‘Firming Up’ the La-Z-Boy

No, I wasn’t talking about signing Louie up with a gym membership!  

Louie and I spend many evenings sitting together watching tv in this love seat recliner. It looks good, but the support could be better. Sometimes it feels like our backs are sinking into the lumbar section, resulting in achy backs and bodies. Most nights, Louie will get up and go lay on the couch to get more comfortable. We have other recliners, and they have more support, feel more firm, and are very comfortable, but they are in our basement living room. I was getting to the point that I was thinking of shopping for something new, with more support, but I wanted to stay with a double recliner. I decided to give an idea I had a try. What could it hurt?

I went downstairs to my quilting supply closet and brought up my ‘Goodwill’ bag of fluffy batting, aka, Village Snow Roll.

I removed the back on the side I usually sit, and started taking stitches out of the side seam. This photo actually shows that I was working on the neck rest section, but I worked on the lumbar section first.

The ‘stuffing’ that La-Z-Boy puts in the chairs is encased in a ‘bag’ of sorts…it’s very neat and contained. Behind the bag is the support to the chair back, or like I explained to Louie, like ‘studs in a wall’. I took the batting and laid it out smooth, then stuffed it behind the ‘bag’, trying to keep it smooth and evenly distributed. The back was put back on and taken off many times so I could sit in it and ‘feel’ where it needed adjustments. After many tries, I found where it felt ‘just right’.

I hand stitched up the seams and then repeated the process for Louie’s side of the love seat.

Visually, it doesn’t look any different, but it sure does feel different. I hope this will ‘fix’ my needs, and it only cost me 88 cents and a few hours of work. I plan on buying another bag or two of batting and adding a little more batting. See the wrinkles on the front side of the seat sections? I want to add a little batting in there, then I think I need to shampoo the fabric. It’s been a few years.

It felt good being able to make what I had, better. It sure beats buying new. Do you have something that needs firmed or fluffed up? Be brave! Give it a try. You just might surprise yourself, and save some hard earned money too!

Next project…Louie has a ‘tall’ man’s recliner downstairs that needs ‘firming up’, but he will have to be here when I do it so he can ‘test drive’ it and help me make ‘comfort adjustments’.