A green option: here is a solution that allows you to restart and restyle your IKEA furniture.
Bemz was started by Lesley Pennington when she went on maternity leave and decided to do something better with her work life afterwards.
Named after her four children (four!), Bemz sells removable, washable slipcovers for sofas, armchairs and cushions which fit most IKEA models. All covers are 100% cotton and prewashed so that they won't shrink. There is a wide variety of colors AND patterns, but you may be surprised that the covers cost half as much as your sofa itself. Still, it's a not a bad investment if it gives your piece a new lease on life.
(via Husmusen)
(Re-edited from a post originally published 07.10.06)

Comments (36)
its a great idea, but i priced out a cover for my loveseat - its over $400! thats about as much as i paid for the sofa! why is it so expensive? is it coming from Sweden?
Does anyone know about the quality? I have a Klippan sofa that is sturdy and nowhere near wearing out after four years. I had a decent slipcover made locally, and the Bemz covers are much cheaper. It'd be nice to have a few to rotate through though, but not if there poor quality.
squixan, does your loveseat have pillows? That might drive up the cost. Decent custom slipcovers will probably cost you more than an IKEA sofa though. My sofa was $199, but I spent $300 getting a decent cover made. It's well worth it considering how much life it's added to my initial $199 investment.
It's "so expensive" because (I am guessing):
Not a high-volume outlet, this
Labor intensive
A niche/specialty service
Cost of fabric when not purchased high-volume
Wow, this is pretty awesome. My girlfriend is about to move in with me and she wants to keep her Ektorp three seater, but the slip is a little thrashed... I looked into getting a replacement from IKEA and it was $200+!
This place might be a little bit more, but it looks like I'll be able to get something in way nicer of a color!
Thanks again AT!
a slight tangent -- i love the coffee table in the picture. any ideas where it may have come from?
it's the shipping - friends in the uk quite like it
jen,
my loveseat is the ektorp one, so it doesnt have extra pillows - just the back and seat cushions. i guess relatively speaking its not too much $$ considering how much slipcovers cost. i think i'll stick to my plan of saving up for a sofa upgrade instead. a protein sofa :)
Don't get the slipcovers at IKEA. They suck quality-wise. My dogs went through two in no time at all.
Squixan, any cushions will add to the cost of a slipcover. You could see about getting one made that would go over the cushions, but it would probably cost as much as the Bemz ones. Otherwise, king size sheets work well and won't take much away from your new couch budget.
I ordered five fabric samples via their web site less than a week ago, and they already are here(nice quality, too)! Unfortunately, Bemz doesn't make slipcovers for my old Haparanda sofa (discontinued several years ago), but they e-mailed me to tell me that. If I ever buy another upholstered piece from Ikea, I definitely will get some slipcovers from this company--even if they end up costing a little more.
This is the only furniture site I've seen that shows the BACK of each item. And I love the way when you select a fabric, the picture shows the couch re-dressed. Very well designed. Pity they are so far away & don;t go as far back as my Poem chairs
yeah, i got the samples too, and it was super quick (sweden to canada, do you think it was dogsledded here?)
the samples look great, and solid quality too. the only fabric I didn't really like up-close was the urban tapestry. The speckles on top of the damask print made it look sort of dirty.
I have a karlanda 3-seater with an add-on unit, and a new cover from Ikea is 400+. The Bemz cover is slightly cheaper, but I think the fabric quality is much higher, and there is so much more selection.
I'm saving up to get a chocolate brown cover.
we should get the AT staff to request a special AT reader discount code. yeah?
only problem is they don't ship to canada, any tricks I can use to get delivery to toronto?
I need ONE replacement cushion for my IKEA sofa. Can you help?
julie
they'll ship to Canada - it's just not a choice on their website. they sent me my samples to Toronto. I just put the city, province, and country in the city line for the address, and when they sent me a confirmation e-mail, I replied saying 'please note this address is in Canada, not the US, and they were very nice and replied they would send it to Canada.
I bought a cover 6 months ago and it's great! nothing to complain about.
I'm now thinking of getting another one from the new collection. They're just so much more fun than the ones from IKEA.
