Revive Your Worn-Out Couch Cushions With This Simple Pool Noodle Hack
Our sofas are so cozy and welcoming that we gladly sink into them daily. And you may have noticed that you usually sit in the same place, on the same cushion, whether you're watching television, reading, or entertaining. What happens over time with repeated, daily use is that the fabric of even the highest quality sofa seats can start to pucker and droop. One great (and super inexpensive) solution to fix loose fabric is to cut pool noodles in half and stuff the cushions with the noodle pieces to make the upholstery taut. Problem solved!
We compress the foam or whatever filling is inside our sofa cushions every time we sit on them. This causes even high-end couches to develop saggy fabric. It simply may not be practical for us to redo the couch in a different fabric (the average reupholstering cost is $1,750) or to buy a new sofa (that cost is all over the map and ranges from $300 to $10,000). This is a useful hack if your sofa is on the older side but you love the lush-feeling fabric and it still looks cute. The pool noodles are a quick fix that increases the longevity of your sofa and makes the fabric look renewed.
How to do this easy pool noodle trick
You'll want to measure the depth of your seat cushions to see how far back they go. The majority of seats fall between 21 and 24-inch depths, although some are deeper. The length of pool noodles varies depending on the manufacturer. If you have a standard 24-inch seat cushion, you could use this four-pack of 48" long floats from Amazon ($19) and then cut the pool noodles cleanly in half.
Unzip your seat cushions and insert both halves of one noodle next to the foam insert, one on the left, and one on the right. Of course, insert them on the underside of the cushion. As long as you can unzip the remaining cushions (the ones you lean your back against), you can easily add shorter noodle pieces to the backsides of those cushions too. One recommendation — before you make the fabric on any cushions taut with the help of this hack, first consider turning the foam inserts in the opposite direction so the compressed part faces the back of the couch. You might also fluff your pillows, hitting them to redistribute the filling.