Project: Covering Cushions (Summer 2012)

This is actually the end of a long drawn out project - which, like lots of projects, had a learning curve. When MERGANSER came into our lives, she didn't have any cushions. This is not a bad thing actually, as cushions often carry odors and who knows what type of odors we would have had then!

So, we started by looking at cushion material and bought expensive 4 inch foam. Then we experienced feeling the bunk bottoms through our hips and joints. This was not working. So ... walking down an aisle of a large hardware store J. noticed a role of carpet pad. Then J. remembered a piece of advice about using multiple layers of carpet pad as a cushion. We tried it out, and it worked great!

This winter, when house sitting for some other friends, and while working on the quarter berth project, J. also made plywood bottoms for the cushions. The idea was that we would use vinyl to surround the cushions and staple the vinyl to the plywood. The plywood was cut and painted (with holes to allow some ventilation) ... then put into storage, awaiting time to finish this project. We needed to move back onto MERGANSER. (At which time we also started this blog.)

So ... the major project took place - cover the cushions!

Turned out great, and what a difference it makes, too.

Here are the photos:

 Last winter, J. didn't make plywood bottoms for the v-berth, and we took the opportunity to do so now. The kids are sanding the holes.

Here are two shots of the finished product. The stack in the background is for the main salon (along with the ones leaning against the cupboard, in below photo). The other stack of three is for the quarter berth (where you can see how they were created by looking at the bottom board).

With the v-berth we decided to leave the originally purchased foam, and add some carpet pad to the top and bottom. These are awaiting the paint to dry on the plywood before getting covered.