Couches are a place for comfort and relaxation, but sometimes your couch can start looking a bit worse for wear, and the cushions may seem somewhat flat. How do you refluff your couch cushions to return them to their formal and comfortable glory?
There are many ways you can refluff your couch cushions, including washing the pillows and placing them in the dryer with tennis balls, restuffing the cushions, replacing the jute webbing of your couch, placing another pillow inside the cushions, to name a few methods.
Once you have your couch cushions fluffed back up to perfection, how do you keep them this way for longer? Let’s go through this and more so your couch can stay a comfortable resting place for you!
Methods to Refluff Couch Cushions
Couches are probably the best invention since sliced bread. There is nothing better than getting home after a long day at work and plopping yourself down on your nice comfy couch and having those big soft cushions welcome you in like a warm hug while you sink into them.
Couches filled with fluffy cushions are among the first things that come to many people’s minds when you ask them to imagine a comfy home atmosphere. However, there does come a time when your couch cushions start getting a bit ruff around the edges, and they begin to sag from wear and tear.
This can make your couch look outdated and old and make your couch less comfortable when you sit on it. Thankfully, you can do a few things about this; there is no need to throw your beloved couch away. Let’s look at a few ways you can refluff your couch cushions.
1 – Use Tennis Balls
A great way to help refluff your couch is to use tennis balls. With this method, you will refluff your couch cushions and give them a good wash because let’s face it, nobody washes their couch cushions as much as they probably should. So, this method is the whole two birds, one stone situation.
However, you can only use this method with removable couch cushions. To do this couch cushion refluffing method, you need to unzip the cushions and remove the pillow from the cover. Examine the stitching on the pillowcase and the pillow itself; if it’s all intact, you can move on with this method.
Throw the pillows into your washing machine and wash them on a delicate cycle. Try to fit two cushions in at a time to ensure your machine has a balanced load in it. However, if your machine is on the smaller size, you can wash one pillow at a time.
Only place a small amount of laundry detergent into the machine, do not use a whole detergent dose. When the pillows and the pillowcases are washed, place the pillows in your dryer. Then place two or three tennis balls into the pillowcases, zip them closed and place them in your dryer with the pillows.
Turn the dryer onto a gentle cycle. You need to check the couch cushions every 15 minutes, and when you do so, fluff them with your hands a bit to help the refluffing process. Repeat this until the pillows are dry.
Then fluff them one more time when you place them in their cases. Your couch cushions should be fluffy and soft again.
2 – Replace The Foam in the Cushions
One thing you need to consider when your couch cushions begin to sag and fall out of shape is the age of the couch and the cushions. When the couch and the cushions age, so does the fluff and foam inside the cushions.
When the fluff and foam inside the cushion ages, it will begin to lose the firmness that holds the pillow up on the couch. This will cause your cushions to sag and your couch to look old.
If you have had your couch for longer than three years and the cushions are sagging, then this is probably the reason for the sagging. Unfortunately, when this happens, you cannot breathe new life into the foam by refluffing it; you will need to replace the foam and stuffing in your couch cushions.
You can do this yourself, or you can take your cushions to an upholster, and they will do it for you. You can find cushion foam and down at your local upholster store or fabric store. Be sure to take the measurements of your cushions to ensure you get the right-sized foam.
Then when you get home, unzip the cushions, remove the foam and fluff and place the new foam and fluff into the cushion. Ensure the foam is on the back of the cushion and the fluff is on the front where your back will rest on it.
This will ensure you have the best sitting experience on your couch.
3 – Add Extra Stuffing
This method also adds extra foam and stuffing into your cushions, but without removing and throwing away the old foam and stuffing. You can do this when your couch cushions are sagging prematurely due to excessive use or poor care.
When this happens, the foam and stuffing inside your cushions are not bad enough to be replaced, but they need some extra help to keep the cushions upright on your couch. To give the couch cushions that extra bit of help, you can add stuffing into them, as this will provide the cushions with more support.
You can find stuffing at a local upholster store or fabric store. Once you have the stuffing, unzip your couch cushions and add the stuffing to the cushions. Ensure you add stuffing to both sides of the foam to give the cushions the support they need.
Then fluff the cushions by hand and place them back on your couch. Your couch should be looking better and ready for a movie night!
4 – Flip And Fluff the Couch Cushions
Couch cushions can sometimes start sagging for no apparent reason that you can determine. This sometimes happens as the time it takes for your cushions to sag can depend on the material used to make the cushions.
If your couch is not old, and there is nothing that could have caused the sagging, then you might have sat on the cushions in a weird position, and that moved the foam and stuffing inside out of place.
