved with us twice and were stuck in storage for 6 months.  They've been troopers.  But lately they've been showing their age.  Over Christmas when we had a house full of people, you could just about touch the floor after sitting down.  The support was nearly gone.  I'll admit I had a few giggles watching Joel's family members trying to get up out of the couch.  They'd try to get a running start to boost themselves up.  Cue perverse laughter.

So it was time to do something.  Because I don't have a few thousand dollars just sitting around waiting to be spent on new furniture I turned to my good friend Pinterest.  I figured others would have the same problem I did.  Yep.  So many pins on how to fix your couch cushions.  After reading a bunch of blogs and watching a few videos I gave it a try.

Here's what you need::
1) Scissors or sharp knife for cutting foam
2) Cheap paint drop cloths, or other type of thin plastic (get the same number of plastic as you do cushions)  I bought a 3-pack for $2.67 at Menards.  Since I had 6 cushions to do, I bought 2 3-packs.
3) Foam inserts.  I bought these, but you can get what you want.
4) Vacuum with hose attachement
5) Garbage bag to throw away all the debris

Here's how it went::
Step 1: Take off your cushion covers.  There should be a zipper somewhere on the side so you can just whip those suckers off.  I went ahead and washed them all.  These cushions had seen a lot of use over 10 years, including 2 children potty-training.  They needed a good washing.  I just threw them in the wash on cold in the delicate cycle and then hung them up to dry.  No problems with shrinkage.

Step 2: After you take off the covers you're going to see something like this:

  It's a foam insert covered in what looks like quilt batting and a cover of some sort.  I've seen other that only have a quilt batting covering the foam.  Whatever.  The point is that you need to get straight to the foam.  SO, this is what I did...

 Take off whatever is covering the quilt batting, if you have anything there.  Just rip it off. Be gentle, but get it off.

The "open" the foam.  Mine was adhered together on three sides so I gently pried it apart.  Now it looks like a book.  Some might have the two pieces of foam completely separated.  Good for you.  That little square piece of foam was all the extra support that came with the cushion.

Step 3: Time to insert new foam.  I ordered 2 big pieces of foam from Amazon.  I knew I'd have to cut them to size, but that was fine with me.  I put the big piece of foam snug in the 'book' and closed it.
*Now there are some blogs I read that said you need to use spray adhesive to make sure everything stays put.  I didn't do this for the simple reason that I forgot to buy any at the store and I wasn't making a trip just for that.  But do what you want.

 Now it kinds looks like a big sandwich.

Then I cut the foam to size.  As you can tell I was super precise about it.  I just hacked it with some scissors.  The foam company website said you could cut it with a bread knife, but I didn't want to get up from my comfy spot on the floor and my scissors were right next to me.  Notice the square piece of foam that was original to the cushion.  I figured I'd just put that in for kicks.

Step 4: Time to get everything back in your freshly washed cushion cover.  Now's where it gets cool.  Here's the fun part.   Get the cheapest piece of plastic you can find (I used paint drop cloths because I watched a video and that's what they did...buy the cheap ones though)  You're going to end up having to rip that plastic to shreds so you don't want anything too tough.  Wrap the cushion in the plastic.

Then take your vacuum hose and shove it in between the foam inserts.

Turn on the vacuum and watch it shrink down to nothing.

While the vacuum is still running (this is important), slide the cover back on.

When you have the cover in the correct position turn off the vacuum and watch the magic happen. (If you turn off your vacuum before you have the cover in position the foam will reinflate as you're positioning it.  Makes it really hard to get the cover all the way on)

BOOM! The foam has reinflated and it's all snug in there.

Step 5: Get the plastic out of there.  Now aren't you glad you took my advice and bought the cheapest, thinnest plastic you could find?  After trying this a few times I learned a little trick to this.  Reach your hands down as far as you can between the plastic and the cover and made some tears.  Start pulling it out.  Then flip it over and pull from the bottom.  Because you made tears all across the bottom it should be pretty easy to get the plastic to slide out.

Now to zip it all back up. Be careful at this point.  You'd think zipping would be easy, right?  Well the cushions are a lot fuller than they were when you took off the covers so just be prepared to shove some foam back where it belongs.  Go slowly and you'll do fine.

And DONE!  Get some wine and sit back on your new fluffy cushions.

Cost::
Foam: 15.95 x 2 = $31.90 (there was free shipping when I bought it from Amazon)
Plastic drop cloths: $2.67(for a 3 pack) x 2=$5.34
Total Cost: $37.24

It took me about an hour to stuff everything back in to the covers.  Is it perfect?  No.  Are they as good as the day we bought them?  No, but there are close.  The couches are 10 years old, nothing will change that.  But it by doing this I've given them a few more years of life, that's a win in my book.