Furniture Slipcovers Blog: GetSlipcovers.com

If you’re starting to worry about the fact that it’s the end of October already and the holidays are almost upon us, you’re not alone.  It seems everyone I know is feeling the pressure to get themselves organized for the holidays.  Especially those that have invited friends or family to visit and are panicking about the state of their homes!

This is where slipcovers come in handy.  I use them all the time to give my rooms an instant makeover.  Switching sofa slipcovers in the living room is an effective way to completely change the mood of the room.  And if I’m cooking a meal for my guests, I like to do the same in the dining room by putting elegant-looking dining chair slipcovers over my well-worn everyday chairs.

Well, the good news is there’s still time for you to snap up some bargain furniture covers before the festive season begins.  Until 11th November, Sure Fit are offering customers FREE standard shipping on all slipcover orders of $75 and over.  Every little helps when it comes to saving money and cutting costs at this time of year.  So if you were thinking about giving your couch or armchairs a new look, now is a good time to do it. 

To make sure you qualify for free shipping, you’ll need to use coupon code HFS1 when you order online.

I was feeling rather lazy today.  Instead of sitting at the dining table like I usually do at lunchtime, I thought I’d sit on the sofa and watch some TV, for a change.  I got myself a nice big bowl of tomato soup and some crusty bread, then sat back to enjoy a relaxing lunch break.  But then disaster struck.  I’d just taken a mouthful of soup, only to discover it was a tad on the hot side.  Not wanting to burn my mouth I lent forward to grab my glass of water from the coffee table.  And in doing so managed to knock my spoon out of the bowl.  Of course, it landed on the couch right next to me, leaving an oily, tomatoey stain on the lemon yellow fabric.

Doh!  I was really annoyed with myself – what was meant to be a lazy lunch break was turning out to be anything but.  It was my own silly fault really, but what was most annoying was that I’d only just put a clean slipcover on the sofa this morning, as I was expecting friends later.  I stood up to sort out the mess, and clumsily dropped my bread onto the sofa.  Of course it landed buttered side down, which resulted in a greasy, crumby stain to go with the tomatoey one!

Anyway, I put the remains of my food safely on the dining table before removing the dirty sofa cover.  Fortunately it’s made from a good blend of cotton and polyester, which means it’s machine washable.  Just as well, with the mess I’d made!  I loaded it into the washing machine and put it on straight away, while I got back to my soup.  Although I usually like to hang my furniture slipcovers outside to dry, as I didn’t have much time I put this one in the tumble drier (I checked the label first just in case I inadvertently shrank it!).  I’d put matching chair covers on my armchairs, which were clean on today, otherwise I would have switched the whole lot with another set of slipcovers.

By 5 o’clock the sofa slipcover was completely clean and dry, smelling fresh and showing no sign of my lunch!  I quickly fitted it back on the sofa and was finally able to sit back and relax.  Before I nodded off for a quick powernap, I reflected on how simple it had been really to clean my slipcover.  At least I hadn’t had to spend my afternoon trying to remove the stains from the upholstery.  When my friends get here they’ll be none the wiser.  But they’d better be careful with that red wine all the same!

If you’ve got a dog or a cat, then now is a great time to invest in some pet friendly slipcovers for your furniture.  As much as we love out pets, there’s no getting away from the fact that their hairs seem to get everywhere.  Given the chance most dogs and cats will enjoy a nap on the couch, leaving you with muddy marks and hundreds of hairs to clean up.  It’s especially stressful if you’re expecting company – it’s so embarrassing if your friend turns up wearing black trousers and ends up getting pet hairs stuck to them when she sits on the sofa!

Anyway, fortunately for pet owners help is at hand.  With washable slipcovers it’s easy to keep your furniture clean and hair-free, which means you’ve got one less thing to worry about this holiday season.  As I said, now is the ideal time to buy some pet friendly furniture covers as Sure Fit are currently offering 15% off all their Performance Twill slipcovers.  This offer runs until Thursday 15th November, and is only available while stocks last, so it’s best to act quickly and get your order in as soon as you can.

Sure Fit’s Performance Twill is one of their most popular slipcover fabrics as it’s so durable and stands up to lots of use.  It’s treated with Scotchgard, which is effective at protecting the fabric from dirt and spills.  Performance Twill slipcovers come in a range of sizes, including sofa, loveseat, armchair and wing chair slipcovers.  So if you want to make life a bit easier for yourself this holiday season, it’s worth stocking up on some pet friendly slipcovers and getting your 15% discount at the same time.

What do you buy for someone who has everything?  It’s always difficult knowing what present to buy for my dad for his birthday or at Christmas.  When I ask him what he’d like, he tells me I don’t need to bother getting him anything.  He likes useful, practical gifts and hates the idea of getting presents just for the sake of it.  But even so, I like to give him something and would feel rather mean if I didn’t.

