Mid Century Modern Couch, Draper inspired

[Bmac]

Well this has been on my to do list for awhile, and I'm finally back to having time in the workshop. As a High School coach for baseball, spring can be a very hectic time, one reason I've been missing in action on this site the last few months. Well the season finally wrapped up and I'm ready for some alone time in the shop. I've been wanting to make a couch for a while, but my usually agreeable wife has not been sold on the idea. She usually is very happy with everything I build, but a wood framed couch with cushions is one area she has been resistant. Now I was overly impressed with @h3nry's upholstered couch, but I was not ready to leap that far in with this build. I was holding the line at a "Madmen" inspired piece of furniture, which I have truly come to admire and I truly love to build. I think the MCM stuff really shines when it comes to pieces you sit in and this was what I wanted to build, except for my lovely wife. Her main complaint was that the arms would be uncomfortable to recline against when one puts their legs up on the couch to read or watch TV. Now I had planned on a loveseat first, but this is where my wife usually sits to read or watch TV, hence her concern for comfort. In the same room we have a full size couch which she rarely uses. One night, she made a fatal mistake, she commented on how the couch was looking a little ragged. That was all the opening I needed, I said I'll handle it and when I'm done I'm predicting you'll ask for a matching loveseat. Now I've got to deliver.......

I'm looking at a low slung couch, sculpted arms and sides. The back will be about 29" high without the cushions and it will be approx 71" long. The seat will recline at a 4/5 degree angle perpendicular to the floor and the back rest will sit at a 100 degree angle from the seat. there will be a middle support roughly shaped like the sides but with flat areas for joining the seat frames

So off to the shop and my "digital design" program, graph paper. After a few attempts and a lot of erasing this is a side profile of the couch;

I've played around with programs for design but I do really like this graph paper, once drawn up I cut out the pieces from the paper and make templates, easy in my mind, and a full sized visual. Of course it has it's limitations, that I understand. Once the templates are made I retrace on a new piece of paper and retain the full sized pic. The middle support was made by tracing the main pieces on another sheet and then altering areas that need altering. Here's the templates;

Now I'm trying to keep most of my joints at 90 degrees to the floor, or base of the chair. this will make rectangular blanks ideal for creating tight joints. Here's the back leg and you can see that once the blank is sized I line up the joint areas to the side of the blank and make sure the bottom of the leg matches the base of the blank;

And the front leg;

And the blanks "put together" prior to cutting on the bandsaw. This just is a check to make sure things line uo;

Free floating tenons (dominos) for joinery, 4 for the back leg to stretcher joint and two for the front leg stretcher joint.

So the sides went together well, now to the middle support. Here I have two flat areas for the seat frame;

So before gluing I use the L fence to cut these lines;

And here I left a little extra at the front leg, I'll clean this up after gluing;

And here is how the middle support relates to the side, you can see the flat areas clearly here that will support the seat fram;

The back frame will be in two pieces and be glued to the inside edge of the sides and both sides of the middle support flush to the flat area. Here I completed the cut to line up the front leg, thanks to the L fence again. This pic also shows the middle leg against the side leg more clearly and I struck a line on the inside surface of the side to indicate where the bottom of the seat frame will rest;

On to some shaping, here's a side without the arm yet sculpted;

And here are all three pieces posing for a pic, sides and middle with lines struck on each to indicate frame locations;

Next it will be back frame fabrication and front under the seat support fabrication. Then on to the arms and glue up of those pieces.

For the seat frame I am hoping to do that in one panel, approx 68" long. That will be the most challenging part I think. Getting the long pieces to that frame true and square will be a challenge. The look from the front will be much nicer if it is in one piece or I'd do it in two. We'll see how that progresses.

I hope you guys find this build interesting and I hope my wife finds it comfortable.

 

 

[pkinneb]

@Bmac I love your work and your builds thanks for sharing!! While I may never build a MCM piece of furniture I never fail to learn something on your builds so again thanks for sharing.

