hassock re-upholstery, part 1: demolition

hassock before upholstery

My hassock reupholstery began with the most fun part: demolition. My goal was to disassemble this guy in an intelligent way so I could remake it. I had to be careful, but since I would be starting over from scratch, I didn’t have to be too careful. That was a nice balance for me.

hassock leg off

I started by removing the legs from the base. Each wooden leg was screwed into a metal plate, which was attached to the hassock’s base with 3 screws.

See the rest of the demolition & deconstruction process after the jump!

hassock no legs

I saved all the screws in a baggie so they wouldn’t get lost in the frenzy of demolition. The baggie isn’t pictured but I recommend doing that sooner rather than later!

hassock tracing

Since I had a nice flat surface to work with at this point, I traced the outline of the hassock base and indicated all the hole locations on a piece of tissue paper. This would help me make my pattern for the new cushion.

hassock6-peeledoff

The fabric on the base was simply adhered with a spray adhesive, so I peeled it off. It was old and the adhesive had turned into the pretty gross brown dust you see here. I discarded that fabric sheet immediately.

Once that sheet was gone, I could see the 50 or so staples requiring removal. They were old and a bit brittle, but with a flat head screwdriver and a pair of pliers it was quick, satisfying work.

hassock7-buttondetail

Here I discovered the cushion-cover attachment method: a weighty cotton “skirt” with a casing for twine. Once the twine was pulled tight, it held the cushion in place. I snipped the twine and stretched the cotton back to its original shape.

Since I am very unfamiliar with upholstery, I learned at this point that the covered buttons were secured with these little “anti-buttons” that held the twine taught against the wood. Makes sense, of course, but I hadn’t thought about it. A fun lesson.

I used a flat head screwdriver to pry the “anti-button” away from the wood, and then I was able to snip the twine.

hassock covered buttons

I was left with a pile of buttons and anti-buttons, which I held onto just in case. The flat brass buttons are a bit tarnished, but there’s a chance they’ll look nice with my finished cushion, so I put them in a baggie as well.

hassock plywood out

At this point there was nothing else holding the cushion to its plywood base, so I was able to pull out the plywood. Besides the leftover adhesive and a few minor splits from the screw holes, it’s in good shape so I’m planning on reusing it in the new hassock. If I change my mind, it will be easily used to make a new template.

hassock cotton filling

Here I discovered that the hassock had no foam, it was merely stuffed to the brim with thick cotton fill. This stuff was dusty and just old. Especially since the cushion had been torn for an unknown number of years, I started to imagine all sorts of gross things living in the cushion fill. It certainly shouldn’t be reused.

hassock cotton in the trash

So I carried the cushion into the garage and emptied the cotton fill straight into the trash can. Phew! Lots of dust.

empty hassock upholstery cover

Finally, I was left with an entirely disassembled hassock. Empty cushion, legs, screws, buttons, anti-buttons. I love that bright green on the wrong side of that cushion fabric!

Demolition complete.

As always, if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask!

This is Part 1 of my Hassock Reupholstery series! Check back next week for more!

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