Do you remember the saga of my dining room host chairs? I was smitten with the idea of upholstered chairs that could get dressed up or down, fell in love with the look of the Henriksdal armchairs from Ikea after seeing them on For The Love Of A House only to discover that they hadbeen discontinued, then lucked out and found the last two at my local Ikea (one in the clearance room!) My chairs came “nekkid”, but I found two Ikea slipcovers on Ebay. Believe it or not, even in this house with three kids, a ginormous dog, and a lot of living, they’ve worked out great because I can take them off and wash them.
In the beginning I would iron, or faux iron, the slips, but I’ve come to love the slightly wrinkled casualness of the duck cloth. The chairs are comfortable for dining, are so lightweight that we often pull them into other rooms when we entertain, and are perfect for pulling up to the computer in our armoire office. Now I’m wondering why I waited so long to buy slipcovered furniture. I should have done this years ago when the kids were toddlers and I spent my days scrubbing Gogurt and juice and other funky stains out of my upholstered furniture!
Ever since I got these chairs I’ve been pinning cute slipcover ideas, thinking it would be great to change out the style of the slipcovers occasionally. When Rachel from Comfort Works asked me if I’d like to try out their custom slipcovers, I practically leapt through the computer and hugged the living day lights out of her! Now before I proceed I want to tell you that I deeply believe in integrity in blogging. While I occasionally share sponsored reviews here, I vow to always be honest with my opinion, because I value you and am so thankful for your readership, and if I lie to you about the quality of a product, why would you keep reading this blog, right? Also, I want to share with you products that I genuinely think you’d be interested in. When Rachel contacted me, I already knew of Comfort Works because I had checked out their site, and since Comfort Works specializes in replacement slipcovers for Ikea products (they began with sofa slipcovers, expanded into other Ikea products like chairs, and are now starting to make custom slipcovers for non-Ikea products too) I figured reviewing slipcovers for my Ikea chairs was worth a shot.
Our dining room chairs see a lot of action – I blog, Mark sometimes works from home, the kids do their homework, and we eat our meals here. My number one priority with new slips was washability. I picked out a bunch of samples from the Comfort Works website….
….and Rachel and I batted around different styles for the new slips. Since my original set of slips have a long skirt, I really wanted a short skirt to change up the look, and loved this inspiration photo with the pleated corners and side ties.
The company asked me for all sorts of crazy measurements to make sure the custom slipcovers would fit perfectly……
….and here are my new host chair slips – I love them!
I know – I’m so kooky with that fabric choice! But their neutral-ness means I can bring in ANY color into the dining room over the course of the year – I love that versatility. I also adore the short skirt – the modern leg of the chair with the curvier legs of the table and bench. Don’t ask me why – I just do!
The fabric is machine washable but not bleachable. I chose this one for it’s texture. I really liked a linen blend fabric sample but thought this nubbier one would take a beating better.
They fit really well. The Ikea slipcovers have little pieces of velcro on the inside that attach to the chair frame to keep the seat part of the slipcover in place. I did not even think to ask Comfort Works about adding something like that.
To keep the seat fabric from moving around and getting messy, I used these upholstery twist pins where the seat meets the chair back; you can’t see them at all and it keeps everything nice and snug.
I like that tailored look, and the fact that they have been on the chairs for a solid month and I can’t see any grubbiness whatsoever – in my house that is amazing!
Comfort Works was also kind enough to offer me slipcovers for my Pottery Barn rattan chairs that I recently moved to the basement, since they are branching out into non-Ikea, custom slipcovers. Remember these chairs? We’ve had them for over a decade and although they’re comfy, they’ve been looking pretty banged up.
As if the state of the cushion wasn’t bad enough, I got a wild hair to change the color, first with a black wash (???) and then a white wash. Neither attempt went very well.
They migrated, like all castoffs, to our basement during the One Room Challenge in which I tried to keep photos of them to a minimum, poor little eyesores that they were.
It’s amazing how the slipcovers have breathed new life into these chairs.
Like I did for the armchairs, I took a photo of the cushion and provided Comfort Works with lots of very specific measurements. The fit on these cushions is really great, just from the measurements I provided.
The grey back pillows are from Ikea – they are a little big for these chairs. I bought two of them for the floor of our basement but the kids love using them on the chair because they are super comfy, so I decided to go with it and picked a fabric from Comfort Works that had a bit of the charcoal grey running through it. I am really digging the whole warm/cool combination and how the grey balances out all the brown from the furniture.
This ikat fabric was going to be made into roman shades for the basement windows but that project did NOT go well, so plan B is pillows for the leather couch.
This fabric, Somerset Charcoal, is cold water, hand wash, no bleach, and drip dry only — but, as opposed to the previous covers on these chairs – they are indeed washable!!
My kids and their friends put these slipcovers to the test over Christmas vacation, and despite a whole lot of video gaming, fort making, climbing, pillow fighting, movie watching, and the occasional snoozing, the slips are holding up well. The seams and zipper seem solid and the slipcovers overall are really well constructed. I think they will give our old rattan chairs a few more years with this crazy family.
I am already eyeing the greeny-blue version of my fabric, Somerset Mint, for chairs for my parents-in-law!
Thank you so much to Rachel and Comfort Works for the opportunity to review your products!
If you are in the market for Ikea or Pottery Barn slipcovers, or a custom piece, I would honestly recommend Comfort Works to you.
And now that my rattan chairs are looking infinitely better, I’m chomping at the bit to get back to the basement projects. Ready for another One Room Challenge anyone?