I need ONE replacement cushion for my IKEA sofa. Can you help? Ikea is telling me to buy a whole other couch
Stacey
I DESPERATELY NEED A CREAM OR BLACK COVER FOR
MY " TOMELLIA 3 SEATER SOFA.
IKEA NOT LONGER STOCKS THIS SOFA
APPARENTLY THERE IS AN INDEPENDANT WEBSITE WHICH STOCK IKEA SOFA COVERS DOES ANYONE KNOW IT?
Thank you
On a side note, I have searched everywhere for an 'add on unit' for my karlanda couch. i ordered it from ikea but they discontinued it before it arrived. if anyone knows how to get one to the US, that would be so appreciated.
thanks!
Help! I need two replacement cushion covers for my fothult ikea sofa in the olive green color. Can anyone help?
Thinking about buying an ikea sofa and a slipcover from bemz. While I have all you ikea owners here, what do you think of ikea sofas, quality wise? I know they're cheap, but if they will just fall apart, I think it's not worth it. Thinking about the klippan. Maybe the ektorp? Any feedback? Email me! colleen.barney@gmail.com Thanks!
I would avoid Bemz. I am currently trying to resolve a situation with them. I ordered a slipcover from Bemz. The website said that it would take 8 weeks to receive my slipcover from the time I placed the order. However they charged my credit card immediately. I received my slipcover 13 weeks later (I was told I would receive a %10 discount for my long wait, but I never did).
I didn't like the slipcover. There was nothing wrong with it, the quality seemed fine and sturdy, and it looked much like it did in the picture, but I didn't like it in person enough to want to keep it.
Anyway, I've been trying to return the slipcover, like the site says I could, but it's been 3 weeks and no one have gotten back to me with information about how and where to return it, even though I've sent multiple emails.
It's unfortunate that this company is so unreliable, because the business idea is really great and the slipcover look good.
Hi! This is Christie from Bemz. Customer Service is at the very heart of our business which is why I was really sorry to read some of the comments included above. We do our utmost to ensure that each and every one of our customers enjoys the Bemz shopping experience. If that is not the case, then we'll do our utmost to fix it. Please, if you have ANY questions, comments or even requests, we want to hear about it! Contact us at customerservice@bemz.com or feel free to contact me directly at christie@bemz.com. We would love to hear from you!
LOL - this is very funny. When someone asked for a 10% discount from Bemz, no one popped up from Bemz, but as soon as one posts a negative comment, here they are... Speaking of big brother.... :-)
Can anyone help me figure out how to get a slipcover for my West Elm chaise longue (see below for a pic of it) - I can't afford alot, maybe about $200.
http://www.westelm.com/online/store/ProductDisplay?partNumber=WE-PRODf217&storeId=17001&langId=-1&catalogId=17002&viewSetCode=E&parentId=WE-SH1SLEFRN&retainNav=true&cmsrc=WE-SH1SLEFRN
I'm willing to purchase fabric myself and commission someone to sew me a custom slipcover as well. Can anyone recommend a good seams-person/upholsterer who isn't going to charge me an arm and a leg and my first born?
Thanks in advance.
Hey Anusha, this was originally posted in 2006, so I'm not sure your timeline-to-response time comment/complaint is exactly accurate.
Yay!! And now they ship to Canada!
I was looking at this site not even a week ago and didn't see Canada as a delivery option. And now it's there. Wicked. Good for Canadians too because we love our Ikea over here.
:)
I have one for my ektorp and it's great. They are expensive, but it's made my slightly icky couch into something that looks like it doen't belong in a dorm. Crazy hard to get on though, it took me several hours (with breaks) just to get the main part on the couch.
I live in Edmonton, Alberta, and I am interested in ordering slipcovers from BEMZ, but I can't tell how much this is going to cost in the long run. I know what the cost for the slipcovers is, but after that, what do the shipping costs amount to when you include GST, Duty fees, Broker fees, and any tariffs?
I used a free UPS calculator and it is saying that the $650.00 order I want to place will end up costing me close to $2500.00. That CAN'T be right!
I'd really appreciate it if someone in Canada can give me an idea of what this will cost me!
(I'd be ordering an Ekeskog 3-seater sofacover and an Ektorp sofabed cover)
Thanks, everyone.
