I know I mentioned that the upholstery was slow going. Well, it proved to be a snails pace when I started to actually cover things. When upholstering, the goal is to first tack everything down so that it looks how you want, then staple to finalize. The tacks are super easy to get out and reposition. Except in my case, of course.
Turns out I bought super high density foam and that, paired with the fact that the plywood on the underside is treated with some sort o strange tar material (maybe it's a fireproofing material?), makes for impossible tacking. The hammer bounces all over the place because of the foam, and they don't stick when hammered in. If I did get some to stick, they just popped out the second I placed my staple gun down to seal the deal.
Oh, how slow going it was! In the end I got so frustrated, I put down my hammer and just started to staple. That's a pretty huge no-no, but in the end I was surprised with how even I got each one. Definitely won't do that with future upholstery projects, but what's that phrase? Know when to hold 'em and know when to fold 'em. Yep, got it.