Hi, I’m Kristen and welcome to Cover the Couch, a website dedicated to everything about slipcovers and slipcovering. If you’re looking for practical advice, honest reviews, and creative ideas on how to use slipcovers to help your home put its best foot forward, you’ve come to the right place!
On Cover the Couch, I will:
- Provide useful, general information about buying and using slipcovers.
- Review retailers of slipcovers and give you my honest opinions about their products and services.
- Provide product reviews of specific slipcovers by brand and product name, including suggestions about best uses.
- Provide insight and tips regarding unique and challenging slipcover use scenarios, like covering leather furniture or reclining furniture or protecting furniture from pets.
While we will spend a lot of time talking about slipcovers, right out of the gate, I do need to tell you that I absolutely refuse to call myself a “slipcover enthusiast” or to tell you that I am “passionate” about slipcovers. Such declarations strike me as a little dotty and cringy.
That does not mean that I am not a fan of slipcovers, however. I assure you, I am. (And no offense if you do think of yourself as a “slipcover enthusiast” … you are my tribe!)
I bought my first slipcover nearly three decades ago to cover a twenty year-old, twice reupholstered sleeper sofa I inherited from my parents and, since then, I’ve used slipcovers to cover all kinds of furniture, from armchairs and ottomans to office chairs and recliners.
What fascinates me about slipcovers is that, as home furnishings go, they are fairly low profile.
Be honest. If you are thinking about updating your living room is, “I need to start shopping for slipcovers!” the first thing that comes to mind? Or is it more like, “I wonder if Rooms To Go is having a sale?” (Or Havertys if you are at a slightly higher price point.)
Yet slipcovers are a powerful tool for redecorating and maintaining your home. They help you stretch your budget (and for most of us, that’s really important!) and they serve to reduce the environmental footprint of furniture (which is also really important). They are super easy to use, very effective (if properly selected), and, in themselves, don’t cost a bundle.
Who wouldn’t want that?
Yet, it seems people who declare themselves interested in covering or recovering their upholstered furniture often hesitate to buy a slipcover. And a fair number of those who do buy a slipcover find themselves disappointed, often because the slipcover doesn’t fit properly or look like it did on the retailer’s website.
This brings me to the other thing that fascinates me about slipcovers, a challenge I hope to help you and other would-be slipcover purchasers overcome via Cover the Couch.
How is such an effective and cost-effective home-furnishing tool – one that I have come to depend on in my own household – eluding so many people? And, worse, letting so many others down? How is slipcovering not a more compelling alternative to replacing your couch or armchair in its entirety?
It is my belief that this is, in part, because slipcover purchasers (especially first-time slipcover purchasers) don’t really understand how to choose the best slipcover for their needs and don’t have accurate expectations of what a slipcover can (and can’t) do.
But it is also my belief that the slipcover conundrum is a manifestation of recent trends in retailing – the shift from brick-and-mortar stores to online retailers as well as the rise of retailers that simply serve as storefronts for products and have no hand in their manufacture.
One of the most fascinating things about slipcovers is how much slipcovers reveal about the history and recent trends in textile and furniture manufacturing and retailing in the United States and in the world.
And, yes, we will take a little dip into this at Cover the Couch, but rest assured that articles about the larger world of textiles and furniture manufacturing will be relevant and accompanied by loads of straightforward, practical advice on how to buy a slipcover that will meet both your functional and aesthetic needs. In short, a slipcover with which you will be pleased.
So whether you’re new to slipcovers or a seasoned pro, I hope you’ll find something useful and interesting on this website. And if you have any questions or comments, feel free to contact me anytime.
Thank you for visiting Cover the Couch!
