Outdoor Couch Cushion

We try and do everything on a budget. We’re on a mission to redo this house with the tears of Abe Lincoln. EVERY penny counts. Truth be told, our old neighbors in our apartment complex were throwing these couches away and Brian snagged them at the last second. But the outdoor couch cushion needed some real love. Here’s how we updated the couch: 

A brand new outdoor couch set retails for over $2,000. These cushions have seen better days. They started to smell like moldy fabric death and tear at the corners. I looked up the manufacturer to order replacement cushions and they were RIDICULOUS. Like $300 per cushion. We could have ordered a new love seat for what we would have paid for just the essence of the chair (any Friends fans out there?! “That’s right, I’m taking the essence!”) I tried finding replacement cushions from literally every single English speaking company that has a website. This couch is such a awkward length we had only one more option: DIY.

Here’s the alternative we came up with for about $80 (and an additional $80 for the top pillows I got from Target). Even at $160 all in, that was still a better option than the replacement cushions.

How all good DIY stories start out, once upon a Saturday we went to Home Depot. We got a large piece of plywood for $20. As always, because Home Depot is the best, they cut the wood to size for us (we measured before so we knew the dimensions).

Then we went to Joanne Fabric and picked out some outdoor fabric for $11. If you subscribe to their text messages they’ll send you coupons. I had a 60% off fabric coupon. I go to Joanne Fabric maybe once a year, but their frequent text messages are totally worth it when you make an awesome score like this.

Here’s the fabric we selected the outdoor couch cushion:

ALWAYS do your research when getting materials for projects. We needed memory foam to complete this project and Joanne’s was selling 2 inch memory foam for $79. We found a larger 3 inch memory foam piece on Amazon for $50. So we opted to wait for the two day delivery to save $29 and get a better piece of padding. We’re so glad we did!

Here’s how it’s done:

Take the cushions and line them up on the plywood. With a pen or pencil, outline the cushions.

With a jigsaw, follow the outline you made cutting away the excess wood.

Don’t go crazy cutting. It’s better to go slow, see what fits and make adjustments. We shaped up the plywood multiple times to make sure that it fit exactly into the frame of the couch.

When you’re happy with the shape of the plywood, place it on top of the memory foam. Use a utility knife to cut along the shape of the plywood, using it as a template.

When you’re finished cutting out the memory foam, take the fabric and place it upside down on a flat surface. Then place the memory foam on the fabric and the plywood on top of the memory foam.

Using a stapler, pull the excess fabric up and staple it to the plywood. Work your way around the plywood stapling the fabric into place. Be sure to pull tightly in the corners and staple generously to keep the fabric in place.

Here’s the final product being enjoyed by The Royals! The blue pillows are from Target. I got all three of them for 15% off for a total of $80. Making the entire project total $180. I think it was pretty worth it!

If you liked how to Update your Outdoor Couch Cushion, red our other DIY blog posts.