Needing a sofa for the den, I’d been looking around for inexpensive ways to build one that would be nice looking, yet be nearly indestructible. You see, again, we’re real people and this house is lived in pretty hard. We also have indoor pets who, despite their small size, can find ways to destroy just about anything. Thankfully, we’ve always had a sense of humor about the chaos, sort of. William used to laugh a lot more than I did when viewing a little dog sitting amidst a pile of chair stuffing, “We can’t have nice things” he’d giggle, while I’d be envisioning doggie handcuffs and mugshots. Bless him, he always was the “better half” of this relationship.

I’d already begun building a patio sectional from plans here: http://www.morelikehome.net/2011/06/our-new-outdoor-sectional.html and had built a very nice patio work table with plans on that same site. Loving the work with inexpensive 2x4s I went back to that site and found plans for a “Simple Modern Sofa” http://www.morelikehome.net/2012/10/day-31-build-simple-modern-sofa-with.html

So, we went to work. First, John started cutting the 2x4s according to the cut list on the plans, and while he was cutting, I drilled the appropriate pocket holes. This way, by the time John was finished cutting the boards, the pocket holes were almost done and within a few minutes we were ready to start putting the frame together. We didn’t speak aloud the niggling feeling that “Wow, this is pretty big”, and trusted the plan, which clearly said “Simple Modern Sofa”.

Here you can see John assembling the back of the sofa, drilling into the pocket holes. That blue handled clamp you see is a truly nifty device from Kreg called a right angle clamp. It is built so that one jaw of the clamp is pointed so that it fits down into a pocket hole and holds both boards firmly to prevent movement.

I recently heard that the average height of humans these days is around 5’3″. This would explain not only why I have trouble finding size 12 jeans that don’t hit above my ankle, but also why so many furniture plans seem more suitable to children than to my 5’7″, mostly leg, frame. Having been unhappy at the height of the patio chairs in the sectional plans, we added a few inches to the height of the sofa. We should have added fewer inches, because I didn’t take the depth of the cushion into account.

John is adding the seat slats for the sofa here. We had finally begun to mention, in passing, “hmm.. this is pretty big”, and at one point I, half jokingly, said “Well, if it’s too big for the living room you could replace the cheap daybed you’re sleeping on with this.” We weren’t deterred. I needed a sofa darnit, and the plan said, this is a sofa.

Because I am sick to death of staining, waiting, urethaning, waiting, sanding, waiting, urethaning, waiting, etc. We chose a lovely brown paint, Glidden Stewart House Brown, which looks like devils food cake batter in the can, and goes on the color of Hershey’s Syrup chocolate. The chocolate references are important as well as accurate.

The finished “Simple Modern Sofa” looked great on the enormous patio, as you can see in the photo above. We had to open both sides of the patio door in order to schlep it inside where it magically doubled in size. If anyone would like to buy a gorgeous, sturdy daybed with room for a trundle underneath, just let me know, I happen to have one. I’d be willing to trade this great twin sized bed for a dachshund proof sofa.

In the meantime, I’m going to need a great deal of chocolate in order to live with a bed in my den.