Monthly Archives: October 2021

Couch and Chair Recovery Process

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A special friend of mine was given some mid century modern living room furniture – a couch and two chairs. They were in very good shape and only needed some minor wood repairs, which I completed. As you can see, one can never have too many clamps!

The last time the cushions were recovered was likely in the late 1980’s or early 1990’s, based on the fabric, but still in pretty good shape.

My friend, who just so happens to be an excellent seamstress (no, not for the band), decided that she wanted to recover all 10 cushions. This was a very challenging task, as she had never recovered furniture before.

If you plan to do a job like this, she recommends viewing http://www.sailrite.com. She studied the site’s videos over and over again. In fact, she purchased the foam for the cushions from Sailrite.

Her top tips – use adhesive basting tape shown below. She said it is awesome stuff! Also, use the medium foam. The firm foam is too dense for house furniture.

Okay, so how do I fit in on this post? I thought I was done when I completed the basic wood repair. Well, not so. I was given the task of cutting the foam. It might sound easy, but it was not! The foam is fairly dense, and is 4″ thick.

The Sailrite video made it look easy with their special electric knife. It can also be done with a kitchen bread knife, which fortunately I had one.

The cut has to be very straight. If not, when the cushion cover is put on, the angled or choppy cut will show through.

My first thought was to sandwich the foam between two pieces of wood, making the thickness about 1″. Wrong! If you do this it is easy to cut, but the the foam edge will be severely curved.

I decided I needed a guide on the underside of the foam. This would ensure that the knife remained straight while cutting.

Use a flow tip pen and clearly mark your cuts on the top and edges of the foam. Go slowly! Check often that the blade of the knife is flat against the bottom wood edge. It’s a slow process, but it works.

Well, how did it all turn out? Absolutely fantastic!

I love the look, and she saved at least $2000.00 doing it herself. Great Teamwork!

She does beautiful work. Maybe she really was a seamstress for the band?

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Earlingo – The Animal Assisted Therapy Headband

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About a year ago, I took an online class on how to certify your dog as an Animal Assisted Therapy pet.

I have a very gentle Chihuahua mix and thought she would be a good candidate to go into senior homes or hospitals to cheer folks up a bit.

So I signed up for the class. The class was very informative, but unfortunately my pup was too old. Your dog must be 7 years old or less to become certified.

This got me thinking about training my dog in a special way. A way that facilities would want her to come in, certified or not. She had to have a skill. Something other dogs could not do, and would be interactive for the person.

In college, I did a paper on “Signaling Behavior Among Wolves.” I’ve had an interest in animal communication (Cuttlefish Comm Board) for many years. In 2016, I had a very interesting experience at the San Diego Zoo (Dee Meets The Maned Wolf). These two experiences gave me a unique idea.

Develop a headband (I call it an Earlingo Headband) with controllable dog-shaped ears on it that the user can control and interact with the therapy dog. Even if the person was not able to control the ears, I could wear the headband, move the ears, and interact with the dog while they watch.

The concept is that the dog will perform different movements (sit, stay, lay down, etc.) based upon the headband ear movements – visual communication only. Of course, I’d train my dog using operant conditioning prior to any visits. With positive reinforcement, she would learn to associate an ear movement with a particular behavior.

I will use servo motors along with an Arduino Kit, as mentioned in my Cuttlefish Comm Board post, to make the ears move.

I really think that this might bring a smile to someone’s face!