This DIY modern plywood sofa is made out of 2-1/2” sheets of ¾” plywood from Home Depot. The cushions are made out of foam from foambymail.com I bought the leather to cover the foam cushions from tandyleather.com

SUPPLIES:

¾” Plywood
Available at Home Depot

Miniwax Polycrylic
Available at Home Depot
I used miniwax polycrylic to seal the plywood.

Foam cushions
Available at foambymail.com
I ordered the foam for the cushions from foambymail.com here is what I ordered: Cushion, Lux Foam - High Quality WITH DACRON WRAP Dimensions: 3" x 24" x 66" $79.41 Cushion, Lux Foam - High Quality WITH DACRON WRAP Dimensions: 3" x 18" x 66" $59.56.

Leather
Available at tandyleather.com
We got all of the leather supplies from Tandy Leather.

We used one and a half Serengeti whole hides in gold and used 1/4" grommets to reinforce the holes.

TOOLS:

RYOBI 18 Volt Cordless Drill
Available at Home Depot











RYOBI Circular Saw
Available at Home Depot











RYOBI Orbital Sander
Available at Home Depot









Download the DIY Modern Plywood Sofa PDF »

INSTRUCTIONS:

STEP 1: Rip the plywood.
I installed a new fresh plywood blade on my 6 ½” cordless circular saw. I want nice, clean cuts and I got great results with this Diablo 6-1/2 in. x 40-Tooth Finish/Plywood Saw BladeDiablo blade. I set up the sheet of plywood on my sawhorses and 2x4s. The 2x4s elevated the plywood above the sawhorses and ensured that my circular saw blade would not hit the sawhorses. I clamped a straight edge to the plywood to make sure my cuts were straight.





STEP 2: Cut the plywood strips to length.
I set my circular saw blade and a speed square to cut the plywood strips to the appropriate lengths.





STEP 3: Glue the strips together.
I used wood glue and clamps to turn the strips of plywood into two long beams that will make up the front and back of the frame for the sofa.



STEP 4. Assemble the frame.
I cut pieces to fit in between the front and back beams and then glued and screwed them together. I kept adding overlapping layers of plywood making sure that no screw heads show from the top.









STEP 5. Sand the frame.
I sanded the frame with my orbital sander to make all the plywood edges flush and smooth.



STEP 6. Add the legs.
I added the legs in two stages. First I glued together 3” wide strips of plywood 2 or 3 at a time. I then glued and screwed these pieces to the underside of the frame.









STEP 7. Add support beam.
I clamped down a straight edge and then cut strips off of the plywood to use as supports for the underside of the table. I also cut off the corners to make additional supports and to give the tabletop a cool shape.











STEP 8. Add angled filler strip.
I ripped a thin strip of ¾” plywood with the blade on my circular saw set to a 45 degree angle. I then glued this strip to the front beam. I tested the fit for the seat piece of plywood and then sanded down the angled strip a bit so that I got a nice fit with the seat piece.







STEP 9. Screw in the seat.
I screwed the seat piece of plywood in place. This piece sticks out past the frame a little bit so I just sanded it flush with my orbital sander.







STEP 10. Add the back rest.
I set the back rest in place and then held a 3” wide strip of plywood to the angle of the back rest and traced the line. I cut triangular pieces to fit between the backrest and frame.







STEP 11. Add back rest supports.
I glued 5 layers of plywood triangles together and then sanded the edges flush. I then glued and screwed these supports to the back rest. I did not screw them to the frame because I want the sofa to come apart so that it is easy to move.









STEP 12. Seal the plywood.
I sealed the plywood with minwax polycrylic in a satin finish.



DIY Leather cushions
I used the same cushion technique that we developed for the ZigZag sofa which you can see here: http://www.homemade-modern.com/ep108-zig-zag-sofa/



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