Planted and Blooming Girl: Scaling Back: Why I Cut the Arms Off a Sofa

Hi Lovelies.
Yes, I cut the arms off of our sofa.
Admittedly, we have a room we never use. Not because I want a "formal" living room, by far, it's just not the gathering spot for anyone except the dog. I read out there once in a while, but it is basically my dog's room. He likes that he can see out at the neighbors and make a quick dash for visitors at the front door. If you've read my blog before (Hi Mom), you know about the Italian Stallion Sofa we purchased soooo long ago. (Hey, I'm not embarrassed). I quickly hated what it looked like and gave it a very unprofessional reupholster job. Fast forward a few years, several kids, and one large dog later, it's still comfortable and sturdy-just need a remedy.

Here's what I finished with.

I Googled for some ideas and came up dry...as usual. So I'm sharing my tactic and crude phone pics of how it was done, just in case any of you want to cut off your sofa arms.

Here's a waaaaay "before," as in circa 2007...

The original Italian Stallion (it had some big guns right?), the makeover a few years ago when I Drop Cloth Covered it, and finally the "after" when I removed the arms:

armetcomy folks.

The sofa never truly "fit" in this narrow living room. It had those big round arms that stuck out and broke up the room making it feel more narrow than it already is. I continued to shop for a slope arm model that would be comfortable and cheap (hey it's a giant dog bed). This combo is hard to find. So, like all of my projects, I thought I'd try an experiment on this couch, and if it failed, I'd be forced to buy a new one as planned.
(But I didn't fail).

I asked to borrow my father-in-law's sawzall, or reciprocating saw. Once he realized what I was planning, he went ahead and cut for me ;)

I didn't take any pictures of the process, because I was already feeling judged by the family for this project so I didn't want to add to crazy...but this is how it went down.

I began by prying off the lovely (insert healthy sarcasm) faux wood trim, fabric, and foam to expose the wooden frame of the sofa. I cut through the fabric and padding with a utility knife to expose the wood frame on the arms. I drew a line from the back of the sofa to the front with a sharpee, in the angle I wanted removed, and then Pop cut it for me. I removed a lot of padding from the arm, but salvaged enough to wrap back over and re-staple to the outside of the arm. I decided to just use a slipcover on the thing to save time. Now I know it's not perfect and all that smooth, but hey, I believe I told you in the "About Me" that I'm not a pro. This cover is from Amazon and is pure white (gasp) yes, white with a dog. I have always had white furniture in one room or another and would never shy away because of bleach, people.

Believe it or not this sofa fits so much better in here and the arms aren't visually blocking off the furniture from each other.

If you look really close at this picture below, you might be able to see our dog.
(again, sarcasm).

Much better. The ottoman was recovered with a Chintz-like fabric in a Chinoiserie print, inspired by the Henry Link bambooesque dresser I painted for in this room. I had great plans to cover some pillows with the fabric but have yet to get around to that.

Well c'mon...since you're here, I'll give you the 25 cent tour of the Living Room.

Here is the view from the foyer...

My mom and I painted the Dining/Living Room with Sherwin Williams Mindful Gray a few years ago and the foyer, hallway, and kitchen SW Agreeable Gray.

Below is the view from the Dining Room. You can see to the left are the french doors that lead to the "study" a.k.a. little kids' hangout. We are so not going in there right now. You can see a peek of the wallpapered foyer ceiling that used to be two-story, until this past Spring when we had closed it off to make an additional bedroom upstairs. I don't like to blog about projects we pay people to do unless it might help someone else out, and that one is well worth the investment. We don't miss it at all because the new front door lets in so much light; it's as if it has always been like that.

Do Chinoiserie and Buffalo Check even go together ?

Well they do now. I break rules folks. All kinds of rules. Actually I just bring together anything I love, that's the deal.