apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Being from Europe but having lived in the US for several years, the new Hovas series embodies a design more geared towards American customers I think. From my perspective, design elements like the visible legs are more European details, whereas the traditional American living room has a different look, maybe a little more on the cushiony, cozy side (?).
I have the Kramfors leather couch in dark brown and I love its sleek design. The new catalogue has not come out in Germany yet (it is due August 17th says the Ikea website). I will keep you updated on the Hovas series over here.

yawn

It looks surprisingly good, particularly in white. (I always feel that color draws attention to the upholstery fabric, which isn't exactly Scalamandre in this case.) To my eye, it's comparable to the much more expensive Pottery Barn white sofas.

grandma.

my first reaction to seeing this line in the catalog is that it looks a *lot* like the ekeskog couch from a few years back. my friend has an ekeskog, and it is super-comfy and looks great.

The vibe is more beach house/lake cottage than grandma. Granted, I wouldn't put them in a modern city apartment, but I'd love them in the country.

I like Ikea for bookshelves, storage, etc, but still find their upholstered furniture not nearly as comfortable as say, West Elm. I think you're better off paying a little more for comfort.

Dowdy

The crisp leading edge of the armrests is the only thing that sets these apart from other bland budget couches.

While not aggressively hideous, these pieces look squat and fat to me, in a way that's not exaggerated enough to read as deliberately over-scaled. I don't think I've ever seen a chair where the seat cushion is wider than the skirt and so low to the ground. I personally think all skirted furniture appears to be hiding something undesirable (dust? ugly legs? gremlins?), but slap a few karate chopped cushions on or let children scribble all over them and I'm sure some decor genius will make some sort of statement with this style.

They look like a lot of other lines out there.

Personally, I would never buy an upholstered chair or sofa from IKEA. Having reupholstered one once, I know what the frames can look like and I know that the foam is not the best quality. I look at them in the store but rarely even slow my roll as I pass.

We just saw these in the store two days ago. One thing that doesn't show in the pictures is that these are really deep, almost day-bed size. The brown corduroy is the only fabric that they were showing, and it felt very nice.

Other note is that the entire cover can be removed (with some difficulty), and washed, even though the couch doesn't look like a standard pottery barn slipcover couch.

amed studio -- you are so funny! but I have to agree with you about skirted furniture.

by the way, do you notice a slight shift in ikea's style in this catalog? they have created interiors that seem less "modern" or "scandinavian" and more traditional / serious alongside their usual style.

Being a German and very familiar with the average American furniture style, I agree with Ophelia. I never liked skirted chairs or sofas, they are just too chubby. I like every piece of furniture, be it bed, dressers or sofas, on legs and off the floor, it looks so much lighter. And while the proportions of the sofa may be okay-ish, the chair is just ugly, imo. I like the colors, though.

I find it hilarious that Europeans think this is the "average" American furniture style. In my experience, the "average" European house still has doilies.

Hovas gives me hope--I inherited a set of my grandmother's hideous couches from 20 years ago and have been jealously eyeing more modern sofa shapes, but upon second look, they are shaped just like this!

Yea reupholstery!

Reminds me of the generic, overstuffed upholstered furniture you can buy just about anywhere in the US. The arms are a little sharper, the cushions a little bolder, but it all comes out looking a little mishapen rather than interesting.

Lisa (Montreal) - where exactly in Europe have you seen these doilies?

Lisa, did you notice that the first "European" (German) to comment specified that they lived in the US for several years?

In my experience as an American whose family and friends all had skirted, cushiony couches, and might I add I now live in Europe, the two German commentors are spot-on.

And I do, in fact, have doilies now that I live in France. Hand-woven French napkins and Limoges porcelain dishes too (not only high-end stuff is made in Limoges). *takes a sip of tea with her pinky out*

Hovas is the Ekeskog.

bulky

Yikes - hit send too soon after forgetting a word. Sorry.

Hovas is the new Ekeskog.

Never been a fan of skirted furniture. It looks more like something my parents would buy.

I hate skirted couches. Then again, I also really dislike the standard legs that come with IKEA sofas. But you know you can change the legs, right? For $20, you can have sweet aluminum legs on your Karlstad.

Ugh. Ugh. Ugh. Might look fine in a rural house done up in "country chic". But definitely not for modern tastes. We just bought the Karlstad sofabed and put the aluminum legs on it. Now *that* we love!