I’ve been racking my brains trying to come up with an imaginative gift idea – something that he will actually get a lot of use out of.  And then it came to me when I was round there for dinner the other night – a recliner slipcover!  Dad has his favorite reclining chair, which he spends so much time in that no one else in the family gets a look in.  None of us would dare sit in “his seat”.  Actually, we wouldn’t really want to – it’s so worn and tatty it doesn’t look terribly inviting to anyone but my dad.

It must be comfortable, otherwise he wouldn’t spend so much time in it.  He loves his recliner and if he’s got any spare time on his hands you can be sure to find him relaxing in front of the TV or with the Sunday papers.  It’s precisely because he spends so much time in his recliner that it looks so worn and faded.  My mum has offered to buy him a new chair, but he won’t hear of it – nothing could possibly be as comfortable as the one he’s got!

Anyway, I know recliner slipcovers are much cheaper to buy than a new chair, so a new recliner cover seems like the perfect solution.  Dad gets to keep his beloved chair, Mum doesn’t have to spend her hard-earned cash on a new piece of furniture, the recliner’s going to look as good as new and I’ll get Brownie points for choosing a practical birthday present!

A few days ago I wrote about how I find my dining chair slipcovers invaluable during the holiday season.  I love being able to dress my chairs up to suit the mood and occasion, and I also love the fact that I can wash those inevitable food stains and drink spills out in the washing machine.  Well, another great place where you can buy dining chair covers is Slipcover Shop.  They offer both ready made and custom slipcovers for dining room chairs.  The custom slipcovers are made to measure, to fit the exact dimensions of your chairs, and are fantastic value for money, costing from only $40 each or $140 for a set of four. 

The custom made covers can have either a full length or short skirt, depending on your preferences.  You simply supply Slipcover Shop with your measurements when you place your order online, and your new slipcovers should be despatched within 5 business days.  They have a stylish design incorporating a straight skirt with a split kick pleat in the front center and pretty decorative ties at the back, and are available in a large choice of fabrics.

If you have standard sized armless dining room chairs, the ready made slipcovers from Slipcover Shop should fit.  These feature corner pleats and back ties, for a sleek and elegant finish.  They are inexpensive to buy, ranging in price from $19 to $35 each, with discounts on sets of four.  Here are some of my favourites -

Basket Snow          Stretch Burgundy          Damask Beige

Remember to use promo code SLSH when you order online to get a discount on all orders over $125.

Being environmentally friendly and doing one’s bit to save the planet is a hot topic these days, and my friend Molly tries her best to live a green lifestyle.  She grows her own organic veggies, rides a bike and buys secondhand stuff whenever she can.  She loves recycling other peoples unwanted things, and this is particularly true when it comes to furniture for her home, which is full of an eclectic mix of secondhand sofas and chairs.

I was visiting recently and found Molly having a bit of a dilemma. You see, she’d recently redecorated – using eco-paint of course – and as a consequence was beginning to really notice how bad her living room furniture looked.  The brown velvet loveseat certainly clashed somewhat with the yellow and orange armchairs and floral sofa.  She had become so concerned with trying to give her room a makeover that she was even contemplating buying new furniture.

This was unheard of – in the history of our friendship I’m not sure Molly’s ever bought anything brand new.  But what was stopping her was the thought that her old couches and chairs would end up in landfill – something that went against all her environmentally conscious beliefs.  She didn’t think anyone would want her furniture even if she gave it away on the freecycle website, just because of the outdated and unfashionable upholstery.

This is when I mentioned furniture slipcovers as a solution.  She hadn’t thought of this before, but quickly came round to the idea.  The seats were perfectly functional and had a lot of life left in them, just looked awful.  So by fitting ready made slipcovers over them she could give them a whole new look and avoid contributing to the garbage mountain at the landfill site.  I’d never really thought about it from this perspective before, but sofa slipcovers could be considered a green decorating option – they prolong the life of your old furniture and help you make the best of what you’ve got.  Not to mention saving you the cost of an expensive new suite.

So, if you like the idea of recycling old furniture, giving it a new lease of life and keeping it out of landfill, slipcovers are well worth considering.

I often get questions from British visitors wanting to know if there’s anywhere in the UK that sells sofa covers.  And my answer is yes, there certainly is.  Plumbs is a UK based company that has been selling custom made furniture covers for over 4 decades.  They have a reputation for quality products and outstanding customer service. 

One of the best things is that they offer a free, no obligation home visit.  They will arrange an appointment for one of their helpful home consultants to come and speak to you in your own home about what sort of slipcovers you’d like for your furniture.  They’ve got loads of experience, so it’s really useful to hear their advice on what would work well with your décor and lifestyle.  They’ll be able to show you samples of over 500 fabrics, to help you visualize your furniture’s new look.  And, crucially, they will take measurements of your couches and chairs for you, so you don’t have to worry about making a mistake.

