Furniture Slipcovers – How To Give Old Sofas a New Lease of Life
by Green Living on May 17, 2009
in Reuse, Reduce, Recycle
This is a guest post from Caroline Smith of www.getslipcovers.com.
I hate to think how many unwanted sofas and chairs end their days rotting in landfill sites. All too often, they are thrown out simply because their owners decide they no longer like the colour or the fabric is a bit worn or faded. It’s a shame, because so many of these items have plenty of life left in them and could easily be recycled with the help of some slipcovers.
Furniture slipcovers are designed to fit over the top of existing upholstery to give furniture a completely new look. They offer a green and economical solution if your old sofa looks like it’s seen better days but is still perfectly comfortable to sit on. They are held in place with elastic or ties to give a tidy, fitted appearance, so that it’s hard to tell they are covers and not upholstery. Slipcovers are also great for dog and cat owners, as they are machine washable. If your pet is in the habit of jumping onto your couch with muddy paws, it’s much easier to wash a fabric slipcover than it is to scrub dirt out of upholstery by hand!
If you’d like to give your living room a makeover, but your green principles and limited budget won’t allow you to buy new furniture, it’s worth considering slipcovers. The energy involved in manufacturing and delivering a brand new sofa must be considerable, especially when you take into account the carbon footprint of disposing of your old sofa as well. In contrast, a fitted slipcover is relatively inexpensive to buy and can prolong the life of even very old furniture by many years.
Yes, of course there’s energy used to make a slipcover, but the impact on the environment is much less than the alternative of replacing an existing sofa with a new one. There are many readymade slipcovers available that are made from cotton. Cotton is a natural fibre that is preferable to man-manmade polyester. Organically-grown cotton is an even greener choice, although I have only managed to find one slipcover company that carries organic products. Sure Fit organic slipcovers are a recent introduction and come in two different sizes, to fit 3-seat sofas and 2-seat loveseats. As covers can be made for most types of seats, including dining room chairs, wing chairs and ottomans, I hope that Sure Fit and other companies will add more choice of organic slipcovers to their range in the near future.
With regards to using slipcovers, as they have a standard “one-size-fits-all” design, sometimes you will need to be creative to get them to fit certain styles of furniture. For instance, if you’ve “freecycled” an armchair only to find it’s an old-fashioned sort with wooden arms and legs, a regular chair slipcover would be very loose over the arms. Slipcovers are designed for furniture with padded arms. However, it is easy enough to overcome this problem by wrapping an old towel or blanket around each arm and securing it in place with string to add sufficient padding for the slipcover to fit snugly. Another trick to use, if your slipcover is just slightly too baggy all over, is to tuck all the excess fabric into the cracks around the edge of the seat until you get a smooth fit. Then, roll up some old magazines, secure them with rubber bands, and insert them into the cracks to keep the slipcover in place and stop it from becoming untucked.
Hopefully these ideas will make you think twice before sending your old furniture to landfill. Using slipcovers is an inexpensive and easy way to give your home a new image whilst doing your bit for the environment.
About the Author:
Caroline Smith writes about green living for a number of websites. She believes in being environmentally-friendly and saving money at the same, especially when it comes to interior design. She runs Get Slipcovers, where you can find more information on the organic products mentioned in this post.
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