(Of course, my husband is from Eastern Europe and I lived for a spell in Northern Europe.)

Am I the only one who reads that and thinks, "H to the izzo..."

Ill proportioned and cheap looking.

If I was going to go in this direction I think I'd just get the Ektorp

Having been an expat several times, I'm very familiar with the condescending view that all Europeans are Parisian sophisticates and all Americans are fat, middle-aged yahoos watching HeeHaw re-runs in the Laz-y-boy.

There's just as much bad design and bad taste in Europe as anywhere else. The words "kitsch" and "bourgeois" weren't invented in America. Draw your own conclusions.

Hummels, Lladro, tea towels with pictures of the Queen Mum...

Europe isn't all sleek contemporary design.

Boring. I particularly hate the chairs.

I've also noticed IKEA seems to be shifting away from MCM-inspired wares toward more conventional-looking stuff. Not a promising development in my eyes.

Hideous

Ugly. Ugly ugly ugly...

But that might just be the skirt prejudice coming out.

Am I the only one who reads that and thinks, "H to the izzo..."

akay, you are not alone. When I got the catalog last month, my first thought was J-hova, lol. Too much hip hop in my life.

Completely anonymous. The sofa and chair could have come from any number of generic, middle of the road furniture companies. Why Ikea would take up valuable floor space with something you can get just about anywhere for the same-ish price is beyond me.

Lisa - of course Europe isn't all sleek contemporary design, I can't think why you might think it would be. It also is more than one country - I can tell you that in my part of Europe (Republic of Ireland) there are no tea towels of the Queen Mum.

I'm from Yorkshire and there's plenty of awful design there- gaudy 70s gas fireplaces, overly patterned wall to wall carpet, woodchip on the walls, et cetera. In fact, this line would look pretty at home in most Yorkshire houses.

I have to agree with everyone above who has said that the HOVAS series looks like something you could get at any random US furniture store.

I was actually struck by how much the green made it looks like the same hideous green sofa one of my friends bought a few years ago from another store. Granted, the HOVAS is certainly a better deal price-wise, but the design is just not for me.

Boooooooorrrrrrriiiiiinnnnnngggg...

They discontinued the Hamra line for this?

I dig it. Especially if it has nice deep seats llike a previous poster mentioned. Also, if that top-left sofa is indeed ivory/cream instead of white, I just may have to get rid of my (hideous! skirted!) white Ektorp and go for this instead. It would work well in my space - which is not grandma-ish, but more beach-house-ish.

I like the fat little chairs and the blue couch.

I'm not so keen on this in itself, but I appreciate it as an interesting hybrid between the curvy overstuffed Ektorp* and the cleaner boxier styles.

*I've got an Ektorp chair which is super comfy but feels dowdy compared to the right-angled option. These days I'm longing for a Kramfors.

I have the old ekeskog chair....I think the Hovas is the same as ht ekeskog. I have had the chair for 5 years and it is great....never had a problem. It is extremely deep and comfortable. I am going to buy the Hovas sofa for the basement of my new home. I will tell you that you will not find another sofa of this scale and depth for the price of the Hovas sofa. the same size sofa at potterybarn is double the size. Large, deep sofas are luxury items anyone who knows anything about furniture is aware of this. As far as "trendy" modern furniture....It is trendy, give it 10 years and it will be as bad as shag carpet an 70's orange furniture. Classic lines like those of the Hovas series will stand the test of time. Bottom line it is a good investment.

Sorry the potterybarn sofa is double the price not size

Question - if Hovas is the new Ekeskog, does anyone know if the Hovas slipcovers will fit the the Ekskog? I bought the Ekskog after falling in love with a similar couch at restoration hardware and realizing I could not afford it.

I adore my sofa - the dimensions are about the same as a twin bed, and when friends crash at my place I have one on the couch and one snuggled up on the floor on top of the back pillows. Hence needing the new slipcover...

I actually have this sofa. I admit the lines are fairly standard overstuffed, but this sofa is COMFY and BIG, which were my main criteria for a family sofa. Two adults can sleep on it easily or a whole pile can watch a movie. The removable/washable cover is just a bonus. While I'm not a fan of skirted couches either, the white on white look is very popular in magazines etc., and this fits right in with my decor.

I love it.