How I made this mini couch out of a cardboard banana box

This mini couch was made out of a banana box! Can you believe it?! It was surprisingly easy it was to make too! Make your own (for your kid… their dolls… your cat!!) and be sure to send me a picture so I can feature you and your project on my social media pages!

Let’s dive right into HOW I made this.

DIY mini couch for toddlers pets or dolls

The Banana Box

It all started with a banana box from my local produce stand. It sounds silly, but I love banana boxes. When we buy our fruits and veggies at the Okinawan “Banana Stand” (as it’s called) they give us a banana box in place of grocery bags. They are so strong. And sturdy. And just that USEFUL size that makes me want to DO something with them every time we go. They always sit around for a while and ultimately end up in paper recycling….. until now!

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All I did to make the base of the couch was to cut off one side of the box and tape up the bottom and sides to make the “front” of the couch. I then used other boxes and random cardboard to fill in the empty spaces.

The seat is made from a smaller box that I had lying around from one of Jane’s toys. If you don’t have a box that will work, you can just layer pieces of cardboard cut to the right size. The small box is cram-packed full of cardboard pieces and scrap paper. It’s solid.

I finished the base with 3 long cardboard pieces that I curved to make rounded (ish) arms and back. It nicely covered up all the random bits I shoved in, so the end result wasn’t jagged or uneven.

Couch Padding

Next stop was the thrift store. I didn’t take a picture before I chopped it up, but I found a really simple, super puffy, linen comforter for $4 that worked perfectly for what I needed.

PLEASE NOTE: If you go comforter hunting make sure you pick one that is held together with knots or minimal stitching and not one with loads of fancy quilt stitching all over it.

I undid the knots holding the comforter together and cut all the way around the outside edge of the entire blanket. Then I was able to separate the two big squares of fabric and the batting from each other.

I used the batting to pad the currently naked banana box couch. I draped pieces of batting over the couch and really just measured and cut as I went. Duct tape, glue, and extra padding filled in as needed.

One side of the comforter was light blue (for the couch body) and the other side was dark blue (couch bottom and matching throw pillows)

Banana Box Couch Cover

This was the part that really had me intimidated. I was so scared of messing up the cover, the only part that’s truly visible, but it actually came together way easier than I anticipated. Granted, it has flaws aplenty but I am totally satisfied with the end result regardless!

As for cutting out the cover, I wish I had some awesome PDF pattern for you to print out to make your own but I don’t. I don’t even have measurements for you to follow!

All I did was figure out how many individual pieces the couch cover was going to need then cut that many rectangles from the comforter material. Each rectangle was a few inches bigger, on all sides than the space it would fill (just to be safe). I then draped the pieces over the couch, and snipped, pinned, and sewed until they all fit right. One at a time, starting with the seat back and working my way outward and downward.

I don’t have great pictures of this process because I was literally just making it up as I went but if you have any questions please ask away in the comments or email/message me privately!

assembling the couch cover entirely inside out allowed me to pinch, pin, and adjust the seams from the outside as I went.

The underside

On the bottom, I just folded the extra material under, glued it, and stapled it. Then I cut a rectangle a bit bigger than the couch bottom, folded the edges under, and glued it in place to cover all the mess.

Eventually, I also plan to add some feet! I found 4 little knobs that I’m going to use, but THESE little wooden feet on Amazon would also be super cute!! I think I’m going to wait till Jane is a little bigger though because right now the couch is a good height for her.