I don't like any of them. I think it looks sloppy and having this type of slipcover on my furniture would drive me nuts.

Sorry to say, unless you are very skilled with the needle or go high-end with this, it's bound to end up looking like you just covered it with a bedsheet, like in the first three pictures.

The last two slipcovers, although not my personal aesthetic, are elegantly appealing. I think because parts of the slip covers are tailored so you appreciate the form of the piece. The rest of the slipcovers look like someone haphazardly threw a bed sheet on a piece of furniture to either hide bad/torn/ugly upholstery or to protect the furniture from pets.

Almost always shabby... especially those "loose drape" ones you get from Pottery Barn (like the last photo). Chic only in an artist's studio.

I think slipcovers are almost always sloppy because they aren't made well anymore. It used to be a really luxurious thing to have custom-tailored slipcovers in gorgeous fabrics that fit your furniture like a glove. Billy Baldwin and Bunny Williams's idea of slip covers is definitely different than what's executed today.

The 5th photo isn't bad, but I'm not crazy about any of them. They do look sloppy.

Shabby, and shabby isn't always undesirable - at a Summer house it's perfect, though for daily living it doesn't suit my home. The Busnelli are elegant but I'm imagining upkeep and it may be a real challenge. I prefer fitted, and lucked upon Clare Driscoll's Learn to Make Slipcovers at my local library, the woman's a master at making slipcovers look like actual upholstery. I've been using her method but include dressmaker details to make them more interesting. I have a Busnelli-style flowy skirt on one chair back - BUT - it's removable and can be laundered.

I'm not a fan. It just reminds me of sloppy college kids. & those sheet covered couches never stayed clean & constantly caught crumbs in the folds.

These would drive me crazy because I would be constantly straightening and tucking and I just don't have time for that. I have had ill fitting slipcovers before and they are just a pain in the ass.

There are slipcovers, which are fitted, and there are throw covers. A slipcover shouldn't be obviously a slipcover. I've used a throw cover when it was the best option, although it never looked good and was high maintenance. My husband, like a lot of people, hates any kind of seating cover.

They look like ghosts.

slipcovers = shabby + chic

loose blankets pretending to be slipcovers = just shabby

Shabby. Sorry. Non-tailored slipcovers always remind me of furniture covered for protection from dust during storage, which makes me think about how if this scenario is found in a movie, the house is probably haunted. I suppose the reason set designers have so often done this is that it looks unsettled, like something isn't quite right with things in this place.

Also, the draping on the Busnelli sofa (#4), though lovely, isn't in fact a slipcover. The Busnelli website specifically states that the covers are non-removable.

I think they are lovely. Cozy, casually elegant and perfect if you want to change things up.

disgusting. I hate this look, deeply.

Yuck.

It is helpful to see the loose slipcover in different contexts - I think this can be done very elegantly and can imagine giving it a try one day when the kids finally destroy my comfy Chesterfield and I spend a lot of money on reupholstery. I like the third photo very much, but the fourth makes no sense to me at all.

Who's painting?

Here's a chance to ask a question I've had for a long time. Think of a high end house magazine, say, Arch. Digest. There's a photo of a room that looks like it belongs at Versailles, but the occasional chairs (not easy chairs, but dining type chairs) are slipcovered head to toe. It looks like the place is closed for the winter. What's with this? I always think WTF.

No. They make furniture look like they're covered up for the winter in a deserted beach house. Ghostly.

in a fit of desperation (and a deep despair of the ugliness of my couch) I did try this once. My husband said it looked like a really lazy haunted house. And he was right. Its a nice look...but only in magazines.

Not my style - too studenty; too cheap looking.

It creates the illusion that you're painting the living room, but never finished...

Picture #4 looks like the ghost of a chesterfield

Yeah, no. They look like paint dropcloths. I don't see the appeal.

I think it depends on what you're using to cover them. So, I'll say Chic. I happen to have my arm chair covered with an old linen coverlet I purchased from a seller in Holland on ebay years ago. It doesn't look sloppy (to me ;) however, everyone has their own tastes. For me it's a cosy laid back sort of look that can add charm to a piece of furniture.

I think it can look good in a styled home for a photograph that has been carefully staged. In real life, it rarely looks good and is annoying to have to readjust and straighten constantly.

I found a great looking bedspread from the 60s (made in Italy!) at a garage sale and put it over my couch. I like it.

I like them, but I've always not-so-secretly wanted to live in an old, creaky haunted house.

Does it work? Can it work? Let's see...

#1: That slipcover is made from (or is) a really beautiful old linen tablecloth or bedspread, complete with gorgeous embroidered initials. For me, that works.
#2: This looks as though someone wasn't quite up to the task of dealing with either loose slipcovers or upholstery. It just looks as though nothing fits.
#3: Gorgeous linen again. However, I would have gone a little further and sewn bands of a contrasting color in linen or raw silk and used them to tuck up the cover. For example, I'd snug one around each chair leg, and another across the back. This would take some experimenting to get it right, but I think it could look great.
#4: Wow. That's really beautiful. The formality of the button tufting released into those perfectly draped folds is stunning. Want.
#5: Could work a little better. I'd trim the edges (appliqued band or bias trim or piping) with a color from that great pillow. Maybe use felt to cut out a motif to apply to the front of each arm. Then I'd use upholstery pins to keep the cover in place so it looks casual, not random.

