Our motorhome came with a jackknife loveseat that wasn't very functional and of a style neither of us really cared for, so recently we set out on a quest to find a comfortable replacement piece of furniture that was also reasonably priced.
The solution: IKEA -- of course. Why IKEA? Two reasons:
First, almost all the furniture they sell
comes disassembled. That, in turn, solves the big problem of getting a large piece of furniture through a narrow RV door without damaging either.
Second, IKEA offers good quality at surprisingly reasonable prices.
This is the space we had to work with:
The width is 72", and yes, it's on a slide platform.
IKEA has several different lines of sofas and loveseats that might be suitable for use in an RV. The line we chose is called
EXTORP. Besides coming disassembled, this line on furniture features slipcovers in a variety of fabrics, colors, and price ranges. (The slipcovers are removable, washable, and replaceable if and when you decide to change colors down the road.)
After unpacking the couch components, designing a workable wood riser to mount it on turned out to be a relatively easy project. Normally the sofa we chose would sit on 6" legs to achieve a standard seat height of around 18" off the floor. As our slide platform was 2.5" tall, a riser constructed of 2x4 dimensional lumber turned out to be perfectly suited for the job (2.5" + 3.5" = 6" above the RV floor yielding a seat height of 18").
Based upon the construction of the sofa, this is the wood riser we designed and installed:
The riser, which is glued and screwed, is the exact dimensions of the couch base: 32" x 60". We centered the riser on the slide platform spaced 3" from the slide wall to give adequate clearance for the protruding window frame. Note that the riser is actually
cantilevered out over the RV floor; that's okay, as long as the riser is well-secured to the slide platform.
After test-fitting the couch base, we used reinforcing corner brackets from Home Depot that also serve as floor mounts in the rear:
We also employed several 3" L-brackets to further anchor the riser:
It's not Gibraltar, but the riser is down rock solid as shown.
How to fit the couch base to the riser? To help answer that question, note the rear corner details in the pictures below:
The 3" x 9" wall spacers along with 9" inner verticals combine to form locking slots that the couch base sets firmly down into. Both pieces were beveled slightly to ease fitting the couch frame in place (it's tight).
As you may have already deduced, we decided to use gravity to keep our new couch snugly in position.
Here you can see a final test fit of the couch base, which was easy for two people to lift off and on:
(One cool thing about
EXTORP furniture is that the backs hinge up and down to lay flat for shipping and handling in tight spaces.)
Next, we pulled the couch base off and finished assembling it, which consisted of simply bolting the end arms to the base.
Here you can see the couch sans slipcovers set firmly in place on the riser, with arms, seat and back cushions:
Even in this uncovered state, our new couch easily passed the acid test: it's a comfortable place to park your travel-weary bones, and it's not going anywhere.
Finally, the DW spent about 10 minutes installing the slipcovers, tossed in a couple throw pillows, and this is the end result:
Total investment? Less than $20 in lumber/hardware and $305 for the couch and slipcovers (on sale).
If you don't have an IKEA located near you, online shopping is always an option. Also, they offer a free discount program called '
IKEA Family', which can save you even more money on sale items just by registering.
We're happy with it.
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