apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

You could try eBay - but more likely you're going to have to have replacement slipcovers custom-made...
...and get some new friends.

if you cant find them there always are upholstery pro's or you could find a great seamstress that can make new ones for you. Obviously both of those options are more costly that finding replacement covers...........
good findings........

please make your roommate pay for anything that needs to be done to the couch. how inconsiderate!

I agree with Oneformybaby -- either "the reckless spiller" or raggedy roommate should have at least offered to pay for damages. That's lame.

A little off topic, but how do West Elm couches hold up in regards to structure, both in frame and cushions?

For what it's worth, I've had great luck in using oxi clean to get out red wine stains. Put ice cold water in your bath tub, dump in oxi clean and let the stained piece sit overnight. Always pre test a piece of fabric before hand but this has worked wonders for me in the past.

Next time try using Wine Away on the stain - it's worked for me.

how about re-wetting the covers and stretching them while wet. I had to do this on an ikea couch slipcover once and it worked so so...

I have some pretty nice furniture (in my opinion, at least), e.g., all my furniture is upholstered in not-inexpensive wool. I would hesitate to make any friends of mine or casual guests pay for a wine stain on a sofa or chair. Unfortunately, accidents do happen during gatherings, which is why I never serve red wine in these circumstances. I had someone knock over an entire jug of cranberry juice on carpet at one of my parties. (Luckily, it came out.) I also think parties have a much better vibe when your guests don't feel like they have to tip toe around everything in a home. I think you can find a seamstress to sew a slipcover for your westelm couch. You might even be able to sew one yourself, which would be a lot cheaper option.

I do highly recommmend wool as an upholstery option - virtually stain proof for reasons I can't explain. You can get great deals on the internet.

Hilarious. If it was one of *your* friends, would it be "recklessly" or "accidentally"?

how about telling your roomate's idiot friends to pay for the costs incurred to date, and the cost of a replacement?

The same thing happened to me and the guest made an immediate trip to the grocery store for Woolite Oxy Deep. The sofa was a natural, off white cotton denim, the spill was red wine, and the stain was gone within 30 minutes. I had to touch it up the next day because it left a slight water ring, but even that came out with a bit of work. I highly recommend.

As things stand, you are either going to have to buy someone else's identical sofa for the slipcover (craigslist?) or buy a new sofa. You could commission a new slipcover, but I doubt its going to be much cheaper than just buying a new sofa when you are at the West Elm price point. Your cheapest solution is to wait until december and january when a lot of these home stores have their sales and buy something new then.

formosagirl--

What, exactly, do you propose they pay for?

Weird...I sort of have the same problem. I'm embarrassed to say that my cat actually peed on my West Elm Thompkins sectional (fabric is light gray cotton/linen). When it happened I took the cover off the seat cushion so it would dry out but I didn't attempt to clean it because the instructions say not to dry clean. Now not only is there a stain, but the cover doesn't fit the cushion quite right anymore, and West Elm says they do not sell replacement covers. Does anyone have a good way to get a pet stain off of a fairly thick, light colored fabric?

Not to hijack the post or anything....Kevin I feel your pain.

@zaky...I wouldn't recommend (at least with the one we have) unless you get it REALLY on sale, like we did ($300 instead of $1,300).

thank you all

let me see if i can respond to some comments:

- i dont use the term 'recklessly' lightly, obviously i am upset but not unforgiving of accidents, when i found the stain the room was basically destroyed with food all over, it was completely disrespectful and not much of an effort was make to fix the situation - if it were *my* friends, i would have behaved differently

- i have looked into having covers made, but its just too expensive to make it worth it (at least from what i have seen so far from brief web research)

- i may try to resoak to stretch the fabric

- in general i would NOT purchase another couch from West Elm - the sectional has not held up over the past 2 years in my opinion - the seating has not held up to wear and tear and began to bow out after only a year or so of use

- i have learned a lot from this and will try home-remedies before rushing off to have it professionally cleaned (thanks for the tips)

- i tried ebay but could not find the covers

- i hesitate to bring up the subject of paying for damages because i have yet to find a solution to resolve the damages

- thanks again and if you have any other thoughts please keep them coming as this is yet unresolved for me..

GOOD NEWS!!!
I bought a Goodwin sofa from West Elm 2 years ago- bought it because of the zips on the cushions & assumed they were washable. Threw them in the wash this week and they all shrunk - that is when I noticed the "do not wash sign" but too late. I just soaked the covers in cold water with some fabric softener, did short spin cycle so they were wet but not dripping, put them back on the cushions and they dried larger & are now perfect and sofa looks better than before. Thank goodness.