[Coop]

Man, are you a glutton for punishment! Never built a couch and first out of the chute, you have to please the wife! If anyone can, it be you! 

[Chestnut]

I'm going to be very interested in this and will follow closely. I wanted to build a couch in the Morris char design and got the same argument from the wife about comfort. I told her I'd have some sort of contoured cushion over the arm and you'd never know the difference but she is still very skeptical.

I like the design work so far and keeping the lines clean and 90 goes a long way for a successful project. Nice work as always!

Was the baseball season successful?

[Bmac]

I'm in agreement, a pillow or contoured cushion should easily do the job for comfort. As for making a chair into a couch, it really makes sense. I'm viewing this project as a really wide chair with some middle support.

Season went well for us, made it to the State playoffs, first time for this school in a few years, so that was a success for us. This is a new HS and a much larger HS for me and the coaching staff, I coached at a smaller school prior to this season. It's been fun reshaping the program and having more resources, but it's been a real time eater.

[Bmac]

Fabrication of the two back panels are done. I've decided to do the back panels in two pieces as I have the middle support leg to attach to. This also makes glue up so much easier. Having panels 33" long is a heck of a lot easier than 68" long. I also thought it might be easier to keep things square and flat, but we'll see. My plan is to glue up one half, let the glue dry and then attach the other half. The glue up will be mainly long grain to long grain with a few dominos for alignment with the back panels and the back legs. The front supports will be joined to the front legs via 2 dominos at each joint, there is no long grain to long grain here.

So here are the back panels fresh out of the clamps and not cleaned up yet;

This will be how the panels and the legs roughly line up;

And here you can see on the inside of one of the back legs where the panel will be glued;

And here is how the panel will be oriented to the middle leg, flush with the front face of the back leg;

And the front support, dominos aligned; 

And the support matches up well with the line that represents the bottom of the seat panel;

So I've got some cleanup, shaping and sanding to do before I move forward. I'm still debating whether I glue up what I have now and then make the seat panel or just dry fit and make the seat panel before glue up. Need to think through as this is a big piece.....

 

[pkinneb]

Nice! I'll be curious to see if the back is stiff enough in two pieces like that. Will the bottom be two pieces as well? 

[Bmac]

8 hours ago, pkinneb said:

Nice! I'll be curious to see if the back is stiff enough in two pieces like that. Will the bottom be two pieces as well? 

Yes, that is a concern I've considered. I do think though that it should be fine as I'm going to have a large glue surface with the back frame. Also I plan to make the seat or bottom in one piece. This one piece will be glued/secured to the back supports and the front supports, this will add the some rigidity. I also will look to secure the seat frame to the sides of the sofa, likely through some cleats attached to the sides which I'll place under the seat frame. If I can accomplish these things then I'm not too worried.

Also as I start to move to those steps I'd love feedback from anyone that has some different ideas about rigidity. I've consider corner cleats also in all 8 corners to support the seat frame and add rigidity.

I'll have more pictures later today which may allow you to be able to see what I am trying to describe above.

[Chestnut]

I think the stiffness will be fine. The back is goign to prevent the rear of the couch from sagging, Having a leg in the front will go a long way in keeping the seat stuff. The top of the back rest may have some flex but I'd bet it won't be very noticeable. Probably less noticeable than the amount of flex in the cheap furniture that they sell in the furniture stores.

Structurally you really don't need the middle rear leg. The back rest is goign to provide a TON of vertical stiffness. I think it was smart orienting the joinery the way you did for the back rests as well. The lower pieces will be end grain to the sides and middle leg assemblies, will you be using floating M&T there (dominoes?)

[Bmac]

Big step forward, I've got the frame all assembled, albeit just dry fit not glued yet. Still a ways away from gluing. Shaping, sanding, arm fabrication and possible fabrication of the bottom panel before gluing. 

So the following pics show in more detail what was in my mind. I appreciate the input from @pkinneb and @Chestnut !

