Renew Ikea furniture with Bemz

Did your know that you can renew your Ikea furniture by getting new, washable covers from Swedish company Bemz? All you have to do is to know the name of the Ikea model and pick out your favorite fabric. No need for taking measurements or any boring stuff like that. Just order, remove the old cover and slip on the new. Simple as that!

Take the old Tomelilla armchair pictured above. I've had it since I bought it second-hand seven years ago. It's a tad big for my tiny apartment, but I decided to keep it for a while longer due to the facts that it's both very comfy and it's got wheels. It's easy to move over to the sofa area when I have guests. The original cover from Ikea was once white, but over the years it has become both yellowish and washed out. Time for a new one.

From Bemz you can order fabric samples for free:

They have a huge selection of fabrics, colours and patterns, both their own design and from other designers. As I have just bought a new sofa from Ikea, a Karlstad in a fabric called Korndal Medium Grey, I was looking for something to go with it:

(Photo by Ikea)

I was particularly taken with a fabric from Designer's Guild called Castellar Indigo, which has some grey in it:

However, upon seeing it on a photo from the Bemz blog, I realized I'd rather use that particular fabric for cushions than for a whole chair, as the chair needed something to make it look less conspicuous since it's so big:

So I went with white and silver grey vertical stripes. They're supposed to be slimming, right?

A closer look:

From I made the order with Bemz and until I received my new cover it took about 3 weeks. Impressive, as they're sewn to order. And the total price, inclusive of shipping and taxes, was only a fraction of what it would have cost me to get a completely new chair. Isn't that just so neat?

It looks fab with the sofa, too. But as the refurbishing of my living room isn't completely finished yet, you'll have to wait for a little while longer until I can show you the whole "new" room. Hope it won't be too long!