Monday, March 15, 2010

To Slip Cover or Not To Slip Cover? - - that's the question



About a year ago, I started following this blog here. Life in the Fun Lane. I quickly fell in love with Holly's white walls, dark wood floors, and her white slipcovered furniture. Yes . . . the slipcovers are white and she has a child. Loved her style. My style began to change at that time too. Although, we were renting, planning on moving soon, and had not a clue to where we'd be. Fast forward 6 months and we were checking out homes to buy. I scoured Craigslist like there was no tomorrow. All I wanted were some white slipcovered couches. And I didn't want to pay the crazy prices for them, either. One day I found the loveseat (IKEA Ektorp series). I was ecstatic. Lucky for us, we have wonderful family who stored it for us until we moved. About 2 weeks later, I was on again. I then found the couch. It was meant to be. Oh, my sweet hubby. I think he thought I was crazy. . . and everyone else for that matter.

Of course. I hear it all the time. "White couches? You have a child? So unpractical."

Well, here's what I think. White slipcovers get a bad rap. We dress our children in white clothing so why not our furniture? What do we do when our child spills sphaghetti on his/her shirt? We take it off, bleach it, and wash it. White is the only color that can be bleached. So why not white slipcovers? I love mine.

Check out Holly's post here about living with white.

Although I didn't make these slipcovers, I'm planning to make slipcovers for 2 wingback chairs I found . . . off of Craigslist. Here's a tutorial on making slipcovers from Sew, Mama, Sew.


8 comments:

  1. I loved our white slipcovered Ikea Ektorp sofas Amy! I think yours look fabulous, especially with those gorgeous dark timber floors and your wonderful green walls - so beautiful and practical:) I vote yay for white slipcovers and can't wait to see the ones you make for your wingback chairs! Wishing you a wonderful week ~ Tina x

    ReplyDelete
  2. Love your slipped sofas, great that you found them. Your living room is beautiful. I think white slips ARE practical. I have a big black lab the sheds tons of big black lab hair. Just get out my sticky lint rollers, and hair be gone. Good luck finding your wing chairs to slip. I'm about to make one for a wing chair, dread it as wing chairs are difficult. Curvy and all that.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I love the idea of a white slipcover, instead of just a white couch. Thanks for the link to the chair tutorial. We have a chair that needs ot be covered, the orange 70's fabric now bleeds :(

    ReplyDelete
  4. I love the idea and look of a white sofa, but no way am I willing to be the sofa police to keep the kids, dog and husband on-board in keeping it clean. I also would not be willing to launder it as often as needed so it didn't look a wreck. There are some stains you can't remove, even with bleach. I would love a gray, beige, or denim-blue slip-covered sofa, but not white. I'll admire them in other people's blogs.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hi Amy!
    I bought two Wing Back chairs off Craigslist, slipcovered them in white matelasse and lived to tell about it and wrote about it on my blog- thought you might like to see them?
    Sigh...I think I might have to sew a white cover for my sofa now, because I am in love with yours!
    Thanks a lot for making extra work for me ;)
    I am enjoying your blog!
    Blessings!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Hi Amy, just popped over here from My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia and love your blog! And your little girl is adorable too! Thanks for great inspiration. Loving your dark hardwood floors!

    ReplyDelete
  7. white slips are the best! i love living with white! thanks for sharing!

    ReplyDelete