6 Reasons KLIPPAN Continues To Be One of IKEA’s Most Popular Living Room Sofas

This is a love letter to the little sofa that launched a thousand grown-up lives, including my own: the KLIPPAN. One of IKEA’s cheapest sofas at just $249.00 for solid colors, the two-seater KLIPPAN is more of a loveseat than a proper couch. But to me, KLIPPAN will always be the ultimate starter sofa.

My first apartment, a one bedroom converted to two, was too small for a couch of any kind. My second pad was furnished with that old college staple, the futon, which served me well until I moved out of the city for a year. When I returned, my next sofa was a freebie my roommate and I had gotten out of another friend’s garage. So when I finally moved into my own apartment at 23, I was thrilled to make the pilgrimage to IKEA to get a brand new sofa. I think, at the time, I paid about $200 for my KLIPPAN, plus the cost of the van to schlepp it home. It’s been years since I sold that sofa to someone else on Craigslist, but I still hold a soft spot in my heart for it. And it’s not just nostalgia—KLIPPAN remains a great sofa to start your adult life, and here’s why.

The most obvious thing the KLIPPAN has going for it is that it’s cheap—really, really cheap. Starting at just $249, I challenge you to find a more economical option. Even among used furniture, it would be tough. Unless someone is offloading their sofa for free, you’d be hard-pressed to even find a new futon at this price point.

I am a slipcover girl through and through because stains happen. With a slipcover, you can take the cover off and wash the stain away. (Good luck getting marks off of upholstered pieces!) If you end up with a stain you can’t remove, a replacement slipcovers cost less than $30. That said, I will confess I was dismayed to discover IKEA no longer offers a plain white slipcover for its iconic sofa. If the four fabrics currently available from IKEA don’t suit your style, however, Comfort Works has you covered with dozens of slipcover options for KLIPPAN, like the denim option shown above.

My first apartments were all tiny walk ups, so I appreciate that the KLIPPAN is easy to maneuver through narrow stairwells and tight spaces. If you graduate to more space later on, KLIPPAN makes a great secondary sofa to pair with a full-sized model. I’ve also seen it positioned at the foot of a bed in a large bedroom.

Yes, KLIPPAN skews modern, but with its oh-so-simple lines, this loveseat can easily be styled to match your personal taste. Pile on the chintz pillows and cozy throw blankets and you’ve got yourself a shabby chic look. Opt for the dark gray cover and skip the throw pillows for a minimalist aesthetic. With slipcover companies and manufacturers of decorator sofa legs creating fairly inexpensive upgrades compatible with KLIPPAN, your sofa style options are even broader.

Yes, it’s a bare-bones sofa with construction that’s hardly the stuff of high-end furnishings, but the KLIPPAN has a few things going for it that keep it from getting trashed fast. Metal springs in the seat keep it perky, and in my experience, the tight single-cushion design doesn’t sag as much as sofas with multiple, loose cushions. The slipcover is a single piece and fits tightly over the frame, so it doesn’t tend to shift around or get bunched up.

Slipcover fabrics from IKEA vary by year and season, but most of the ones I have seen are smooth, flat weaves, which are less prone to pilling. With no details like buttons, there’s nothing to rip off or snag. Lastly, because it is compact, KLIPPAN’s frame is less likely to break, which is an experience I’ve unfortunately had with other IKEA pieces.

First introduced in 1979, the KLIPPAN has been in continuous production for my entire lifetime. Knowing that this sofa has endured decades of changing tastes, I feel confident that it can weather anyone’s personal decorating whims over the early years of making a home. Because it has been around for so long, you can also feel confident that a new slipcover will still be available at IKEA in a few year’s time. So if you’re looking for a sofa on a budget, or if you are truly tight on space, KLIPPAN might just be the couch for you.