Plaster & Disaster

This is part of our Tiny House, Tiny Bloggers series, in which we turn over Plaster & Disaster to some VERY tiny bloggers to tell their own story of transforming an ugly, old (doll)house into a fresh and modern (doll)home.  Follow it from the beginning here.

Disclaimer:  Inclusion on this blog is not an endorsement by Plaster & Disaster of the tiny blogger’s methods or design decisions.  Plaster & Disaster cannot be held responsible for your terrible decor choices after reading one of their tutorials.  All opinions are their own.

As you may recall, we recently finished the transformation of our little girl’s room, and we couldn’t be prouder:

We’re not ones to rest on our laurels, though (especially when you have laurels as tiny as ours, which makes it hard to balance on them comfortably). So with Madison’s room complete, we decided it was time to move on to a shared space: our living room!

We have it furnished with a bunch of temporary furniture, which is fine but isn’t exactly the space we have in mind for the long haul:

We knew right away that we wanted a sectional sofa to anchor the room, but we were having trouble finding one in the right size, style, and budget to fit our unique space. So we decided to do what any adventurous DIYer would do — we built our own!

We decided to go with a relatively modern feel, even though our style is really more “vintage eclectic” — we fell in love with the idea of a wooden frame, and couldn’t get it out of our tiny heads. That made it relatively easy to build, too — and all out of scrap wood that Sage and Naomi already had!

We started with some thicker wood, about 1/2″ thick, which we cut into two rectangles to form the base of our sectional. We used Sage’s table saw to make the cuts, which is scary because it’s so big, but is so effective.

For the sides and back, we used thinner wood, which “we” also cut on the table saw.

That left us with the two bottom pieces, two back pieces, and two side pieces.

Next up, we glued the bottom pieces together using wood glue, and clamped them in place to let them dry.

Once that was dry (about 30 minutes, which definitely feels longer in tiny blogger years), we glued on the sides and back. Sage was impatient and wanted to get it all glued and clamped at once, which she managed to do with a complex configuration of clamps. I supervised.

That left us with this beautiful frame!

We loved the natural wood look, but wanted to add just a little color and finish so we applied a coat of Minwax’s “Early American” stain.

Once we got to this point, we were excited to start upholstering cushions. But we quickly realized that we were totally torn on what kind of legs would look best with this sofa. Since Naomi and Sage always seem to be pumping you for advice, we thought we’d do the same! There are a few different styles we’re considering, and we’d love to know what you think.

Option #1: Chunky tapered

We love the idea of a tapered leg, of course. But would a chunky leg look good with the wood frame of our couch?

Option #2: Tall and skinny

Alternatively, we could go for a much skinnier leg:

Option #3: Square

Maybe we should just go with a simple square leg profile?

Option #4: Perpendicular supports

Or we could really embrace the modern vibe and go with supports that run perpendicular to the frame.

So what do you think? Help us figure out what to do!