Like a brand new sofa! And that's why we love slip covers. It almost looks navy in the photo, but it's actually dark grey. This one should be much easier to keep clean.
3/15/2011
our NEW karlstad sofa hack
We got our newly button tufted cushions back from the upholsterer on Saturday. Here's our new (and we think improved) Karlstad (drum roll please):
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It looks so good. How do you go about asking for the extra fabric at Ikea? And how many swatches do you need? One per button?
ReplyDeleteHey Sara, for the original cushions, we just told an Ikea employee what were planning on doing. She loved the idea and was nice enough to go in back and dig up a pile of larger swatches for us. This time around we just bought a slip cover for a small stool off of eBay for $12 and it proved to be enough fabric for the whole project. You shouldn't need a ton. Hope that helps!
ReplyDelete*what WE were planning
ReplyDeletenoice!
ReplyDeleteLooks great!!
ReplyDeletewow, looks lovely. I am going to steal your idea. One question, what kind of bolts do you need for the legs? I found some nice walnut ones online but don't know what the kind the Karlstad legs are (we haven't gotten the sofa yet).
ReplyDeleteThe legs don't really bolt on. We had to use mounting brackets that we just screwed to the base. There are some manufacturers that make legs specifically sized for this sofa though if you want to search them out.
ReplyDeleteCould you share who you found to do the tufting work on the cushions? I live in Mesa and I'd love to find out! jennadixie@jamesonphotos.com
ReplyDeleteBy the way, I just love how your home is coming together. I'm a blogstalker :)
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ReplyDeleteMaybe this is a dumb question, but are the covers still removable and washable with the tufting? Did they pull the tufting through the cushions so the covers can't be removed anymore?
ReplyDeleteKate - No, the cushion covers are no longer removable. That's the main reason we switched to the darker color. You could, however, just take off the buttons to wash it and just pay the $40 to have it tufted again. Worth it IMO.
ReplyDeletefor the seat cushions, it looks like you have 8 tufts. is this right--- or is it 12? thanks! i was able to snag extra fabric in the As-Is bin at Ikea in the form of a cushion cover for $4.99. I haven't yet called the upholsterer here in the DC area for an estimate but am hoping for a similar cost.
ReplyDeleteLove how great the tufting makes this look. Such a simple upgrade and a huge difference. Does it impact the feel of the sofa? Is it any less comfortable?
ReplyDelete@April, We used 8 buttons on each seat, although you could probably get away with 12.
ReplyDelete@Meggan, I'd say it makes it slightly firmer, but it's still pretty comfy.
holy schnikies.... the first upholsterer i called just quoted me $90-$100.... per cushion!
ReplyDeleteI have the same sofa, and I am constantly flipping my cushions for comfort reasons. Did you have them do both sides, or just one?
ReplyDeleteHi Chasity. Both sides are tufted. We haven't had any comfort issues so I'm guessing the tufting is helping to keep everything from shifting around.
ReplyDeleteHi guys- this is amazing! We're in Phoenix too and are looking to tuft our Karlstad sectional. Would you be able to share the name of your upholsterer? Our email is joshlizmendoza@gmail.com- thanks so much!
ReplyDeleteI love love LOVE your tufted sofa and hope to do the same thing one day, here in Australia! Ikea are selling a tufted Karlstad but it's $300 more - I think I'll do it at home for nothing thankyouverymuch! The comments here answer most of the questions I was going to ask.
ReplyDeleteWhich fabric did you choose for the new slipcover?
ReplyDeleteHey C, we ended up going with the Sivik dark gray. It's been holding up MUCH nicer than the lighter fabric that we originally selected.
ReplyDeletewonderful idea! looks awesome.
ReplyDeleteI live in Tempe and would love to know who did your tufting. My e-mail is sewithought@yahoo.com
ReplyDeleteLoved this idea and look - am an IKEA hacker myself. Thanks to the inspiration you'll brought, I found this video for DIY button tufting since some upholsterers are not as budget-friendly as yours were (lucky you!). Thanks for also pointing out that the covers cannot be removed....! Many thanks.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.sailrite.com/Snap-Together-Button-Form-1-1-8
I love this, great job! Where did you get the reddish rug that's poking out from under the coffee table? I've been looking for one just like it everywhere!
ReplyDeleteHi Jen, we picked it up at World Market. They always have tons of rugs on sale.
Deletelove, love, LOVE this!
ReplyDeleteI'm smacking my forehead "why didn't I think of that!?!?!" :)
it looks like you removed the birch piece that runs the entire length of the sofa (under the frame, above the legs.)
just wondering if that affected the structure at all and if you had to reinforce things.
ps THANK you for posting this. I cannot WAIT to try this someday. thank you thank you!!
Absolutely genius! I had been thinking about replacing the legs for a while (I replaced the legs on my LACK coffee table and added some foam + fabric to turn it into an ottoman) but I never thought about tufting the KARLSTAD cushions! We have the KARLSTAD sofa bed so I wonder if it'll hold up okay... :-/
ReplyDeletebeautiful!!!! Thanks for sharing! How do you think this would look on the karlstad sectional? Do you think it would be too much going on?
ReplyDeleteHow durable is the sofa? Is it sturdy?
ReplyDeleteIt looks just as good in dark gray! I just found a Karlstad in this color on Craigslist and am considering putting mid century legs on it. (I shared about it here: http://turningithome.blogspot.com/2013/01/my-very-own-karlstad.html) I loved the way your sofa looked with the white and stained legs but this is almost better! That's the problem with white couches, they are so alluring but so hard to keep clean.
ReplyDelete