Washing White Slipcovers

I get so many questions about the real-life practicality of washing my white slipcovers. White sofas scare everyone when it comes to stains, but before I bought our IKEA Ektorp sofa, I knew I'd love the bleachable, washable slipcovers. Caroline was trying to convince me yesterday to consider microfiber for a nursery glider and I said, "I only do white slipcovers, Mom! I'm morally opposed to microfiber." Ok, maybe that's a bit dramatic, but I swear by white slipcovers.



In preparation for Spring (which regardless of what the calendar says I count as beginning on March 1st), our slipcovers needed their quarterly wash. I generally wash them once every three months unless something is spilled in that time period. But if no spills occur - or sometimes even if they do and I'm too lazy to wash them, I've found that a quarterly wash is sufficient - they start to look a bit dingy by the end of three months, but are good as new after a half day cleaning process. I own two sets of slipcovers (at $49 a pop it's a no-brainer to have a spare on hand), but in general I only pull out the spare if I'm short on time and need a pristinely white sofa for company, etc. Otherwise, I've found it's easiest to just wash and replace on cleaning day.
I wash the slipcovers in two batches - cushion covers first and the sofa body second. We have a big washing machine that could handle the whole thing, but I've found that they get cleaner if I wash them in two batches. Over the last two years, I've found that two scoops of OxiClean per wash works better for getting them super white than bleach, but I know some people who swear by the bleach method.

The couch's naked state provides an optimal time to conduct a full search for balls that your aspiring Rory Mcilroy has chipped under the couch, should that be the kind of thing that happens at your house.

For stains, I now turn to this Pinterest stain remover. In December I had a really stubborn stain on one of the seat cushions, and bleach and OxiClean pastes took the offensive portion of the stain out, but the ring residue was only removed by Dawn and Hydrogen Peroxide. What did we do before Pinterest?
So anyway, I wash the slipcovers and put the cushion covers in the dryer until they're just damp while the body cover is in the wash. Then I put the body back on the sofa frame right out of the washing machine (we have an HE washer that really spins out all the water and leaves them damp). I put the semi-damp cushion covers on the cushions, but I dry them a bit because I like them to fit tight at first so they'll loosen up over the course of 3 months rather than starting loose - however I've found that any drying of the body cover wrinkles and makes the slipcover fall a little shorter than my liking. Putting the slipcovers back on damp is the key to getting a good, wrinkle free fit. The corners tend to look wrinkly and messy which drove me crazy forever until I started putting the covers on damp - perfect time for straightening out the pleated corners:

 

And that's it. The wrinkles work out as the slipcovers dry, and we have a fresh clean spot to watch our evening episode of Downton Abbey. We throw our shoe clad feet on the couch, Thomas and Casco climb all over it, we say "Bottoms-up" to beer and apps on the couch for the Super Bowl, and we've hosted many a neighbor pizza/happy hours on the couch without worrying about anything. I love white slipcovers and can't imagine my now child-filled life without them!

4 Years Later: Living Room

I was combing through old pictures the other day trying to find pictures of the model home from our neighborhood four years ago for our neighbors who live in the model floorplan. Does that make sense? Well, the model pictures turned up empty, but I found a few gems from our first few months in the house. This was the living room four years ago:

The hand me downs were perfect because they allowed me to discover our own style instead of feeling married to something we'd chosen out of haste.  And 4 years of living, scratching the hell out of the floors, dog hair and Hurricane Thomas later:

Slowly but surely it's become not just me, but us. Imperfections abound, but it feels like home. Thank goodness.

Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes

I know I've mentioned this before, but it used to drive me crazy that there was only really one configuration for my living room. I'm used to changing furniture around on a monthly - sometimes weekly, basis. But I finally realized that there were more options - sure, the sofa can really only be situated in two locations, but the accent furniture? The possibilities are endless. So, because I was feeling the need for change, I replaced the big green chair with the two cane back chairs I redid two years ago. Our living room now has realistic seating for 6. Warning: I did not clean up before taking these pictures. There was time for one or the other, and the ol' blog was feeling a little neglected.

 Do you love Casco's toy box behind the chairs? This is real life, people. Glamourous.

IKEA's finally in Denver. And I love me some IKEA. But now that it's here, I've had a heart to heart with myself. I said "Self, IKEA's great for cheap basics. But you don't want your house to look like an IKEA ad, so don't go overboard." But that black and white Stockholm rug? I've been eying it for four years. And it now belongs to me. 

And because IKEA rugs are inexpensive, I picked up a white cotton rug for the dining room. You know, so the chairs now actually fit on the rug.

Baby socks and golden retrievers. Real life.

So. the beloved big green chair now resides in my office/B's study zone/Thomas's playroom and physical therapy room. T and I read books on the big green chair before his afternoon nap, and B will sit there and read his textbooks to keep me company if I'm working after Thomas goes to bed. It's working out well, even though aesthetically this room is not anything to be proud of. But sometimes, you just have to go with what works for your family's needs at the time. And my baby needed a mat to practice crawling and falling on in our hardwood floored house.

