New Slipcovers for the IKEA Living Room Furniture

How to quickly change the look of your IKEA upholstered furniture using slipcovers to make them look updated and high-end.

A big thanks to Bemz for providing slipcovers for this post. 

Quick confession: I have commitment issues.

Not with Robert… that man couldn’t get rid of me if he tried. #Stage5Clinger

But with decorating, after living with the way things are for about a year, I get the itch to move around furniture, swap out a rug, add something seasonal. It’s my therapy really.

This go-round my commitment issues were with our IKEA sofa’s and armchairs’ slipcovers.

We bought the IKEA Farlov sofa and Stocksund armchairs last spring when we first moved in, and we have LOVED them! They were seriously the best furniture buying decision we made considering we have a kiddo and 2 dogs who use and abuse them on the daily.

I’m a big fan of being able to rip off the slipcovers whenever there’s a spill (okay, really I’m the clumsiest spiller of our whole bunch). But the stock ones we bought directly from IKEA were looking a little sad lately. And I was really craving more options than just the three colors they carried for our sofa in the stores.

I’d mentioned the option of Bemz in this post when I shared how our sofa was holding up (since it’s a question I’m asked a lot), but I’d never really tried them for myself. So I finally took a test drive after hearing rave reviews from friends who had used them before.

If you haven’t heard of them, Bemz makes custom slipcovers for IKEA furniture that are sewn to order in Europe.

So in the planning process, they sent me the fabric samples I requested for our sofa. Since we’d had a white cover for the past year, I was really wanting to go gray on our Farlov sofa. And for our Stocksund armchairs, I wanted white instead of gray. Total flip-flop action.

Robert and I were able to feel the fabrics and see the shades in person and decide which ones we liked the best.

We decided on Tegner Melange Textured Cotton in Silver Grey for our Farlov sofa and Simply Linen in Absolute White for our Stocksund armchairs.

The covers feel way more high-end and sturdier than our IKEA ones did.

I’d mentioned before that the one thing that bugged me about our old white cover from IKEA was that it had a tweed-like texture that was a bit rough.

This one is so much softer.

And when I pulled it out of the postage box there were no wrinkles at all, which was one of my struggles with the existing IKEA cover before.

I’m so glad we still stuck with a little white in here on the armchairs instead of going dark to keep the room bright and airy. We can still toss them in the wash whenever we need to (and just use Tide pens between washings).

They fit like a glove, and I’d swear no one would ever guess that these are covers.

So yay for new furniture that I’m confident will stand up to spills even better than the IKEA ones do! Once this baby arrives in October, that’s one thing I’ll be glad I won’t have to worry about. Less cleaning = happy mommy.

And if I ever get the itch to change up the look a year or two down the road, I won’t have to spring for all new furniture, just new covers. I love that I’ll be able to hold onto these and keep my options open if I ever do change them again in the future though.

Maybe a spring/summer set and a fall/winter set? Hmm…

If you have IKEA furniture too and want to change the look of them or desperately need a refresh, you can use the code 15blesserhouse to get 15% off of your Bemz order until the beginning of August.

For the rest of the sources we’ve used in our living room, you can see them all here (in case some of you ask): (affiliate links are provided)

• Wall color: Benjamin Moore Swiss Coffee
• Door/window color: Benjamin Moore Wrought Iron
• Trim/ceiling color: Benjamin Moore Simply White
• Sofa
• Armchairs
• Ottoman coffee table (thrift find – DIY tutorial linked)
• Ceiling fan
• eSaleRugs Berkshire area rug
• Nesting tables (thrift find – DIY tutorial linked)
• End table
• Hearth basket
• Lanterns
• Lamp
• Mercury glass candle
• Summer botanical prints (printable post linked)
• Biltmore art
• Bench (similar – mine was a Craigslist find)
• Curtains
• Concrete flower statuette (DIY tutorial linked)
• Pleated blue throw pillows
• Cream medallion throw pillow
• Jute rug
• Breakfast nook French bistro chairs
• Lantern pendant light
• Wall planter (DIY tutorial linked)