Using Custom Made Slipcovers to Unify Your Room

Using Custom Made Slipcovers to Unify Your Room

contributed by Shelley Slipcovers by Shelley

So the other day, when my kids started school I decided to scrape all the junk off the kitchen floor and mop and wash my slipcovers. My three boys make things pretty gross. Anyhow I realized I have never posted what my furniture looks like underneath my slipcovers. SO here it is.

Front room before

Here is a photo of my room without slipcovers. My nice peach velvet tufted couch I picked up for $13 from Savers (local thrift store). My nice green loveseat is from a yardsale for $20. They two toile arm chairs I picked up from DI (local thrift store) for $10 each and had to have the springs fixed and the legs reglued. My upholsterer told me I might as well reupholster them...it would be the same price. So I hurried to the fabric store and chose this black and white toile. I still wanted to slipcover the chairs to protect them from my little ones.

couch before

Here is a close up of the couch. I really love the tufting and while the slipcovers were washing I was trying to figure out some color scheme that would make the peach color look "cool". Then I gave up because I was remembering my childhood bedroom that my mother decorated in peach and light green. I think I'll stick to the tan slipcover.

loveseat before

This loveseat's fabric is really slick and when you'd sit on the slipcovered loveseat the slipcover would pull and shift way more than normal, so I sewed some velcro onto the seam allowance of the top inside back. Then I staple gunned the other side of velcro to the loveseat itself, now it stays in place perfectly. I love the arms on this piece.
 



velcro on outside back of loveseat

Muslin slip for couch to keep the velvet from sticking and pulling the slipcover funny

I got tired of the slipcover sticking to the velvet and pulling weird, so I made this underslip out of scraps of muslin.

Front room after

The couch and loveseat are slipcovered in a tan cotton fabric. The chairs are out of white duck cloth. I always like to finish a room off with pillows, so I used some white pottery barn linen napkins to back most of the pillows and pieced the ones on the chairs out of scraps.

couch after

I ended up replacing all the cushions with down. The couch and loveseat are down envelopes  with a foam core (extra support). The chairs are solid down with no foam.

Loveseat after

I did gathered skirts on the couch and loveseat...they are completly different shapes but with the same fabric and skirts they look like a set.
 
 

chairs after

I decided to do a short kick pleat skirt on the chairs and let the legs show.

IF you are interested in learning to make slipcovers yourself click on the button (HOW TO SLIPCOVER DVD)to purchase.