Our statement sofa! Comfort Works green velvet IKEA sofa cover

Our statement sofa! Comfort Works green velvet IKEA sofa cover

• 4.11.2017

Our living room is the first room you see when you walk in the door, and I've been a little at a loss for how to decorate it. We brought in pieces from our last home's living room, and bought a huge jute rug, which helped... but with no art on the walls and a bunch of neutral furniture, there was nothing to anchor the space.

We didn't have the budget for a new sofa, but I discovered Comfort Works when looking around online at IKEA hacks with new covers, feet, and other updates. They make custom and popular IKEA and Pottery Barn sofa covers out of all kinds of fabric choices, and sell replacement feet and even tufting kits! It's incredible to see the transformation of a basic IKEA sofa or sectional with a fabric cover in a fun color or texture (or neutral--I love neutrals, too). I love scrolling the Comfort Works Instagram to see their customers' living rooms rocking unique, perfect couches designed just for the space! I reach out to Comfort Works and they sent me a cover for our IKEA Karlstad 3-seater to try and share with you!!

I seriously debated when choosing the color and fabric for this sofa but kept being drawn to bright, deep colors like blue and emerald velvet. We love the jute rug and weren't totally sure how it would work with the velvet, but I saw some inspiration images of jute or natural elements plus velvet and actually really loved the contrast.

You can easily spend $2,500+ on a green velvet sofa. Here's a very budget-friendly DIY version that you can do with a new or Craigslisted IKEA sofa and Comfort Works cover and legs!!

How about the "before"!?! Poor, tired pebbly original cover. It had 4.5 years of dark chocolate bar and corn chip stains on it from being in the bonus room at our old house, and my husband definitely squished the back cushions with his sideways arm seating posture. I wasn't sure how much the new cover would address, but turns out it fixed all its problems and gave us a whole new sofa!!

Our Comfort Works cover and midcentury legs came in this lovely packaging with a note from the Australian company. (I folded up our old cover and fit it back into the bag for storage!)

Recovering the cushions was easy. Unzip, put on, zip.

The pieces are all labeled for easy install.

Taking apart the couch was a little more complicated, and since we bought it secondhand and hadn't assembled it from new, I wasn't totally sure what to expect. But it was easy. Remove feet, loosen bolts.

Un-velcro original cover!

The new cover velcro-ed on easily and we screwed the legs in! I love those legs--warm wood, much more personality than the blonde, boxy IKEA ones. And the cover--oh! It fits perfectly, and is more snug than the original one which stretched out easily due to the pebbly basketweave fabric. That made the back pillows straighten out back to their original shape!

We bought this sofa for $100 on Craigslist before we moved into our last house, from a girl who'd had it about a year and barely used it. Aside from the stains (our bad) and cushion slouchiness, it's held up remarkably well. Now, with the new cover, it's just as handsome as a high-end velvet sofa (and, it's versatile--I could get a cover in another color a few years down the road if I wanted!).

Still working out the rest of the living room (these vintage chairs which I recently refinished and slipcovered), few accents, plants in front of the large sort-of bay window) but the sofa is anchoring it big time.

Next up we are thinking about coffee tables and art above the sofa. Takes a while to find the right pieces, though!

What do you think?! Would you ever do a custom-fitted slipcover for your sofa?

What would you do with the rest of this living room??!?

Thanks to Comfort Works for sending this slipcover and legs for my review!

I linked a lot of the accents in our living room below!