New Apartment, Couch concept...

[Chris M Pyle]

I am getting ready to move into a new apartment and I found a couch I would love to replicate:

http://hivemodern.com/pages/products...sid=2481&cid=4

My question is, what joints would you use to put this thing together? I may do different legs, I'm still up in the air about them, but I really like the design. It has a Mad Men feel to it.

I have a lady who will do the upholstery, but I'm curious how you would attack a project like this.

Any insight, help, etc is appreciated.

[David Thompson 27577]

I am getting ready to move into a new apartment and I found a couch I would love to replicate:

http://hivemodern.com/pages/products...sid=2481&cid=4

My question is, what joints would you use to put this thing together? I may do different legs, I'm still up in the air about them, but I really like the design. It has a Mad Men feel to it.

I have a lady who will do the upholstery, but I'm curious how you would attack a project like this.

Any insight, help, etc is appreciated.

To answer your question about joinery -- I'd probably use floating tenons. Probably a few hundred of them.

And I agree that the design of those legs begs for some sort of help. I have fond memories of some of the things that have happened on various couches in my life. And those legs would not have survived.

Just sayin'

[Jamie Buxton]

$6775?!!! Geez, I'm in the wrong business.

I'd make the major planes of the couch from plywood, laminating several layers to get the thickness you need. If all of those pieces are 2" thick, the couch would weigh a ton, but maybe that's what you want. If not, you could make them torsion-box style. I'd edge the planes however I liked --- probably solid-lumber edgebanding. I'd just glue the planes together, maybe with a few biscuits to help in alignment during glue-up.

Like David says, the joinery of the legs with the bottom needs to be sturdy. There's a lot of leverage trying to break the legs sideways. I'd be inclined to run what look like aprons from leg to leg. The aprons would be mortise-and-tenoned into each leg, and the aprons would be glued to the bottom of the sofa. The aprons would be as tall as you can visually tolerate -- maybe 3"? Even if they are visible, they are right in the 50's style.

[Mark Bolton]

You'd love to see how those legs are attached for 7k? Wonder if they are just dowel screws or something. Thats a lotta dough for fashion.

Mark

[Jamie Buxton]

You'd love to see how those legs are attached for 7k? Wonder if they are just dowel screws or something. Thats a lotta dough for fashion.

Mark

I tried to find other pics of this sofa to see how they attach the legs. The sofa is made by a company called De La Espada. That name led me to this page: http://www.velocityartanddesign.com/...-pr-24034.html . It is a wood box 16"x8"x8". It has machine-cut dovetails at the corners. It costs $625. Now I'm sure I'm in the wrong business.

[Lex Boegen]

To keep the weight down without sacrificing strength, I'd make it using torsion boxes. A back made the same way would add considerable strength and keep the whole unit from racking. I would have a shallow dado along the sides to receive the bottom, and use floating tenons. Obviously the torsion box frame would need to be thicker where the tenons are placed. Another option would be concealed bed frame hardware to join the sides and back to the seat.