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Building my own sofa

7ofus
Explorer
Explorer
I thought I would start a topic of building our sofa and some of the thoughts that went into the design. Here is a side view of our design is seating mode.

Next is bed mode.

And a photo of our mockup. We have cut and chopped and propped until we are happy with the comfort of the geometry. The cushions are 3" of medium firm foam topped by 2" of soft. If I had it to do over, I would get the 3" in firm. The soft is perfect for the back and for laying down on.

More pictures later.
11 REPLIES 11

D_E_Bishop
Explorer
Explorer
Either my post was poofed or I dumped somehow, but, that is fantastic work. I often hace to make up full scale mock ups so my DW can see what I have come up with. Yours out of pine was excellent.

I think that is worth a article in either MoHo mag or Trailer Life. A drawing with measurements is something I would support.

Great Work!
"I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for travel's sake. The great affair is to go". R. L. Stevenson

David Bishop
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tenbear
Explorer
Explorer
You have done a great job. Thanks for showing it.
Class C, 2004/5 Four Winds Dutchman Express 28A, Chevy chassis
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Camped in 45 states, 7 Provinces and 1 Territory

Campinfan
Explorer III
Explorer III
Wow, it looks great!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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agesilaus
Explorer III
Explorer III
Excellent work
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7ofus
Explorer
Explorer
A few more pics of the completed project.

Here is the sofa that matches the love seat. It is in the slide, so the base had to be made differently to accommodate the slide floor, and it had to sit out from the wall some to cover the front of the slide.

Here is the best I can do without a fish eye lens.

And since the sofa and love seat came out so good, we redid the dinette to match. I also made a new oak table as the old laminated one was starting to show its age.

7ofus
Explorer
Explorer
Toolguy5 wrote:
Can you show a better view of how you extend it for the bed? Don't quit understand from your pictures. Maybe if you snapped another picture of it in the bed layout without cushions, just showing the frame.

Thanks and very nice.

The trick is that the bottom of the cushion is part of the support. Since neither the wife nor I want to try to sew regular zippered cushions, and having lots of kids means frequent re-upholstering, we just wrapped the upholstery around the foam and stapled it to 1/2" plywood. The plywood is part of the structural support.

This picture shows a seat cushion upside down with the legs folded in (they stay out a little to catch the front lip of the base frame so that the cushion won't slide forward; the wall keeps it from sliding back.)

Same cushion with the legs now folded "down" to be a bed. The cleat you see about 18" back from the front of the cushion catches the front lip of the base frame to keep it from coming out too far.

A view looking under the bed.

This is what makes the back stay in place. The top bar has Velcro, and the lower pieces of wood are on snap close hinges. When down, they position the bottom of the back cushion properly.

We really like this modification. The new sofa is 1/3 the weight, 10 times the storage, and more comfortable sitting and especially sleeping than what it replaced.

MrWizard
Moderator
Moderator
great work
i built the inside of a camping van with sliding folding goucho bed, counter,water tank hand pump, the 9 yards, way back in the 70's

your sofa looks nicer than mine, ours worked, went from indiana to disney world,

then a few years later moved from indiana to calif

its long gone now.

enjoy the new sofa, looks great
I can explain it to you.
But I Can Not understand it for you !

....

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Campinfan
Explorer III
Explorer III
Very nice.
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Toolguy5
Explorer III
Explorer III
Can you show a better view of how you extend it for the bed? Don't quit understand from your pictures. Maybe if you snapped another picture of it in the bed layout without cushions, just showing the frame.

Thanks and very nice.
Dan & Patty
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7ofus
Explorer
Explorer
The small sofa is done. Here are a few pictures:

First, the frame installed. The seat belts bolt through to the framework under the MH.


Next, as seating. I also built the small, flip up table that you can see between the passenger seat and the sofa.


Then, with one side as a day bed.


And finally, as a bed.


The next project are some cots above the dinette and large sofa. I should have some pictures of that next week.

Campinfan
Explorer III
Explorer III
That's pretty cool!
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2016 F 350 FX4 4WD,Lariat, 6.7 Diesel
41' 2018 Sandpiper 369 SAQB
Lovely wife and three children