waterproof pet sofa cover

Owning a cat can be rewarding, they bring you happiness when you're sad, calmness when anxious, and peace when angry.  That is unless you have multiple cats, then they can bring you violent fighting and furniture marking.  Our new sofa fell victim to the marking.  Stanley Steemer thankfully came to our rescue.

Now we have a clean sofa, but no guarantee that it will remain unmarked.  Nick and I came up with a  strategy - plugging in a cat pheromone diffuser, setting up a motion sensor with alarm/air spray, and using a sofa cover.  Most pet sofa covers do not provide a waterproofing element.  I decided to make a cover found at Target impermeable.  I ran down to bedding for a twin mattress cover, and then up to home improvement for some Velcro fasteners. 

Cost: $42
Time: 20 minutes
Needed:

• pet sofa cover ($30)
• twin waterproof mattress cover ($9)
• Velcro fasteners - package of four 3in strips ($3)
• scissors

1.  Get a lay of the land. Take your sofa cover out of the package and spread it out on the floor with the underside exposed.  Take your mattress cover out and cut it down three of the sides, leaving one long side still attached resulting in a large rectangle.  Some mattress covers have zippered sides, so you may have to cut the zipper out to make your material lay nicely.  Now lay the large waterproof rectangle on top of the sofa cover.

2.  Trim it up. You'll notice that the mattress cover is longer than your sofa cover.  Line up the sofa cover and mattress cover on one side to give you an idea how much extra will need to be removed.  You can take a marker and mark where you should cut the extra mattress cover off.  Depending on the shape of your sofa cover, you may need to trim the height and width.  Go ahead and cut it to match the size of the sofa cover.

3.  Get it together.  Now take your Velcro fasteners and cut the strips in half so that you have eight 1.5in strips.  Stitch one strip in a corner of our sofa cover. Align another strip on the mattress cover so they fasten when the covers are laying flat and stitch into place.  Go ahead and do this to the other three corners.

4.  Tuck it.  Be sure to push hard on all four corners' fasteners and then place the joint covers on your sofa. Fold and tuck them into pillows and arm rests.  

A major benefit is that your waterproof pet sofa cover can be washed and reused if a small accident or even a catastrophe happens.  Just unfasten the covers and machine wash the sofa cover.  You'll want to wash/sanitize the mattress cover in your sink.  Line dry both of the covers before fastening them and placing it back on the sofa.