So for joining the back frames to the legs I'm using just 3 dominoes and relying on a nice long grain glue joint. I'm confident of this part. And Chesnut, in the one pic in the previous post I had the frame upside down. You'll see as I go through this the top rail of the backrest is the part of this joint that is end grain, a domino will go in each area that has end grain. Here's the domino positioning;

And here's half of the couch assembled, I have yet to add a strip at on the bottom of the back panel that the seat frame will rest on. This will keep the back of the seat from sagging and when glued will give me a lot of support from racking of the back of this couch;

And a different angle. Now with rigidity I'm most worried with the front part of the seat "box". So I plan to make the seat/bottom panel in one piece and glue or secure the front of that panel to the front cross supports;

Here's a closeup of the back panel and the middle leg, it's clear here that the top rail is the only area of end grain, I left the rest of the sides of these panels all long grain for a better long grain surface area;

And here are 2 pics of the whole couch frame. Now in this pic it seems I may need more rigidity in the front. Here's where possible corner supports in the front "4" corners might be a good idea;

So once the arms are added and the seat panel is in place things will look a lot better.

 

[pkinneb]

4 hours ago, Bmac said:

Yes, that is a concern I've considered. I do think though that it should be fine as I'm going to have a large glue surface with the back frame. Also I plan to make the seat or bottom in one piece. This one piece will be glued/secured to the back supports and the front supports, this will add the some rigidity. I also will look to secure the seat frame to the sides of the sofa, likely through some cleats attached to the sides which I'll place under the seat frame. If I can accomplish these things then I'm not too worried.

Also as I start to move to those steps I'd love feedback from anyone that has some different ideas about rigidity. I've consider corner cleats also in all 8 corners to support the seat frame and add rigidity.

I'll have more pictures later today which may allow you to be able to see what I am trying to describe above.

Thanks! I think the one piece bottom is a good idea should make the two piece back a non issue.

[wtnhighlander]

I think the corner gussets are a good idea, to resist twisting of the frame. Are you planning to use a simple platform for the seat cushion, a platform with springs, or a strap / sling arrangement?

[Coop]

4 hours ago, wtnhighlander said:

I think the corner gussets are a good idea, to resist twisting of the frame. 

+1

[Bmac]

@wtnhighlander I'll be using a simple panel construction just like the back panel. This I believe will give me more strength than a frame with straps. 

If the lower/seat panel fits well, and I can attach it to the back, the front and the sides, than that will add a lot of strength. Adding the corner supports is probably over engineering it slightly, but there is nothing wrong with that. 

Also, the arms will add strength to the sides, esp the front leg. Maloof always considered arms as effective as below the seat rails in regards to supporting legs with all the abuse they receive as a chair. This simple concept was a revelation to me when I first learned it.

Thanks everyone for your interest and input, love it!

[Bmac]

Where I left off was I had the couch framework dry fitted together. Before I took apart the frame I noticed one back frame slightly lower than the adjoining frame. When I took everything apart I checked and I made a slight error with a measurement. The back frame is supposed to sit 1.5" below the seat frame. I measured 1.75" by mistake. In correcting the mistake I got my self mixed up and moved the mortise hole .25 in the wrong direction. So I said enough of this, filled in the domino mortise with a half of a domino and finally got the mortise in the right place.

Next up was fitting the arms on to the sides. No weird angles here everything was at 90 degrees to each other. This went very easily;

That blocky bulky arm now needs to be shaped and sculpted to look like I envision. Using rasps, the Festool RAS, and a sander with an interface pad I was able to quickly rough out the shape I'm after. The shape has a somewhat similar profile to a Maloof arm and I added a detail that Phillip Morley adds to the arm of his lounge chair. Mixing these two shapes results in what I consider a pleasing shape;

Top view;

Underside;

And on the chair side;

Progressing nicely......

[bradpotts]

Looks Great! 

[Bmac]

It's been a few weeks since I last posted on the progress of the couch. Even though there is not much to report, I do have a quick update.

