Yeah, I Rit Dyed My Couches

By request. I am showing you my newly dyed couches. The hubs and I bought these couches for $80 at a garage sale. As we were pulling up, I said, "Hunny! Are those the Ikea couches? If they are less than $100, we are SO getting them."

One borrowed trailer, bribed friend, and an afternoon later, they were in my house in all their STARK WHITE glory. :) No worries, right? We'll just go to Ikea and get some new slip covers. WRONG! These couches were in fact, Ikea. Emphasis on the were. As we found out, they were discontinued. Minor set back, but oh well. Ebay? Bemz? (The after-market Ikea stuff site) No. Nothing.

(Love Seat, Before)

Just when were about to give up complete home, my genius husband suggested dying the covers we already had. At first I was against it due to the high risk of failure, but then gave in.

I did some research on the internet and read almost anything there is to know about Rit Dying using the washing machine method. We predicted how much dye it would take and after 3 stores I gathered it all.

(Couch, Before - cell phone pic)

After discovering that our new high efficiency washer doesn't actually fill the drum like a standard machine, we moved on to plan b. This plan included a large outdoor garbage can, a hose, and a lot of stirring done by my amazing husband. (Man, how I wish I had a picture!)

First, we weighed all of the covers. At 16lbs we agreed that not all of that would be able to be free moving in any container, so we split the load by couch. The large one weighing 9lbs and the love seat 7lbs. We figured our ounces of dye to pounds of fabric ratio using the rit site and the amount of dye we had available to use.

While I was at work, and Jake was napping, CAMERON, yes, my. husband. Took a new, clean large garbage can and put it in my family room on top of tarp. Using a hose hooked to my kitchen sink, he filled the can with hot water and the dye. He stirred the covers in the dye for 30 minuted and then moved them to the washing machine to be washed and dried.

After hauling the can outside and dumping it out, he repeated the process with the other couch's covers. Crazy, I know.

(Couch, After)

We used the tan dye. I figured we should start light so that if we mess us we can always try again.

(Love Seat, After)

Is it completely perfect? No. But, it is great to have non-white couches and they are oh so comfy. I can't wait to make new pillows or to make them a little darker. (I haven't decided which one I want to do yet...)