Hi Risa,

Blessings for you and your babies. I read on the FML this morning that
you are concerned about sleeper sofas, and rightly so. My DH and I have
3 rambunctious furkids and have had our sleeper sofa upstairs (out of
range of the kids) in the past. Worried that an injury could easily
occur, we covered the entire bottom of it with hardware cloth from ACE
Hardware or Home Depot, etc. First, we stapled it on and then covered
the edges of the exposed wire ends with Duct tape to help protect their
little eyes and faces when they are scampering under it.

Then, deciding we needed to do something with the area under the sofa
cushions, we also covered that area. Knowing that we would want to be
able to use the sofa for which it was originally intended, we folded
an old cotton sheet to fit, stapled it to the back and attaching heavy
duty velcro strips to the front & sides areas of both the sheet & the
sofa.

Doing all this worked for the most part, but we had to remain ever
vigilant, because one of the furlets, being the smallest, would zip
right under the cushion to try to dig her way through. It held up even
though she did manage to pull the velcro away in a couple of places.

What I would do differently, is to actually machine sew on the heavy
duty velcro to the sheet first, before doing this. We used a heavy
duty glue designed for use with fabrics (hot glue). However, it would
occasionally become loose and we'd have to glue it down again. Even
though it wouldn't allow for much "spring" under the cushions, I think
I'd use something such as plywood or something else, which could be
cut to fit & shoved to the back to tuck under the back cushions. Also,
using a sheet stapled to the underside of the sofa, I think would be
better, because there wouldn't be the worry of injury caused by
anything poking out and the kids liked to dig at and chew on the tape.

We still have the old sleeper sofa and keep it on the lower level, out
of the clutches of our babies; but, we also purchased a newer leather
sofa with attached cushions and now none of the kidlets like it and
haven't dug at it at all. Now, we are looking for a daybed or futon to
replace the old sleeper sofa, hopefully eliminating the need for all
of the above.

Hope I didn't just confuse you! LOL! Good luck.

--
Kate in CO
Keeper of the "Beat 'em up & run Gang
Heavenly Gang members: Chewie, Jitterbug, Frodo and (Poin)Dexter

[Posted in FML 5866]