PonderEthereal

I have this overstuffed couch, chair and ottoman set that I bought like 9 years ago. It’s the cuddliest, comfiest set ever. And it’s indigo. As it’s gotten older though, the back cushions have become more difficult to manage because they are always ’sinking down’ and you have to re-plump them frequently. And I have a kid and although we don’t let the animals up on the furniture, it happens now and again. So there is an assortment of spots here and there and smells, I’m sure.

The furniture it’s self is sturdy and although the cushions thing is annoying, I still really like the overall shape and look of it. So last week, I figured I’d give refreshing it a shot.

• The back cushions are filled with firm batting. I took a handful out and went to Walmart. They have good prices on their craft stuff. I got a bulk box of firm batting and it wound up being too much… so you probably only need a couple of bags at most.
• I took all the batting out (filled two trash bags per cushion) of each cushion. I put the covers in the washing machine on cold/cold, normal cycle and used only a little detergent. I did not dry them. After the spin cycle though, they are just wet to the touch, not dripping. I didn’t wait for them to dry to refill them.
• I put the old batting back in handful by handful. This rearranges it, which gets it out of the old, slouched configuration as well as making sure that each subtle curve of the cushion is refilled. As I put it back in, I sprayed it with febreeze.
• Every so often, I would squish the cushion up to get all the batting squished together. Once all the original batting for that cushion is back in, I added a few handfuls of new batting.

The end result is that the couch looks much better (almost like new - the bottom cushions are next!) and there is no more adjusting required to settle into it.