If this is the reason, you need to pick up the cushions, fluff them up by hand, move the stuffing around to get them back in place, and flip them over when you place them back on the couch. This will refluff your cushions and help them last longer.
5 – Replace The Jute Webbing
We need to cover the actual couch itself, as this could be affecting your couch cushions more than anything else. If this is the case, then your couch cushions may actually be fine and require a little refluff by hand.
If your couch is a bit older or you bought it from a second-hand store, you need to check the jute webbing of the couch. This is the section underneath the couch cushions you sit on.
If this webbing is damaged or broken, your couch cushions will seem flat and like they need refluffing when they are actually fine. If this webbing is damaged or broken, you will need to take your couch to an upholster to have it fixed.
Once the webbing is fixed, your couch cushions should be back to their fluffy selves, and you need to ensure you take good care of them to keep them that way.
6 – Have Your Couch Refurbished and Reupholstered
When you are dealing with a rather old couch, maybe one that you inherited from a family member, there could be more going on with the couch, causing the cushions to sag and become flat.
When a couch is old, many things could go wrong with it, including stitching coming loose, fabric tearing, broken jute webbing, the cushions having old foam, and stuffing, to name a few things.
When this happens, it would be advisable for you to have the couch refurbished and reupholstered, as this will be a big job that you shouldn’t undertake on your own without experience.
When you have your couch refurbished, it should last you a long time before you need to worry about the cushions again, especially if you take care of it well.
7 – Place Another Pillow in the Cushions Case
If you cannot go and buy more foam and stuffing to restuff your couch cushions, but you still want to refluff them and have them looking brand new, then you can do this with a normal bed pillow.
If you have a few extra bed pillows lying around, you can unzip your couch cushions, push the stuffing in the cushions to the bottom and place the bed pillow onto the stuffing. Then zip your couch cushions back up and gently fluff by hand.
This will give your couch cushions some volume and stop them from sagging. It will also make your cushions feel soft and fluffy again.
Refluffing Couch Cushions That Are Attached
If your couch cushions are attached to your couch, and they seem to need some refluffing, you can still do this to make your couch comfortable again. To do this, you will need to take the bottom cushions off your couch and look at the bottom of the attached cushions for a zip.
The zip will be difficult to find as it’s right where the cushion attaches to the couch. If you cannot find a zip, that is fine; you will need to undo the stitching of the cushions or take the couch to an upholster to continue with the next steps.
When you have the couch cushion open, remove the foam from the cushion. If the foam and stuffing are wrapped in batting, remove this from the foam. Replace the foam with a high-density foam that will last longer than regular foam.
Re-wrap the new foam in the batting and place the foam back into the couch. Zip up the cushion or stitch up the hole. Your couch cushions should be perfectly plump and ready to go.
How to Prevent Couch Cushion Sagging
Once you have your couch cushions refluffed and feel comfortable again, you need to maintain this by looking after your couch cushions. This will allow you to have fluffy couch cushions to fall into at the end of the day, and it will increase the lifespan of the foam in the cushions.
So, let’s go through a few methods you can use to help keep your couch cushions looking and feeling perfect!
Buy Sofa Savers
Firstly, you can buy some sofa savers that will help protect the couch cushions you sit on. These are supports that you place under the cushion and will offer the cushion more support and help protect the jute webbing of the couch.
You can buy sofa savers online, or you can find them at stores like Bed, Bath, & Beyond. These tend to be inexpensive and help the foam in your cushions last longer.
Use Plywood Under the Cushions
If you cannot find sofa savers, or they are slightly out of your budget, you can use a piece of plywood in the same way. Measure out your couch underneath the couch cushions and buy a piece of plywood in that size.
When you get home, remove the couch cushions and place the plywood on the couch. Put the cushions back on the couch. This will act in the same manner as the sofa savers and will help your couch cushions last longer.
Fluff Your Couch Cushions More Often
A big part of couch cushion care is regularly fluffing and rotating your couch cushions. You should be fluffy your cushions once a week and then turning them once every month or so.
This will keep the foam and stuffing inside the cushions plump and help avoid them becoming flat on one side due to use.
Final Thoughts
Couches are most people’s safe space in their homes, where they can relax and get comfortable after a long day. So, when your cushions are not allowing this to happen, you need to refluff them.
Some cushions will need more work than others to get them back to being plump and fluffy, but you won’t regret going through the trouble of having them fixed. Good luck with your couch cushions.
I have two Associate’s degrees, one in Medical Assisting and the other in Computer Technician, and I am roughly five classes from a bachelor’s degree. Though I never ended up working in the medical field, I have five and a half years of experience in IT. I recently became a stay-at-home mom to my two young boys, and I’m so excited to start this adventure with them! In my spare time, I love to bake and read pretty much anything I can get my hands on.