Don’t Forget Your Chair & Sofa Slipcovers When Babies Come To Visit!

I’ve reached that age where it seems like nearly all my friends are having babies.  Don’t get me wrong, I’ve nothing against babies, it’s just that I’m not really used to having one in my house - it’s only when my friend Vicky brought baby James to visit this weekend that I realized how un-baby-friendly my house actually is!  I mean, I don’t normally think twice about leaving stuff on the coffee table - things likes pens, books, and of course coffee.  How was I to know that James was going to take such delight in constantly trying to grab all these things, throwing them on the floor or putting them in his mouth?  It was only a matter of time before a cup of coffee inevitably ended up all over the floor - and what a nightmare I had trying to get the stain out! Grrrrr.

Fortunately, my sofa and chairs fared better than the carpet.  I’ve learnt from experience that whenever I entertain, someone is bound to spill their wine or drop food on the sofa - and that’s just the grown-ups!  Knowing a little person was coming to stay, I made sure I was prepared and fitted my favorite cotton twill slipcovers over all the furniture in my living room - just in case.  Although all my chair and sofa slipcovers are washable, the twill ones seem to be extra-tough and have kept their shape and color even though I’ve washed them loads of times.

And come Saturday afternoon boy was I glad I’d planned ahead, as I don’t think my sofa would have recovered from what was about to happen to it if it hadn’t been protected with a slipcover.  I’d just been thinking how cute and well-behaved baby James was, despite the coffee incident, when all of a sudden he decided to puke - that’s right, he managed to get a load of baby-sick all over the seat of the sofa!  Vicky was horrified as she’d earlier been admiring my furniture and didn’t actually realize that it was the slipcovers that made the sofa and chairs look so smart - she thought James had ruined my expensive upholstery.  Luckily the slipcover did its job, and the mess didn’t soak through onto the upholstery underneath.  I jumped into action and swiftly removed the soiled slipcover and threw it in the machine, and replaced it with another one - just in case of any more accidents!

There’s a lesson to be learned from this story, so here’s my advice - if your friends bring their delightful new bundle of joy to visit, make sure you get some furniture slipcovers on your sofas and chairs, or you’ll spend the rest of the week scrubbing some very nasty stains out of your upholstery!