Your unique custom slipcovers will then be made to measure in their Preston factory.  This process generally takes 6-8 weeks, but they guarantee the end result will be worth the wait.  Once they’re finished, the home consultant will return to personally hand deliver and fit your new slipcovers for you – for free.  What I like about this whole process is that they do everything for you, even help you choose the fabric in the first place.  This free advice can be invaluable, and even if you decide not to order any slipcovers from them, you’ve still got their expert opinion for nothing!

They can visit you anywhere in the UK, so to arrange a free, no obligation home visit, click here.

You know the type of furniture I’m talking about – it’s too big to be classed as a regular armchair but not quite big enough to be described as a loveseat.  It falls somewhere between the two, and I think is best described as either an oversized chair or a small loveseat.  But if you want to use a slipcover on it, what size do you get?  Ready made chair slipcovers aren’t quite large enough, but loveseat slipcovers are just a bit too big and loose.

What you really need is a slipcover especially designed to fit this type of awkward sized furniture, and the good news is that Slipcover Shop sell just that.  They call them small loveseat slipcovers and they are made to fit furniture with a circumference of 180in at the widest point and a seat measuring 30in-42in wide.  These oversized chair covers feature patented Easy Fit Clip-On fasteners at the front of each arm, which have a unique way of keeping the slipcover in position and ensuring a good fit.

Here are a couple of small loveseat covers that caught my eye.  The Twill Sky is made from one of Slipcover Shop’s bestselling fabrics.  I love the sky blue color and think it would look good paired with all kinds of décor.  It’s also a good, durable fabric that’s resilient to a lot of use.  It’s machine washable, so it’s really easy to care for and I think would be a good choice in a busy family household or for pet owners.  For a completely different look, I like the Savanna floral slipcover.  This has a pretty flowery pattern and is what many would consider a classic slipcover design. It looks lovely and could be used to great effect with traditional décor.

Visit Slipcover Shop to see their entire range of slipcovers for oversized chairs aka small loveseats.

Last week I wrote about the advantages of using dining chair slipcovers, especially with the holiday season almost upon us.  It’s a nice feeling knowing that you can give your ordinary dining room chairs a luxurious new look if you’re expecting company.  Having guests to dinner can be hectic as well as fun, so it’s good to know that with the help of slipcovers at least you don’t have to worry about what your dining room looks like.  And you can also relax about overexcited guests dropping food on your seats, safe in the knowledge that you can just throw the covers in the wash the next day.

Anyway, I’ve just heard about a special offer.  For the next couple of weeks (until Monday 29th October), Sure Fit are having a sale on selected dining chair covers, selling them for only $9.99!  So now’s a great time to stock up and get ready for the holidays.

Selected sale items include the new Satin Stripe, which I think looks really elegant and is just right for those special occasions when you want to make an good impression and add that special touch to your décor.  The new Scroll slipcover is gorgeous too, and certainly looks much more expensive than only $9.99!

To see all the slipcovers on offer, click here.

Dog and cat owners reading this will no doubt be all too used to the losing battle they face in keeping their homes and furniture clean, fresh and relatively hair-free.  Cats love to curl up in a warm spot on the couch and show little regard for the fact that they’ve just been out in the garden and have mud all over their paws.  Dogs too, given the chance, will climb up on to the sofa, thinking they’re part of the family after all, so why not.  And they clearly don’t care that they’re still wet from that long walk in the rain.

As much as we love our pets, it can be frustrating to be forever scrubbing dirty paw-marks from our furniture.  Having friends or family to visit can be embarrassing too, if your sofa smells of damp dog or your wing chair is covered in a layer of cat hairs.  With the holiday season fast approaching, our home’s appearance is even more important if we want to give our guests a good impression.

Luckily for pet owners, help is at hand, with Sure Fit’s range of pet friendly slipcovers.  One of the reasons that I love furniture slipcovers is that they are easy to care for, being machine washable.  It’s so much easier to remove a dirty slipcover and throw it in the wash than to try and remove individual stains by hand.  As well as being washable, most of these pet friendly furniture covers are made from 100% cotton, which is hardwearing and can stand up to lots of use and abuse without becoming worn or faded.

Popular styles include the cotton duck for sofas, loveseats and chairs.  These T-cushion slipcovers are available in seven different solid colors, so there should be something here to match any color scheme.  The Performance Twill is another favourite.  These loveseat and sofa slipcovers are available in a neutral khaki or a rich, warm claret.  An added bonus of this fabric is that it’s been treated with Scotchgard, which helps stop dirt sticking to it, thus making it easier to keep clean.

Click here to view the full range of specially selected pet friendly slipcovers.  Don’t forget that if you spend over $100 and order online before the end of October, you can get a 10% discount by using promo code ASC1.