DIY Sectional Part 1

First post of 2022. This year has kicked off to a wild start. I’ve still been busy building, and actually I think this might be my biggest project ever…I’m building a custom sectional. We had talked about getting a sectional well over a year ago but with supply chain delays and low inventory, we might be waiting at least a year to get our couch, not to mention there’s a high price tag that comes with a custom sectional. So I started researching building my own of course. I poured in about a year to research and planning, and decided this would be the perfect project to start the new year.

Now I don’t know if you’ve researched DIY couches before, but there aren’t a lot of resources out there. Most people leave it to the professional upholsterers. I’ve never upholstered anything and have very little sewing knowledge, so this was a bit of a crazy dream project. But if you’ve read any of my other blog posts, I think it’s pretty clear that crazy dream projects are exactly what I like to take on. People telling me I can’t or shouldn’t take on something honestly just fuels the fire even more to prove I can do it.

When it came time to start building, first I measured the space in my living room. We decided on a corner sectional, because our house is fairly small. I decided to build the sectional in four pieces that can come apart for easy moving in and out of the house. I got to work building the frame. Each piece is a simple 2×4 structure, that I will later bolt together in the house.

For comfort, the back of a couch should lean a bit (I read somewhere 0-10 degrees is most comfy) so I cut each of the back pieces to lean at a 5 degree angle on the miter saw. I cut both ends of these vertical supports at an angle so the top of the couch would still be flat with no lean. I also positioned the back pieces so that even with the lean, the top of the back would sit flush with the wall. So basically the only place you can see a lean is inside the frame on the side you’ll sit on.

I screwed the base pieces to the back pieces of the frame to see how it would fit together. If the back frame looks hugely tall to you at this stage, it was, but I’ll get to how I addressed that much later, and not without a project injury story (don’t worry, I’m okay). This whole project has been a “learning experiment”, but it’s been so much fun to bring this crazy dream to life. Up next, webbing & making the couch cozy.