Arms are now glued onto the sides and shaping/sculpting is completed. I went with a little different arm shape, mimicking Morley slightly, I think I like it. I hope my wife likes it to. 

Not a lot to say here, just arms secured in front by 1/2" dowel and in back by glue and screw. 

You can see here I did not have think enough stock for my arms, the 1/2" or so addition is visible at the arm/leg joint. Right now it blends pretty good, we'll see once the Osmo is applied;

I really scooped out the area where the elbow should rest, and where someone will lean against the arm when reclining;

And that's about as close as I can get to mirror image when shaping is done freehand;

So I'm really almost done the carcass. I'll be gluing up the parts I've made next. Everything so far is sanded to 320. Last piece to make is the seat frame, which I plan to make after I glue up the back and front support. 

[wtnhighlander]

That is some nice sculpting, for sure!

[pkinneb]

Beautiful Work as always @Bmac

[Chet]

That is some good sculpting.  I really need to try this.  I have a couple of projects in mind but I keep letting other things cut in line.

[Bmac]

I've been going at a snail's pace, weekend trips to the beach, a fishing trip, and a garden and yard that has eaten up a lot of time. But I'm still plugging away. I have the frame put together and the seat cushion supports will be the last step. Here's my progress so far;

These supports will anchor the seat frame, you can see how the back panel fits to the side, a lot of long grain gluing surface;

Corner supports here for the middle leg, the middle leg does not have an arm for added stability;

So I should be able to get the seat panel together this weekend!

[Bmac]

I've been negligent in updating this. Finished up the build about a week ago and applied the finish (2 coats Osmo). Now I'm waiting on my upholstery guy, who took the month of July off. I'll get him the piece later this month and he is ordering the fabric, so I should be first in line when he reopens. Well enough small talk, back to the build;

Last thing I needed to complete was the seat frame. I struggled to figure this out, because in reality the space for the seat frame was not totally square. In gluing up this long piece and doing it in sections I was really happy with how close I actually got to square, but I was worried if I built the seat frame and tried to fit it to the space it would be a headache. So my solution was to build the frame in the space instead of outside the space. I figured with the dominos everything should just slide together, and then I would assure I had a good fit in all the crucial areas. So here's the seat frame dry fitted together;

For assembly I started by gluing in the back piece, here it is in place with the mortises and the 3 critical cross supports. These cross supports are critical because they will be glued to the sides and the middle leg and will act as reinforcements to racking. You can also see in this pic I added some extra support behind the front underneath cross piece for the seat panel to sit on:

Here's how one critical area looks. I glued two blocks to the side frame, the back of the seat frame is glued in place, and I'll glue the cross piece of the frame to the blocks and the side;

And here's how that piece will fit in place, so you can see I've got a lot of good long grain to long grain gluing surface;

The plan is to glue the cross pieces into the back piece via dominos, also glue the cross pieces to the front underneath support, and then glue the front of the seat panel into the cross pieces via dominos while gluing it down to the front underneath support, all at the same time. This was going to be a difficult glue up, so I used Titebond Extend, and the domino mortises were cut wider then the dominos, as putting the front of the frame into 13 dominos at the same time required a little wiggle room. Here's the front piece of the seat frame with the domino mortises;

And here's the glue up, no time for pics during this complicated glue up;

So after I was done with that I changed my underwear and did some clean up sanding which was very minimal as I used the glue sparingly in the final glue up. And here's the final piece with the finish;

Now I just need to be patient with my upholstery guy, but overall I was very pleased with the result and i think it will look nice when the cushions are done. let's hope my wife agrees!

 

[pkinneb]

Awesome job Bmac!!

[Coop]

Absolutely fantastic job! Clean undies and all! 

[Chet]

On 7/9/2021 at 5:13 AM, Bmac said:

So after I was done with that I changed my underwear

Been There, Done That.

Another very nice project, well done Bmac.