So that's the latest around here.

I Once Had a Girl Who Rearranged Furniture On Stage

Name that movie.  Caroline was up yesterday hanging out with Thomas while I had a work meeting on a non-daycare day.  This has become an almost weekly occurrence, and after my meeting Caroline and I run errands and critique and rearrange furniture in each other's houses.  I'm quick to give Caroline opinions like, "1972 wants the wood paneling in your family room back, Mom." and then she says "Your couch looks terrible in front of the sliding glass doors, I like it better on the other side of the room".  That's just how Caroline and I work - we rearrange furniture for fun, and often put it right back where it started.  We've been known to rearrange seating areas in churches to make them more conducive to conversation.  We're a handful. 

Living Room with Couch in front of Sliding Doors at the back of the house

So, after months of dismissing my mom's couch placement preference for my house - beause it's my house and I preferred the sofa where it was - she caught me in a weak moment and I agreed to switch things around.  And we didn't stop at the sofa.  We moved the secretary that had been hanging out in the corner of the dining room (shown in the picture above) closer to the sofa.  And I'm not going to lie to you.  I kind of love the new arrangement. 

Yes, I am fully aware that the rug is too small for the room.  I'm saving my pennies, the budget doesn't allow for impulse buys.  One day, the ottoman coffee table will not be on an island.

The secretary was my 10th birthday gift.  I wanted a desk, so my mom and I went antiquing every weekend until we found this one.  It once held my Casio Secret Diary and Babysitter's Club books.  Now it holds our wedding china, B's grandparents' cake servers we used at our wedding, Thomas's silver cup and rattle and my beloved gurgle pot.  Oh maturity.

I love that my mom raised me to rearrange furniture.  I love the new arrangement.  You were right, Caroline.  For now.

Blog Business and a Missing Email

I've been doing some blog houeskeeping - and in doing so I lost my blogroll and a few emails. I'm slowly adding the blog roll back, so if you're missing, it's not personal.  Promise.  I'll get there.  Also, if you're not getting a response email from me, I probably lost the email accidentally.  I'm sorry!  Get your act together, Emily.

I do remember the content of one of the emails, but just don't have the address to respond to it.  So, someone emailed me asking me about my IKEA slipcover and how often I wash it/practical it is. I'm sorry I haven't responded!  Here's your answer.

We'e had the IKEA Ektorp sofa for a year now and I love it still. I wash the white slipcover about every three months (or when we have a real spill - it's happened) and air dry it - it's held up great and I've never even needed to bleach it.  It comes clean just on a regular wash with detergent.  With the air drying it's about a day long process - and I think I could put it in the dryer at this point - but we still sit on the couch un-slipcovered. For my birthday my mom picked up an extra white slipcover for me while she was at IKEA in case we need to do a quicker sofa change.  And at $49, it just makes sense to have an extra.  If you have anymore questions about it, email me again and I'll do my best not to lose it this time!

Coffee Break

Well, it lasted eight months.  The painted coffee table, that is.  The white was refreshing at first, but I painted it quickly and improperly and peeling white paint was not refreshing.  And I was ready for a change - the table's always been a few inches too tall to be a comfortable coffee table. 

Plus, we have a good number of friends with toddling toddlers and when they're over I cringe whenever a head gets too close to a table corner.  Add to that the fact that my niece is mobile now - and I love her precious head and don't want Auntie Em's coffee table to be the story behind her first scar - and that Thomas will be mobile in the blink of an eye - and that I love his precious head and don't want to add any more scars to it - and I figured that going with an upholstered coffee table was not a bad move.

I had grand plans - transforming a gross old coffee table into a beautiful cocktail ottoman that the world would ooh and ahh over.  I told B about my plans, and Mr. Coupon responded, "We have an ottoman, Em" and pointed at the green storage ottoman that matches B and Casco's belfoved big green chair and was currently residing in the office.  I was dismissive.  "Noooo.  That's not what I'm talking about - I don't do matchy matchy."  Well, I hunted Craigslist and Thrift Stores for the old coffee table that I could alter to no avail until I decided to just move the ottoman in one day to see what it looked like.  Perfect height.  Perfect shape.  Pretty perfect for my imperfect taste.  I vow never to dismiss Mr. B's decorating advice again.  Hold me to that, interpeeps.

But, I still don't do matchy matchy, so I turned to fabric.  I was determined to go bold - to move out of my solids with the occasional stripe comfort zone.  And bold turned out to be an octagonal green.  I'm in love. 

For about $28 worth of fabric, we have a whole new look for the room.  The sewing was a simple box slipcover - no sweat for a good sewer, a few naptimes long project for me.  And I can switch it up pretty frequently at that price - a slipcover for each season if I get bored.

The best thing about it is that we can just wheel it up to the couch or chair to serve as an ottoman when it's not needed as a coffee table - we never had room for it to be used as an ottoman when the old coffee table was in the room.  The McKevitt boys are big fans of this new functionality.

An area rug that's the appropriate scale for the room is next on the neverending list of things to do for this room.