Yeah - I was about to order too, until I realized they use UPS to ship to Canada - it's the only thing keeping me from ordering. I've contacted them, but they can't ship any other way. Oh well.
I just placed an order with Bemz for 2 slipcovers. I live in Geneva, Switzerland and was amazed at the additional costs associated with shipping by UPS. I also don't know what I'm in for in terms of customs and "admin" type taxes they charge here when you import something. Such a shame, since I'd rather pay more for the product, to be honest, then to pay fees. Now I have about 6 weeks (hopefully my order won't be late like Alisha's, above) to wonder what these costs may be. But that's the norm in Switzerland, I guess, and there's probably nothing Bemz can do about it. I have never ordered from Bemz before so I'm a little nervous -- especially since I don't have time to request a swatch -- but I always hoped someone would come up with this idea and my fingers are crossed.
Hello :) You can order slipcovers for your IKEA furniture at www.weuweu.com. Their head office is in USA but they deliver their products Worldwide.
Does anyone know what the custom / import fees may be when ordering Bemz cover to USA? Shipping is already $100 and to find out there may be additional custom fees.. was an unpleasant surprise.
Also, any of you have experience with weuweu.com? Their web site does not have any info except for email address and they did not write me back.. yet.
The only person who keeps mentioning them is ikeafan on here, so.. can you give me some more info ikeafan?
thanks.
I can strongly recommend Bemz both in terms of the quality of their product and the quality of their customer service. I recently ordered pillow covers and slipcovers for two models of Ikea chairs. One of the slipcover designs was new for Bemz and the dimensions were a bit off, resulting in an ill-fitting slipcover. The other items that I purchased were absolutely perfect and the quality was simply impeccable. Bemz stood behind their product and is replacing the ill-fitting slipcovers with consideration for shipping. Every situation is different, but I found the people at Bemz to be extraordinary in their passion for their company, their product, and their commitment to providing an excellent customer experience. It's not easy to run a global business like that and accommodate all the different expectations!
On another note, I have to say that I love the Bemz concept. No one can believe that the chairs I recovered are from Ikea. If I had known about Bemz sooner, I would have bought my couch at Ikea, too, and just recovered it with Bemz slipcovers. I can't believe what a designer look I've achieved with their product.
To 1stFLhouse: Weuweu made a new slipcover for my Allerum sofa. Excellent fit, slipcover $100 + $10 shipping, two weeks of waiting time. I'll try to post a picture of my sofa on Flickr. I recommend this company, and I like their name "weuweu" :-)))) I forgot to say about fabric, 100% cotton, thick, washable...I am pleased:-))))
Dear stu23!
You registered here just to post all your comments about our company? We know you upset because you didn't receive your order, we didn't have fabric in stock and we apologised to you, you received a full refund. Why you didn't write about that? We wouldn't turn off our email customerservice@weuweu.com, just because of $95, which you received back already. Our email is only the way we communicate with hundreds customers all over the world. Sorry, I forgot to mention our phone number, you can reach us at 1(347)-533-7585.
Dear apartmenttherapy,
You do not have to stay away from WEUWEU Inc. Our company registered in New York. Our office and sewing studio are also in New York. And we produces slipcovers to fit IKEA furniture. All our fabric suppliers are greatest US companies, and we proud to work with them.
You can read emails from our customers:
" I received my order of the couch cover today. I apologize that paypal took
the payment from you. I am very pleased with my order and I will be happy
to re-pay you for my order and shipping." Lindy, Australia.
"Just wanted to let you know that I put it on the sofa and it fits perfectly
and looks beautiful!! I am so pleased with the fabric, the workmanship
and the fit. Thank you so much!! I love it!" George, Texas.
"Got the slip cover it looks great! Thanks." Andreas, PA.
"Dear weuweu-Team
The slipcovers are arrived today - perfect!
All the best..." Mark, Switzerland.
"We received our delivery on Saturday and we're very pleased with the product. Thanks very much for your extra efforts." Emily, NY.
Dear WEUWEU customers!
Please, do not worry about your orders, you will receive them, we promise!
WEUWEU Inc,
www.weuweu.com
customerservice@weuweu.com
t. 347-533-7585