Help needed with caravan sofas

[Dowser]

I've bought a second hand caravan and want to update it.
I'm having new flooring fitted and was going to rip out the old sofas and have free standing ones , which I've already paid for.
Then when we went back to look it over at the weekend, it was pointed out to me that taking them out will reveal lots of holes in the wall and the new ones are 7 inches wider than the old Ines. Also the old sofas contain a sofa bed in there which will be useful for the family ( I didn't know it was there, my daughter found that)

I can see, but I don't know if I have the have the heart to tackle 14 cushions.
A friend suggested dying them
What would you do?
Have you experience of dyeing stuff like this yourself or should I check a professional
To have them professionally recovered is £2000 and the two leather sofas were £950

If I go down the dye route, I thought a grey. Would that work on these

[Dowser]

I can sew. Oops

[SoPassRemarkable]

Are you planning on towing the caravan because normal sofas may be too heavy.

[Dowser]

No it's a static. The new ones would stick out over the front door and take up way too much space.its down to
A..... recover myself.... eeek
I could upset Velcro instead of zips ... but big job

B dye them myself

C .. get them professionally dyed

D get them professionally recovered... ouch!
E use the sofas that I've bought that are too wide, and show all the holes in the wall and god knows what else and lose out on extra fold away sleep sofa

( I can't think straight today. I have raging toothache. )

[Dowser]

Upset ... use

[dontcallmelen]

Sorry bout toothache 💐 The fabric looks pretty hard to dye not sure it would work, could you try a small amount of fabric wrapping it tightly round the cushions see what it looks like, before you try making covers yourself or maybe some nice throws/cushions would be a much cheaper alternative.

[Helenluvsrob]

Honestly whats up with them? THey look in good nick though not to " the best possible taste" .
Is it really worth the expense of changing them at all?

[ZeroFuchsGiven]

Look on eBay for static caravan cushions, I have sold quite a few full sets on there but just depends if they will be suitable as most vans are different layouts with different seating plans. Worth a look though!

Otherwise if you get in touch with a local caravan engineer he should be able to replace the boarding for you on the walls which will get rid of the visible holes.

[Dowser]

Yes they are in good nick, just not my taste.
I've had 4 caravans and never bothered to do anything with them and this one I wanted to put my stamp on it.
Never thought of getting some already made on eBay.
I don't know whether it's this toothache but I'm really not firing on all cylinders.
Yes could keep other sofas but I don't want them too big / wide which they are 😒

[moppingcrocs]

Fabric painting?

www.apartmenttherapy.com/diy-project-test-lab-results-we-tried-3-fabric-paints-on-upholstery-and-heres-what-happened-218302

[Dowser]

Thanks moppin.
I'd give a hard chair a go but not sure about soft furnishings.

[woodstack]

I recovered the cushions in our static. Never again, but I was a total sewing novice. If I had my time again I would go at them with new fabric and a staple gun.

[Wingedharpy]

Chalk paint them?
Never done this myself but was watching YouTube videos of this recently and they look fabulous.
When finished off with a light coat of clear wax, it looks like leather- well, it does on film.
Could you get tester pot and try it in an area that's not visible in case you hate it?
Would probably be way cheaper than reupholstering and far quicker than sewing new covers.

[Dowser]

Thanks for all the good suggestions.
I've just rang Dylan and I've been told that the dye won't dye the covers as it's the fire proofing that stops them absorbing the dye.

Looks like it's recovering...I can sew but yes, I'm thinking staples and gun onto some plywood

[Dowser]

Woodstack , years ago I made a small cushion cover. It took 4 hours. The second one took 2.
I didn't make a third. I happened to see the same cushion on a market for £2 and bought two lol!

Been to Dunelm to look at fabrics.
Pricey but lovely.
I shall look around!

[Dowser]

Thanks for the suggestion winged harpy. I looked at some YouTube videos and wasn't happy with paint.
We shall practice with cheap fabric on the ones we aren't using ...dh will help me.
I wonder how many domestics we will have 😀

[DOLLYDAYDREAMER]

Hi. its not recommended to take out static caravan sofas as they form part of the structual rigidity. You could get them recovered. there is a company on ebay that does a postal service. they send you postal bags to send them in. or just cover on throws

[Dowser]

Thanks Dolly. I've cancelled the new sofas . We shall go this weekend and practice on the two spare sofa cushions, not shown in the picture but there is one unit I'm removing to make way for a table. I'll wash one cover and might practice a dye just to see what happens and I'll get some cheap fabric and we'll have a go at covering it.

We shall look at a professional if that goes pear shaped.

Looking at the price of fabric 😱

[Dowser]

Throws look to be the easiest , cheapest option, after dyeing which I'm assured won't work by the lady at dylon on account of the fire proofing.

[deste]

We have a static and I have throws on the sofas but because the throws are so light I have a throw on top. Madness, but you never see the fabric on the sofas anyway. I would buy throws and change the curtains if you want to do something.

[averylongtimeago]

I have recovered caravan cushions for our camper van. Two 6ft benches plus separate back cushions and scatter cushions. I bought fire retardant fabric off eBay.
It took fucking ages. Measuring, making a pattern, cutting, tacking, testing, sewing. Unpicking half of it because I had sewn it the wrong way round. The fabric is pretty thick and tough to sew. It's heavy, awkward to fit big bits through the machine.
I'm not a novice with a sewing machine and I am pleased with the results, they look pretty good.
However, they are still not finished as I could not 1/ find 40 buttons I liked at a reasonable cost to do the buttoning and 2/ I couldn't face doing it.

So would I do it again? No. Look in the back of the caravan magazine and you will find places that will make you new covers at a reasonable cost.

[Dowser]

An update
We’ve decided to cover the existing sofas.
I’ve bought the fabric at £12 a metre.
It’s grey woven and very sturdy and I think will sponge clean.
I suspect we’ve bought more than needed but I can make a door curtain and also cover the entry into the kitchen.
We are going to take a cushion to the joiners and get him to cut some plywood or MDf then we are going to staple it on
We have two cushions we aren’t using to practice on.

I’ve already got the new flooring in and it has transformed it. It’s already looking fab.
A friend said I’d probably like the covers with new flooring and curtains.
I don’t. Even after Washing a trial cushion I didn’t
There was a big brown wood and glass cabinet hanging over the sofas. I think it was a corner cupboard.
Looked hideous.
That’s gone and opened up the wall space a bit more.
The base of the sofas had a plain fabric on it which I thought looked scruffy too and didn’t know how to get around that one so
That’s gone and we’ve used the same laminate there as on the floor.

If you’d like to see a pic I’ll post one later.
We’ve still got a long way to go.

[Dowser]

The way it was

[Dowser]

And how it’s looking so far

[FleurWeasley]

Great idea with the laminate, I'd never have thought of that!

[Dowser]

Thanks Fleur.
It was a bit ‘off the wall ‘ but I just thought fabric is a daft idea if we have an attack of the grandkids with muddy shoes , we have that laminate at home and so easy to wipe clean that it was a no brainer to recreate the look at the van.

I think we are going to start the ball rolling on the sofas Ie get some plywood today.

So much for doing two cushions a week 😂