I wanted to give my caravan's old sofas a makeover so found a £20 way to transform them completely – they look brand new

The Irish Sun

23-05-2025

A WOMAN has been praised after sharing how she cleverly transformed the old sofas in her caravan for just £20.
Lucy explained that she was keen to give the sofa cushions a new lease of life, but didn't have an unlimited budget for doing so.
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Lucy came up with the clever idea to use dust sheets to cover her old sofa cushions
Credit: TikTok/beautybake5
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She began by laying the sheet over the cushion and cutting it to size
Credit: TikTok/beautybake5
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She then began the painstaking job of using clear elastics to make the buttons
Credit: TikTok/beautybake5
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Once she'd finished, it was completely unrecognisable as a dust sheet
Credit: TikTok/beautybake5
So instead, she decided to buy two fabric dust sheets and some clear elastic bands, and got to work herself.
"I wanted to cover these sofas with some material and it just came to me the other night in bed, I thought what about using dust sheets?" she said in a
"They're really cheap, they were the perfect colour and they're really big.
"So I ordered two big ones off Amazon, they were £20 for the two."
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She also got the bands from Amazon and a staple gun, although admitted she'd had to go with safety pins to attach the material at the back, as staple guns don't work on soft fabric.
Once she'd put the fabric over the top of the cushion, she started to create the "button" pieces.
To do so, she got one of the clear elastics, pulled the button from underneath the fabric and then put the elastic around the button.
"Let me tell you, this was so friggin' hard," she said.
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"My fingers were absolutely killing me at the end.
"That's why I've stopped here, I've only just done one side because I'm going to have to do like one set a day or something.
I'm a travel editor and this caravan park is the only family holiday I pay for every summer - it's better than 5-star resorts
"I literally was bleeding because there's not a lot of give on them, so it is quite tricky but it really does look the part!"
Once that was done, she turned the cushion over to attach the material at the back.
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"I do think maybe in the future I will redo these and actually sew them or use some sort of spray glue or something but this is going to be fine for now," she added.
"I don't really care what they look like at the back. They're not really going to be moved much."
She then did the other cushion, but admitted it was "really hard", and she ended up pushing the safety pins into her fingernails more than a few occasions.
"So yeah, not the easiest job but definitely worth it in the end," she continued.
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WHEN I was a child, my mum used to collect the £9.50 holiday vouchers in The Sun.
She'd use them to book a couple of nights away at a caravan park during the school holidays.
As an adult, I fully appreciate the convenience of a humble caravan holiday.
No faffing about with passports, no luggage limits and no bog-standard hotel breakfast of stale toast and grey eggs.
I still love caravan holidays as an adult.
In a world of doing everything for the 'gram, a caravan park brings you back to basics.
There's no obligation to get dressed up, no stress to fit a million picturesque excursions in one week and I don't find myself flustered in tourist hot spots like abroad.
I love going to coastal caravan parks and strolling along the beach parade.
My highlight is always fresh mussels, ice-creams and classic pubs to grab an afternoon tipple in.
And then, of course, there's the cost.
Staying in a caravan is definitely way cheaper than my international trips.
With no expensive hotel bills and the ability to cook my own meals, I'm spending hundreds less than I would abroad.
I've had some of my best and most relaxing holidays in caravans. Maybe I'll buy my own one day.
"And to think I've done this from some dust sheets.
"I think it looks great.
"Obviously it's not perfect but this literally cost me £23 and I didn't realise you could order even bigger dust sheets for an extra 50p.
"So I've ordered some bigger ones that hopefully I'll get all the rest done with.
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"In total it's literally going to be about £45 to cover all of these."
Once she'd done the other cushion, Lucy put everything back in place, before adding some cushions she'd picked up from the charity shop to finish the transformation off.
"I think it's changed the whole look of the caravan!" she concluded.
Sharing the video on TikTok, Lucy captioned it: "Caravan reno is coming along nicely!
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"And to think I did this with dust sheets!"
"Looks really good!" one person praised in the comments.
"I'd be tempted to use it for curtains too. It looks like natural linen. Well done you!"
"Honestly is there anything you can't do?!" another laughed.
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"Looks lovely!"
"Brilliant, looks amazing!" a third commented.
"Who would of thought - dust sheets and hairbands?!"
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She then secured the material at the back of the cushion
Credit: TikTok/beautybake5
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Before putting the cushion back into place - showing what the old cushion looked like as she did so
Credit: TikTok/beautybake5
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She'd picked up some little round cushions from the charity shop, and they provided the perfect finishing touch
Credit: TikTok/beautybake5