That's pretty lazy. So, shabby.

But the chesterfield one is awesome, but then again, it isn't really a slipcover.

I especially like the last slip cover. It's a million times better than the old plastic granny covers. Maybe the old folks were on to something. Their furniture remained pristine so that we are able to enjoy them today. Talk about green, hmmmm.

I'm not generally a floral-ly person (except for fresh flowers), but I really love the door with floral paper.

First, people should live with what THEY like, and if you like this, you like it.

Second, if you constantly have to say "it's MEANT to look that way", maybe there's something to think about!

Shabby, and not in a good way.

I don't care for this. This would drive me bonker-nuts. I don't have the time it would take to keep this up. I like to be able to sit down and enjoy my home without having to worry about how my slipcovers would look.

Hello Grandma. And your couches.

Hideous.

ghastly.

Most of these are pretty bleh. #4 is great, but, as everyone has said before me....

I might be okay with the "actually just a blanket/sheet draped over a chair/sofa" look if the textile in question were, you know, actually interesting/beautiful. But lots of these just look like sheets.

Paint dropcloths?

I've seen it look chic, but those instances were rare. Mostly it looks shabby and sloppy.

The only one I don't totally hate is #4, because it's specifically tailored to the sofa and doesn't just look like a sheet. I still wouldn't put it on my sofa, though. Slips covers generally make me think one of two things: Either you spilled something on your couch and don't want anyone to see it, or you're so incredibly paranoid that someone ELSE will spill something on your couch that you don't want to expose the real fabric. Either way, totally weird, disconnected and unappealing.

Most of these aren't even slipcovers - just furniture throws/dustcovers...
...and #4 isnt' a throw/slipcover at all: It's a bizarre take on a Chesterfield - upholstered with the tucks & tufts, but allowing the fabric to just drop to the floor rather than being finished.

While I am not crazy about these examples (except #4), I think that it can work. Currently, I am using textured ivory popcorn chenille bedspreads as a cover to my mid-c sectional, and I am loving it. I do take the time to tuck it in and pin the underside so it looks more neat and fitted, though. It amazingly stays in place well, and keeps the kitteh hair from being too much of a problem. Also it hides the powerful awesomeness of the magenta and avocado floral brocade that threatens to take over the whole living room. I do want to unleash it on the world, but am having a tough time making that palette work!

I really like the Pottery Barn one, but I think at $99 it is overpriced.

If it is a fine, sturdy linen, then I say chic. I love the cozy, informal vibe. I don't have any at the moment, but now I'm beginning to crave them.

I think these look great if it's in a certain environment. I view this as something a younger person with eclectic taste would do. I also think that since it is definitely shabby, the surrounding decor should contrast in a way that keeps it from looking TOO shabby.

They look like little ghosts. I don't need a haunted room.

#4 is cool, but only because it looks intentional. The rest look like the house has been abandoned. Besides the fact that I can't imagine they seat well - I'm seeing loooots of rearranging after you get up. The reason the painting works is because it's less a cover and more a skirt, and there's a pattern. But I can see where you like the painting, it's pretty cute.

Honestly, sometimes it's better than nothing.

I don't want my couch cushions to smell like dogs, so I always have a quilt tossed over my couch, except when guests come. These pictures look like my doggy, sloppy living room.

I don't love living with the quilts at my house, but I really don't like stinky furniture. Quilts can be washed. So, I live with them. #4 is very pretty, but you can't remove the cover to wash it, which defeats the purpose.

But I also LOVE that wallpapery floral door. Lovely look.

@Mary B C, I put loose machine wash and dry throws on the leather sofa for my dogs. I don't bother trying to make them look like covers. That reduces their smell. Besides, they love the fleece texture. I decided before getting them that I would enjoy their companionship more than I had enjoyed a spotlessly neat home, and I have, very much. Not-dog people, which I'd been for decades, may be disgusted, but now it's warmer, and more homey and fun.

Not a fan, and the tufted one is ridiculous. The fifth one is sort of okay.

It looks like the furniture is wearing a frumpy house dress- not good.

I don't know what people are being so offended by! I AGREE with you... these are a simple way of jazzing up a space. Their imperfection is what makes them desirable. Besides,.... if you said that one of these couches was in Brad Pitt's home, people would be all over it. Style snobs, be gone!

I'm really in the minority here. I love the look of a loosely draped slip cover. I have the cutest Danish modern sofa, but can't afford to recover it. So I drape it in sheets.

There's two reasons for this. I have really bad allergies, and live in an old building with bad dust. I can easily wash the sheet, and don't need to worry about guest spills. I also have extremely sensitive skin, and have never met a sofa fabric that doesn't make me itch. Even the leather sofas are uncomfortable. An added bonus is I can change the color on a whim.

I'm a big fan of casual living. Let's face it, the sofa is designed for pure comfort. Most of us lounge on it to watch a movie or cuddle.

Here's a look at my sofa:
http://bit.ly/pIBntf

I like this as a transitionary piece, like between furniture or if you can't afford what you want. I don't think I'd want to have this long-term, although the draped wing chairs aren't bad.

Shabby. Even if you manage to get the sheets/covers all perfectly tucked and draped just so, having to fix them every time anyone sat on them would drive me crazy.