Make your own "bun" feet

Our cousin Tiffany came to visit last week with her husband who was coming on architect business. For a couple days, during the days while he was busy, she helped me with some slipcovers on my couches and wing back chairs.  One of the first things that we did on the couches was to change the feet.  These couches we got free from some people at Church and although the couches are in really good shape, they needed some updating, including the feet.  They also needed to be raised up some so that they didn't feel so much like low-rider couches. 

Before

80's color upholstery and blah! feet. 

If you've never changed the feet on your couch, buying new ones can be pricey.  We checked out Home Depot and theirs were in the price range of $2.50 to $10.26 apiece.  Times that by 8 and you could be getting up there.  And since we wanted some feet that were 8 inches long we were looking at the pricier side of things.


So enter our project


I really just wanted some square tapered feet--pretty straight forward, but not available in the length we needed.  So instead we bought a 4 x 4 length of lumber and had them cut it into the lengths we needed there at the store.  Hubby told me he could've done that too--and I know he could, but they'll do that for free for you at Home Depot.  So why not and save yourself a step.  And lugging an 8 foot piece of 4 x 4 is not any easy task.


We brought the pieces home and hubby helped shape them for us.  There was a bit extra, just in case....

We used our miter saw and he set it up to cut some angles and then went to town.  

Afterwards he measured and drilled the holes for the bolts and we put those in.  

One end of the hanger bolt is made to go into the wood (wood screw) and the other end 

is made to go into the bottom of the couch (metal screw) into the metal fitting.

Then I got to sand them up nicely using our orbital sander (below).  

You can do it by hand, it will take longer, or use a different sander, 

but this one works great and the work went quickly.

You can put down a little piece carpet padding on your work surface so that the feet 

don't move around while you are sanding.  Works slick!

Left sanded edges and right unsanded edges.

You just want to soften them up a bit so you don't hurt yourself if you happen to kick them.

Paint or stain as desired and then they're ready to go.

I'm pretty sure I am going to leave them natural and just seal them up.

After

Details:

• 4" x 4" x 8' length of fir lumber ($8.83).  Make sure you find a good one with as few knots as possible and straight. **Don't buy pressure treated timbers. We should've bought the fir board ($10.16) as I think it would've already been dried out more and not so sappy.
• 5/16" x 3" Hanger bolts (4 pkgs. @ $.98/pair) You'll need to determine the size and length you need for your couch by measuring the old ones.

Total price:

$1.59 each for custom square tapered feet.  Love it!

I'll show you the couch slipcover later in the week. I've got just a little more to do on it.