Cheep Chickadee: Mission: Slipcover

This weekend's pet project is slipcovering a MASSIVE sofa that we have in our living room. We bought it when we moved into our last house (in Tennessee). It was perfect for that house because the room it was in was also massive, and needed some kind of visual "divide" to separate it from the dining area and kitchen. When we moved into our current house, I first placed this beast in the room that has since become our dining room, and there it sat for well over a year, until we moved the plaid sofa set to the basement when it was completed... the living room was very empty at that point, so we had to move the Beast in there to have somewhere to sit!

The sofa was originally a beautiful garnet color - went fabulously with our old house and decor scheme, but was decidedly a little too stuffy for this house, which has slowly become more casual and funky (in a good way) as time has passed. The living room opens into the Technicolor madness that is my kitchen, so I definitely need it to be equally cool and funky so that it "flows", you know?

Anyway, the sofa needed a makeover, and I was bound and determined to do this on the cheap and easy. Enter a great recommendation from my lovely friend Sharon (of Decorating is Bliss Ms. Magpie Designs). I asked for her advice on what to do with the sofa as I was originally thinking of blue or even a pale green... she recommended an ivory or tan so that it's neutral, and directed me to Fabric.com, and to a great linen-look decorator fabric called Osnaburg Natural. It's somewhere between a fine linen and a feedsack texture, but it's soft to the touch. Perfect for a casual-looking sofa!

The sofa pillows are completed so far, and I've gotten a start on the arms. Next up are cushions, but the rest of this weekend looks like it's going to be devoted to studying for an upcoming insurance exam (boo!)

Here's some photos, for your viewing pleasure:

Before: