How to Refurbish an Old Sofa

Create a sketch of the piece and indicate each area that you will be working with. Carefully examine the piece to determine where each piece of fabric is attached, how it is secured to the furniture frame and how the cushions are covered. Attach numbered pieces of paper to each section of fabric and note the corresponding part of the sofa on your sketch. This will help you keep track of each part of the piece's construction as you take it apart and reassemble it.

Use a seam ripper and fabric scissors to remove the upholstery from the furniture frame. Keep notes on your sketch as you go to indicate areas where you discover staples, upholstery nails or glue. Cushion covers can be unzipped and easily removed from many cushions. If you cannot remove cushion covers in this manner, you can either rip them off or cover them completely as you refinish the sofa.

Refinish any exposed wood on the piece. Lightly sand the surface with a fine grit sandpaper. Apply a stain and finish or paint and sealer to achieve the desired look for exposed wood on legs, arms or other areas of the sofa.

Replace foam and filling if desired. Measure the original pieces and obtain replicas in the same style, shape and size, though you can select a higher quality of foam or filling if you want the piece to last longer or feel more firm.

Lay the pieces of upholstery you removed from the sofa out on a flat surface. Measure each piece to determine how much fabric you will need to reupholster the sofa. Add two inches to every edge to allow for mistakes.

Trace the shapes of the old upholstery onto new pieces of fabric and cut out your new upholstery to fit the sofa.

Secure the new upholstery to the sofa in the same manner as used with the previous pieces. A staple gun, tack hammer and upholstery nails should help you finish the job. Blindstitch areas that are left open or need to be taken in or further secured as you finish the upholstery.