Money-Saving Mum Creates Stunning Teddy Sofas For Just £68, Saving £100s
- Ellie Evans, 35, discovered her son had scribbled all over her leather chairs
- Rather than buying a new set for hundreds of pounds, she transformed them with on-trend teddy
- The transformation cost just £68 using supplies from Dunelm
If you’re a parent, you’ve definitely experienced that sinking feeling when your little ones inadvertently destroy a prized possession.
But when one mum saw her son had scribbled all over her leather chairs, she decided to transform them herself rather than buying a new set for hundreds of pounds.
Ellie Evans, 35, a radiographer and mum of two from Liverpool, opted for on-trend teddy material from Dunelm, and pulled off the transformation for just £68.
Ellie told money-saving Facebook group DIY On A Budget UK: “I’ve recently just bought a house, and incidentally my son has just scribbled all over our leather chairs.
"Having done small upcycling projects before I knew I wanted to save the chairs.
"Plus they are good quality leather chairs and it would have been a shame to throw them away.
"After some online searching of ideas I discovered the teddy sofa chair covers from Dunelm and they are very much my sort of style so I bought them. They were £30 each.
"I did also recover the footstool which was done with the teddy chair cover which was £8, so this cost £68 in total.
"Overall the process of recovering the chairs took about one hour.
"The materials used were the cover chairs and an upholstery staple gun.
"The armchair cover set comes with a separate seat pad and then the cover for the chair which has the arms sewn into it.
"The cover is quite big and baggy, so I positioned it over the arms and back.
“Once I was happy I stapled it to the chair, pulled the excess fabric under the chair and stapled the fabric so that it was smooth and tight.
"My mum who is a seamstress helped me to do it and it was relatively easy.
"I feel great for saving the chairs and as I’ve just moved into a new home it’s saved me from spending money on new furniture which is great.
"My tip for anyone doing any upholstery upcycling would be to get a good upholstery staple gun and get help.
"The texture of the fabric also helped as you can’t see where I have stapled so something with texture or pattern is also good!”
Tom Church, co-founder of LatestDeals.co.uk, comments: “Teddy material is all the rage right now, with everyone choosing it for their coats, bags or indeed, chairs!
“Ellie has created a gorgeous set of armchairs that look as good as new, and all for £68.
“While it might have been an easier option to buy new armchairs, it was so worth it to put in the work for this transformation.
“Ellie now has a beautiful, super cosy set of armchairs - and she’s saved herself a fortune too.”
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