Slipcover that is Chic but not Shabby

A few years ago a store opened here in Santa Monica called "Shabby Chic" and it specialized in loose slip covered furniture and almost single handedly created a design genre. The look of loose white slipcovers were everywhere. Well I am pleased to say that the store is still going strong and it is still serving the market for which it was designed. I personally am not a fan of that look, it's a bit loose for me, but nonetheless I am thrilled that it has brought slipcovers back into the mainstream.

I like slipcovers to be much more tailored, like the one above. This was a chair that I did for a client years ago, for her bathroom. In fact, I found the chair sitting forlornly on the side of the road, so I threw in into the back of my car and took it straight to my upholsterer. Since it was for a bathroom, we decided that terry cloth was the ideal fabric, but since it was going to be sat in while wet etc, that we should make it a slipcover, so that it could be taken off and washed on a regular basis.

This, to me, is the key to using slipcovers. I think they are great for people with kids, who want the freedom to pull it off the sofa and throw it in the washing machine, or the other great reason is for people who may want to change their look from one season to another, a summer and a winter.

A couple of things to remember:

• ALWAYS wash your fabric before getting the slipcover made.
• When selecting a fabric go with a blend of natural and man made fibres, like a cotton/rayon. The natural fibre will allow it to breath and the man made fibres will keep it looking tidy.
• When getting a fitted cover made, be sure to tell your upholsterer to keep his velcro ties in hidden spots, that way you can still have a great looking sofa when the cover is off.
• The tighter, more tailored the fit on the cover, the more challenging it will be to get on and off, so you may want to garner some help and not try to tackle the job by yourself.
• I like to use an inexpensive fabric to cover the sofa, under the slipcover, rather than just using ticking. It's a little more expensive, but gives you two sofa's for the price of one. Just be sure to use a heavy enough fabric on the cover, that you do not see the lining fabric bleed through.

Spring is Here!

Well for those of you who don't know, I write this blog from Los Angeles, and today was so warm it almost felt like summer, in the mid 80's and not a cloud in the sky. It started me thinking about Spring, my favorite time of year and ways that you can make your home reflect the seasons, so today's post is about Spring and how you can bring it to your home in small ways and large.

Nothing says Spring like clean! It's time to wash the walls, dust the house, clean the windows, sounds daunting well it doesn't have to be. Get the whole family involved, put on some great music and get to work, if you break it up into small manageable projects you will be amazed how quickly it will go by.

But this is not a housekeeping Blog it's about design and decorating, so how do you do that for Spring? Well what if you were to slip cover your furniture for the warm months, that way it can be very light in color, but you won't be afraid to use it, just pull it off and throw it in the wash. In the image above you can see a project where I used slip covered furniture in a Loggia, and its perfect because it can get taken off and cleaned as necessary.

Another tip is to keep fresh flowers in the house. Cut flowers can get expensive and don't last long, but try annuals, they will last much longer. Once again you can see that i used Geraniums here, they have a huge range of colors, and shapes and last forever (although they are perennials not annuals).

If you are looking for slip covered furniture Crate and Barrel has a good selection http://www2.blogger.com/www.crateandbarrel.com and also try Room and Board http://www.roomandboard.com/. For your Floral needs, try your local garden center, and don't miss out on bulbs that can bring the Spring home early, I like to get Tulip bulbs from a company called Color Blends, they have a great selection of all types of Bulbs http://www2.blogger.com/www.colorblends.com.