The New Couch

Could I have dragged this on a little longer, you think?  The new couch is here.  And let me tell you, it was no easy feat getting it here.

I've had a list of requirements for three years:

• 3 cushion sofa (for maximum seating capacity in our small house, I'm not a fan of shoving three people on a two cushion sofa - no one likes crack).
• White, bleachable slipcovers.
• No more than 35" deep (so my short little legs could touch the ground while seated) and no more than 83" long.

My retailer options based on those criteria were limited to Pottery Barn and IKEA - which both required waiting - and there was no real need to purchase other than want.  Fueled by emotions last summer, B and I both decided we didn't want to wait to save for the PB or for IKEA to come to Colorado to replace the old couch.  We went to the local Rowe dealer and JCPenney.  We convinced ourselves we liked their slipcovered options - which didn't fit all of the criteria above - and almost bought on numerous occasions, but in the end we both calmed down and realized that waiting for the real vision was going to be okay.  So we started the couch fund out of rebate checks, credit card rewards and cash gifts.

I think that by the end of the saga, B and I were both willing to pay Pottery Barn mark-up.  But then I compared reviews, and the two sofas are VERY similar.  In durability, in comfort, almost identical in scale.

So, IKEA's slipcover pricing won me over.  Future McKiddles spill red juice? Meh, if I can't wash it out I can replace the whole thing for $49.  At Pottery Barn that juice would cost me $700.  I know myself well and if our future kids are going to be half me, inexpensive replaceables - along with an orthopedic surgeon on speed dial and the patience to attend multiple meetings a week with any mini-Emily's principals - are going to be necessities.

I am in love with our new couch.  The fact that it's exactly what I wanted for the scale and look of the room's a big part of that.  The fact that I can touch the floor while sitting on it, another bonus.  But, the fresh start's another big factor.  So many emotions were tied up in a silly old couch - but we're slowly making our own way in the world, with our own furniture and our own style and a renewed sense of who we are. I majored in English - I'm a chronic over-thinker and over-analyzer.  So sue me.

Out (or to the basement) with the old:

In with the new:

The Evolution of a Living Room

With our new couch purchase on the horizon, I've been thinking about our long term style.  I know that I like things to look clean, classic and crisp and I don't foresee that changing.  But that's not to say I couldn't go a little less jeans and flip flops and a little more dressed up for the club someday.

A pure white slipcovered sofa is in our near future - we just have to place the order.  So with the purchase looming, I sat down to think about how the room will evolve as we gradually move away from being the hand-me-down kids.  And I know that, for now, we'll stay comfy and casual - with my signature beach flair without forgetting that I live in landlocked Colorado.  So I mapped out the evolution of our living room - with no completion date in mind.  Hell, we'll probably live in a different house all together and have five kids jumping on that white sofa when this plan comes to fruition.

In my picture of our evolved living room, I see a slightly more tailored version of what we have now - white and black with green accents.  A great rug in my signature green (I've been eyeing this trellis rug from Shades of Light for about a year now, but the price is scary for the hand-me-down kid in me).  I imagine that someday Casco and Mr. B will part with the big green chair (or at least relocate it to their man cave when one exists) and two subtly striped neutral chairs can flank a classic black end table holding one of my favorite lamps.  I picture a wall of family photos just like we love now, and two airy white cocktail tables positioned in front of the couch.

But, let's just say that things change.  That all of a sudden velvet and wearing makeup daily and combing my hair into anything but a ponytail are fighting for my flip flop loving, Boulder educated attention.  Would my beloved future couch fit the bill?

I think so.  The same basics remain - the couch, the area rug, my beloved green lamps.  But in place of the beachier striped arm chairs we have clean-lined, more modern gray ones to flank a fabulous mirrored chest.  The artwork's grown-up a little bit, but with a nod to our interests, and the round, black coffee table anchors the space.

It doesn't take much to completely change the vibe of a room - without changing the basic investment pieces.  I'm excited about the potential for this one, white slipcovered couch in our imperfect little home.

Out with the Old

I'm a taker downer after Christmas - Christmas decor usually feels very cluttered to me, and that's not how I like to live. Usually everything's down before New Year's. But this year, we didn't do much putting up, and since we were gone for a few days over Christmas, I didn't feel the need to de-Christmas immediately - we tackled it this weekend. The deep cleaning and rearranging post-Christmas is my favorite!

So we went from this (our only indoor Christmas decor this year):


Back to sparse but bright and cheerful.



As we all agreed on this post, I loved the look of our cane back chairs in the living room. But I've always promised B he has veto power if he doesn't like something. In over two years in the house, he's never vetoed anything, but when he said to me before we left for Christmas "Em, the room looks fantastic, but after Christmas, do you think Casco and I can have the big green chair back?" I had to honor the promise of veto power.


So the green chair is back and the cane chairs have been returned to their original spot in the office. And Casco (and B) are very content.


So now I'm ready for spring - shorts, Sundays on the patio, and green grass and budding flowers. If only the weather would cooperate - anyone found me that 70 - 80 degree year-round location yet?