Walking into Jason Wolff’s dorm room in Buchanan Hall, one might wonder why there is a broken park bench sitting on the floor. At one time, Wolff looked at this broken park bench with shame and would reply, “Yep, that’s my futon.”

Wolff, junior in electrical engineering, had to deal with the uncomfortable futon all last year despite scorn from friends and his girlfriend. The oversized mattress with vomit stains didn’t really do anything to make the situation better. He said the main issue, however, was sitting on it.

“[My futon] sat on the floor, so you were basically sitting on the floor,” Wolff said. “You could feel the pieces of two-by-four as you sat on it. The mattress didn’t do anything. You could pull it out into a bed, but if you laid on it, you, well . hurt. A rock would have been more comfortable.”

Seeing this monstrosity of a piece of furniture, FYI decided to fix this out-of-whack futon with some help of some interior design professionals. After giving him the good news that his futon won’t be condemned any longer, we had Wolff leave the room and let our experts get to work.

The team:

We called on a team of two experts. Jennifer Griffith, senior in interior design, was our go-to person in shopping for materials and – more importantly – colors that don’t clash. Jenna Coan, senior in apparel merchandising, design and production, was responsible for making anything we might need and did much of the sewing during the makeover. With their powers combined, they worked toward turning Wolff’s derelict futon into something worthy of a Pier One catalog.

Deciding a theme:

The first thing the duo had to do was come up with a theme for the futon. This helped them know what colors and accessories they needed buy to make it all come together. If you plan on making over your futon, the experts suggest coming up with a theme and sticking with it throughout the entire process to have it blend seamlessly. Wolff had a Johnny Cash poster in his room, so they decided to use his taste in music as the theme.

There are very few places in Ames that sell reasonably-priced band T-shirts, so the first place they went was Hot Topic, 2801 Grand Ave. With the help of Wolff’s girlfriend, they found out he also likes the band As I Lay Dying. After the insider info, they purchased several shirts to be sewn together for band pillows.

Making it comfortable:

Using the colors from the pillowcases, the team decided what color fabric they would use to cover Wolff’s less-than-appealing mattress. Going to Target, 320 S. Duff Ave., they found a fitted sheet that was the foundation of the entire makeover. During their search they found a clip lamp to accent the ensemble.

Next, the team went to Jo-Ann Fabrics and Crafts, 632 Lincoln Way, to find materials to make pillows. Jo-Ann’s offers pre-made pillows, so all you have to do is sew on the fabric you want without worrying about the fluff.

During their visit, the team also found foam chair pillows they thought would be perfect for footstools.

Making it solid:

To make the futon sturdy, we used plastic crates from a local restaurant to get the it off of the ground and to make the structure of the footstools. With that, we left our sewing expert Coan in charge of creating our materials. As Coan was at work, Griffith decided to buy a body pillow from Target, because she felt the futon needed something extra. Putting it all together didn’t take very much time to complete.

The outcome:

After the team’s work was done, the original eyesore of a futon was transformed into a beautiful piece of furniture. The team was satisfied with how it turned out. When we finally revealed it to Wolff, he was thrilled with the results. Sitting down on it, he said he never thought his futon would be so soft or attractive.

“It’s very nice,” Wolff said. “It’s comfortable and I like the futon a lot. I didn’t know you could do that.”

Mission accomplished.