Introduction: DIY Stylish Sofa-bed

The purpose of this project is to build a sofa that can be also an emergency bed (quite confortable..) and also act as home theater case.

In my room the shape of furniture was particular, so I adopted the sofa shape to it.

If you are interested, you can view the list of my not-yet-realized ideas on my blog

NEW: I published the instructable of the whole attic

Step 1: Materials

  • 5 pieces of wood (multilayer or MDF), the size of wood depends on the size of the sofa. I used 110 cm x 120cm (43 x 47 inches)
  • Screwdriver (better if electric)
  • Electric saw
  • Lot of screw
  • Metal bars to connect wood pieces
  • Sheets of paper (better if they are big)
  • Tape
  • High density Foam (10 cm)
  • Low density Foam (3 cm)
  • Lot of fabric
  • Thin plywood

Step 2: Get the Shape

Put together all the sheets of paper in a big one (using tape).
You will use the sheet to take the shape of your sofa.
Put the big sheet on the ground and press it along the angles so that it fit al the curves and lines of the furniture.
The result should be like the one on the photo (I still store the paper shape)

Step 3: Cut the Wood Pieces

Put the paper shape on wood and with a pencil draw the shape onto the wood.
Then start cutting the wood with the saw. TAKE YOUR TIME, you want this job done well!

If the wood do not fit perfectly try to adjust using the saw and cutting little bits of wood.

Step 4: Add Legs to the Sofa

To build a strong sofa I used a lot of legs cutted out from the 5th piece of wood.
I fixed the legs to the bottom wood with a lot of L shaped metal bars.
Before proceeding I tested that the home theater fit into the central box.

Step 5: Add the Upper Pieces of Wood

Add the upper pieces of woof taking care that they fit very close to the wall and the furniture curves.
From the upper pieces of wood, cut out a square to allow an easy access to the home theater. The hole will be covered by the cutted piece of wood. 
TIP: Add strength to the sofa attaching the upper pieces of wood to the legs through the L shaped metal bars. You can also use screws directly (see photo)

Step 6: Add Walls to the Sofa and Do Some Painting

To hide the legs of the sofa, I used a sheet of plywood.
First cut the thin plywood with the same height of the sofa.
Attach the plywood to the center part with 2 screws (as shown in the picture).
Then SLOWLY bend the wood until it touch the corner of the sofa (I take 5 minutes to do it. If you do too quickly the wood can brake)
Attach the plywood to the corner of the sofa with 2 screws.
Repeat the steps for the other part of the sofa.
You can also use remaining parts of the pieces of wood to add a door to your home theater box.
Paint the hometheater box with black paint (better if it's matt) and the plywood with white paint.
I also put some grey fabric on the floor of the home theater box to hide the metal bars.
When the paint is dry you can cover the cutted square with a piece of wood.
TIP: If you must acces inside the sofa you can simply remove 2 screw from the corner

Step 7: Build the Soft Part of the Sofa

Using the paper shape cut out booth high and low density foam. Put together the 2 layer of foam (the low density foam must stay on top because it will give a smoother shape to the sofa).
The same paper shape will also be used to cut out the fabric of the sofa (the fabric shape must be bigger than the paper shape to be easily sewed).
You can stop here. Adding some pillows (from Ikea) the sofa is ready to be used!
If there is remaining fabric, you can try to build your own pillows (I made one big and 2 small)