Ikea Hack: Ancient Greek Couch

Call me pretentious and crazy. When it came time to replace our dog-damaged living room couch I decided to recreate an ancient Greek/Roman couch using scavenged and inexpensive materials. A broken child’s bed, some cheap table legs from Home Depot and an Ikea cushion make for a quick and easy project.

If I were to make two more of these couches and a low table I’d have the complete ancient dining room or “triclinion.” What could I do with a triclinion? Glad you asked. At the triclinion, guests reclined on  couches in a specific seating order. Woman and men ate separately. You brought your own humanure potty with you which also served as a projectile when philosophical arguments got out of hand. And the ancient Greeks even had professional party crashers with colorful nicknames such as, “the lobster.”

  

Reviews on my couch are mixed. Mrs. Homegrown deems it uncomfortable unless laying horizontal. And the historical recreation on the cheap aesthetic runs the risk of devolving into the horrors of the modern day toga party such as the one below:

Photo by Keithusc

Nevertheless, it’s a great couch from which to make pronouncements, blog posts and “thoughtstylings” from. And it’s well past time to host that homesteading symposium!

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7 Comments

  1. I just wish there were a Mister here to work miracles. Okay, so some women can. I cannot. While I love the aesthetic, I agree that lying would be the only way I would like using this. Oh, I could use it to tie my shoes or rest a moment. But, that’s just me. Good job. I could have taken that to the toga party our Latin club had in high school.

  2. We have those same two Ikea pillows on the left on our couch! I feel kind of violated now realizing that Ikea has dialed us in, and I fit so well under what I’m sure is some sort of “earthy” demographic.

  3. Scott: Ugh! I know the feeling!

    And in general, I’ll just say in defense of the couch that it is comfortable in its own way, but it’s definitely a one-person piece of furniture, which may not be sensible in a house as small as ours. Nonetheless, I’m on it as I write this.

    If anyone is curious about Erik’s methodology, let us know and he can post some notes about how it was built.

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