foam from ikea mattress???

[lisalisa]

hello.

many of you have used foam bed(s) from ikea and cut it yourself using a electric knife. well, i think i'm going to do the same for my boler cushions.

i seem to recall that a full and a twin sized mattress does the trick. was this enough for just the dinette cushions or both the dinette and the couch/bunks?

any words of wisdom for this project? warnings? encouragement? oh, and of most importance, were the cushions comfortable? would you go this route again?

thanks!!

[Donna D.]

Originally Posted by lisalisa

any words of wisdom for this project? warnings?

yeah, don't sneeze while you have the electric knife in your hand and you're cutting the foam. It cuts really, really quick and doesn't take much to get off track. Go slow, slow and you'll be fine. Foam is commercially cut with a "hot wire," that's what gives it a smooth cut finish. You MIGHT not get the same finish, but will have a better finish if you go slow...

[Eddie Longest]

You need to unzip the mattress cover and look at the foam before you buy. I use a full size Ikea mattress in my Scamp 19. My mattress is made up up to different layers of foam and they are not bonded together. The foam may bunch up if used for cushons.
Eddie

[TammyG]

I just did mine--reuse recycle---the last few garbage days I have gathered 6" foam pieces from couches that people have been throwing out. Then i used the electric knife to cut them to size. In order to get the length of foam you need I simply sprayed Contact Adhesive to the foam and they stick like crazy. I then wrapped each cushion with white polyester upholstery fibre. I bought 13 yards of Crypton Ultra Suede from Results for *SUEDE* $3 per yard plus the same for shipping; still pretty cheap since I am in Canada and they are in Miami. I cut out the pattern with 5/8" seam allowances and for the sides you can either use the box method with zipper panel (go to YouTube to see how they make cushions) ==I opted to go without zippers and just sew them together once the foam was inside. Crypton is a fabric we use in Retirement homes and is very sustainable. I tried the first cushion then called a friend who does upholstery--$300 to sew them. Scamp sells complete covers in limited ugly colours for $300 for 4" foam. THe bunk portion I used high density foam (camping role)-3 separate pieces-two ends and a middle--this way there is no folding of the foam when sides fold in. I glued foam on (just one side) and covered it leaving bottom open. Slid it in then used velcor to seal it up on the long straight side, Remember to mark where the holes are and poles! Put a small nail sticking out so when you put cover on you can see location. The 6" foam is pretty darn comfy!

[Bob Miller]

Depending on which IKEA mattress you use you will get different ratios of foam to memory foam. When they come apart I use "Dan Tack" spray adhesive to bond them back together.
I don't use an electric knife for cutting, I use a long bread knife and a 2x4 straight edge for cutting.
Occasionally these mattresses wil show up in the "As Is" department, with a dirty cover, for about 1/2 price.

[Paul Chet]

hi Lisa,
we did just this for our PLay Pac - when we bought it it had no cushions at all. buying new foam alone and gettingit shipped was horrific in terms of price quotes. i even looked locally and one piece of one side would have cost more than one complete set of what we ended up with. the kicker is they come completely covered with zippers, etc. so we ended up getting two of this futon set - since there is a top n bottom cushion. we trimmed them down and are waiting for a visit up to where my Aunt who is a master seamstress, will bring them in to their new dimensions. for now we still use them and just flap the excess behind - but for $180, with a single piece of thick and comfortable foam, covers with zippers (and they feel like they are already treated with some kind of scotch-guard) - we feel it was one of our best work-arounds this far. cutting it was a pain - but that took one hour and was worth the savings! here is the exact ones we got - we only have the rear bed so i don't know about front cushions. i will say we have so much cut foam left over that if you followed the other advice here gluing pieces together - you would have more than enough for the front (just would need to figure a covering solution). best of luck to you!

BEDDINGE LÖVÅS Mattress - IKEA

[Thomas G.]

And easy to care for, too.

Care instructions
Do not wash.
Do not bleach.
Do not tumble dry.
Do not iron.
Do not dryclean.