Classic Slipcovers or Furniture Upholstery?
Deciding between classic slipcovers and furniture upholstery can be a difficult decision. I looked at all the pros and cons and came to an easy decision. And I love the outcome.
When it comes to having chairs and sofas redone, there are usually two choices, classic slipcovers or furniture upholstery.
Either will give you a lovely end result – a new outside garment for a piece of solid furniture. But how do you decide between slipcover or upholstery? It’s important to consider the use, the condition of the furniture piece, and cost.
We have a lot of slipcovers in our home. I have two slipcovered sofas in the living room, a chair and a white sectional with slipcovers in the family room, and two slipcovered sectionals and a slipcovered sofabed in the beach house. I also have three slipcovered chairs in our home, including one I made myself!
This was my first slipcover project and it’s far from perfect. But I love this slipcovered chair.
Classic Slipcovers or Furniture Upholstery
So which is it? Slipcovers or upholstery?
Here are some questions to consider when making this choice:
- How is the piece of furniture used?
- Is it likely to get dirty and will you want to be able to throw the slipcover in the laundry?
- Is there a lot of wood on the piece that might make a slipcover not practical?
- Is your piece of furniture worth saving?
If your couch or chair is well built and sturdy then you will probably want to invest the money and pay to have your piece reupholstered or slipcovered. If the furniture is well made and has quality workmanship, then do it.
If the furniture is cheap and flimsy, don’t bother. I think second-hand or vintage furniture is usually well made and better constructed than what most of us are buying today. Unfortunately buying quality, new furniture today is very expensive.
A few years ago I was trying to decide what to do with my living room sofas. I absolutely loved the slipcovers that my friend Liz Marie Galvan had in her home. Those pleats are to die for!
I love the look of Liz Marie Galvin’s slipcovers
I finally decided to send our living room couches out to be slipcovered. That’s because they use to look like this. The couches were well made but dated and “grungy looking”.
I really wanted a lighter and more neutral palette in our living room. And you can find out why here.
All I did was print a photo of Liz’s chairs and hand it to my local upholstery guy. I told him I wanted my couches to have a pleat like hers! Please feel free to do the same with mine!
Which is More Expensive?
I found it interesting that the labor was much cheaper for slipcovers. For example, it cost me $300 to have a slipcover made for a chair whereas it was $400 to have the same chair upholstered. It also costs $300 more to have my sofa upholstered than to have a slipcover made.
The fabric yardage amount and cost were the same for a slipcover or upholstery. I chose slipcovers because they are more practical to wash (especially since I chose white fabric) and I just like the look more of slipcovers versus upholstery.
Cleaning
I think cleaning is the biggest variant between classic slipcovers and furniture upholstery. I love that I can take a slipcover off, spray it with stain remover, and bleach it in the laundry. About 99% of the stains come out using my slipcover cleaning formula (it will be on the blog tomorrow). After a few years, you can always get a new slipcover made.
With upholstered furniture, you have to spot clean, and sometimes the stain doesn’t come out So what’s the alternative? Getting the entire couch reupholstered? Hmmm.
The End Result
Don’t these slipcovers look a gazillion times better than the “before” photo above?
Here are some of the items featured in our living room.
Plus, look at how the style of the couches even looks different. In the before photo, the style looked dated. But now, with the white slipcovers, they look great.
And the best part?
The fabric was prewashed so I can wash them anytime. The slipcovers are also sprayed with Stainmaster which helps prevent stains.
Be sure and check back tomorrow with my post on how to clean and wash your slipcovers.
Links to Items Similar to this Post
Did you know Amazon carries slipcovers for IKEA Extorp furniture? There are some links below.
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Yes I am IN Souther California . Thank you
Perfect timing on this post. I did not prewar the fabric before I had slip covers made. I’ve been nervous to was them but I need to do it now. Any suggestions? I’m thinking cold water?
I have cleaning information coming out this week, stay tuned!
I have a Camelback sofa witches almost 75 years old. I am debating to have it slip covered instead of reupholstered. Would you recommend Crypton fabrics for aslipcover?
I also have a camelback sofa. Please, please advise!
Check out my blog post from yesterday, How to Buy the Best Slipcover for your Sofa!
Where did you buy the fabric? Thank you for the info.
Leslie,
I have a hard time letting go of quality furniture! I feel new furniture today is disposable and poor quality! Thanks for these tips.
I feel the same way, hope this helped!
Thank you!
Now give us details on what exact fabric you purchased for slip covers? Exact color, cream or white, or white white?
Did you pre wash fabric or can I buy it preserved??
Stay tuned, I will be sharing all the details soon!
Thank you for this post. I have a couch I love that needs updating and have been thinking about slip covers for it but I’m not sure how to find a reputable person to hire. Any suggestions on your process of finding the right person. Thank you
Absolutely I will be talking about that soon, stay tuned!
I love the idea of slipcovers – my dogs always get the furniture dirty. They’re too cute and I can’t tell them not to snuggle with me on the couch.
I totally agree! Slipovers allow for the best of both worlds.
Leslie, is it possible to message me does your slip covers? Many thanks!
He is someone local, are you in LA?
Does the material need ironing after a wash? How do you keep the wrinkles away or puckering around the edges? This is something I’ve been considering, but have reservations.
I will be talking about cleaning later this week, stay tuned!
Wonder,Great,Fantastic,I am over the moon about this article.Wanting to k ow about your slipcovers.Love,Love,the idea of switching the cor of my red couch and love seat,to white for the summer and spring Red for fall and winter.Want to ask if cotton or duck tail fabric ,which is best. Love,your articles.This made me so happy! Georgi
Thank you Georgianne! I will be posting more later this week, stay tuned.
Hi pls share where you had them done. I am in the Los Angeles area.
Yes, please send me a private Instagram DM and I will share it there
Beautiful Leslie! Please share who did your slipcovers. I am in L.A. also! :o) Thank you so much!!
I can share if you private message me on Instagram!
I love my white denim slip covered sofas. Here and at our beach house. With 3 kids and a ton of animals. I’ll never go back! 😉
Exactly! They are too good to ever go back!
I have an IKEA Ektorp sofa, in white, and I love, love it! Thanks to your post I now have resources to purchase different slipcovers!! I never thought to research for different slipcovers, I just thought get them from IKEA!!
It is my pleasure, Carrie.
Slipcovers it is ! Thanks for helping me decide. 💙
I have a “farmhouse style” sofa we purchase 2 years ago— I wanted gray – it turns out to have a hint of pine in it.. it drives me crazy…
this may be the answer…
so you just had the covers made custom to fit each portion of the couch…
like a neutral cream??
Hi Julie – thank you for reaching out! The color of your sofa sounds super frustrating! I hired an upholsterer to make a slipcover of our sofas and sectional. He made custom slipcovers for each piece of furniture (they take the furniture with them to make the slipcovers). I bought the fabric so I knew it was a color I liked! Make sure to read the post I did on how to buy a slipcover, it has all of the details about how to measure, add for shrinkage, etc.). Here is the link: https://my100yearoldhome.com/how-to-buy-the-best-slipcover-for-your-sofa/. Let me know what you decide to do!
I have a white slipcover sofa,Four Seasons company and was wondering if I reslip cover them what fabric did you buy to do yours?
What Slipcover cleaning formula do you use? I admire the lovely work you do with your slipcover designs. Continue much success with your business!
The table and two chairs in the corner of the room, grand idea!!
Also the picture of the flowers on the wall is so beautiful.
🙂