Furniture Slipcover Makeover Tips

By Simon Phillips

Photo: Phaedra Wilkinson

An inexpensive and simple way to give your living room a makeover is to use slipcovers on your couches and armchairs. Ready made slipcovers are designed to fit standard sized seats, including wingback and recliner chairs. They cost as little as $50 for a two seater loveseat slipcover, which is great value when you think about the price of brand new furniture.

Slipcovers are ideal for furniture makeovers as they can instantly hide all manner of things - from outdated, faded or worn upholstery to ripped or stained fabric. They can work wonders at transforming mismatched secondhand couches picked up cheaply from yard sales, and are the perfect solution if you're setting up home on a budget and want your living room to look nice. Another advantage of using couch slipcovers is they are machine washable, so it's easy to keep your seats clean. This is particularly handy if you have pets or young children.

Slipcovers are constructed to fit over your existing upholstery and are easy to secure in place. You just need to tuck any excess fabric into the gaps at the back and sides of the seat. However, with some types of furniture it pays to know a few fitting tips to get a snug fit.

For instance, as ready made covers are made for sofas and chairs with cushioned arms, they won't fit properly on a couch with wooden arms. To get round this problem you'll need to wrap something around the arms to give them enough padding for the slipcover to fit tightly. You can use polyester batting from a craft store, or if you want to be really thrifty an old blanket or towel could work just as well. Incidentally, foam batting can also be used to help fit a slipcover on a leather couch. If you secure it over the seat prior to fitting the slipcover, it should prevent the cover from sliding about and becoming untucked on the leather upholstery.

Another way to alter the style of a seat with wooden legs, which may be scratched or just unattractive, is to simply choose a cover with a skirt. This can totally conceal ugly legs and give an old fashioned couch a new lease of life.

Sofas with loose back cushions can also be tricky to slipcover, as most ready made covers are designed for seats without back cushions. One way to get around this is to remove the back cushions altogether and fit a regular slipcover over the body of the furniture in the usual manner. Then, in place of the back cushions you can use inexpensive pillows that coordinate with the slipcover fabric, for a whole new look.

This article was submitted by Simon Phillips of GetSlipcovers.com, which offers lots of ideas for slipcover makeovers as well as coupon codes for Sure Fit Slipcovers and custom slipcovers.