Ektorp Dreams

A couple years ago when my health fell to pieces, I had to sell everything that wasn't nailed down including the sofas. I was sofa-less in Sacramento for quite a while and then I bought a used one from Salvation Army. It cost more to have it delivered than I paid for it, and upon having it in my little living room for 13 or 14 seconds I realized that it stunk so bad I was going to reverberate until I got rid of it. Er maybe I mean regurgitate? Even Mackie wouldn't get near the thing.

So I had to give it away to a nice lady who had no sense of smell and oodles of children who were going to pour grape Koolaid on it, anyway. It found a good home.

And now, more than a year later, I am fed up with only having this old arm chair to sit in.

Anytime I have guests they have to pile onto the floor or stand around awkwardly like at a soiree. Not that comfy when you are trying to watch a movie together.

I decided that I was going to swing by the Salvation Army downtown and see if there was something I could pick up for 50 bucks. As long as it wasn't butt ugly or had a stank upon it, I figured I could work with it.

I saw what I wanted, or at least what would work for me, at once. It had a price tag of $90 on it. I could tell it had been in some nice old ladies formal living room for the last 30 years. It was the right size, shape, didn't smell and I figured I could live with the really despondent beige-on-beige floral print. Even the creepy fiberglass feel of the fabric would be all right. But $90? Out of my price range entirely.

When suddenly! The manager approached me and said, "I can tell you want that sofa. I'll give it to you today for 75 bucks out the door!"

"Oh, wow! My budget is 50, though."

"Okay, I'll meet you halfway at $60!"

Sold! And upon getting it home and getting it all arranged, I realized it felt horrible and was the ugliest color imaginable. But it's comfortable, well-made and has good lines so I figured I'd just have to live with it for a while.

Until I could get the sofa of my dreams. The Ikea Ektorp Sofa. That's the one I want.

Sometime in the night I started to think that perhaps I could 'Ektorp up' this sofa a little bit. Why not? I measured carefully and yes, it might work! The cover I wanted for it is only 49 bucks. That's half the price of a Sure-Fit and those things suck. Might as well throw a blanket over it as use those Sure-Fit covers; that's my thinking.

I looked at a slipcover for the chair, too, but at $39 I knew it wasn't going to happen.

So I was off to Ikea and as I was wandering through the labyrinth I spotted the Discount Stuff area. Just popping through there quickly I noticed a bin full of textiles. And yes, there seemed to be a pile of Ektorp Slipcovers! And each piece was marked anywhere from one dollar to 3 dollars! I had to really dig and really think, because I knew I was going to need extra fabric to make it work, since my actual armchair is nothing like the dimensions of the Ektorp Armchair. But after a good 20 minutes of measuring and digging, all the while elbowing this ridiculous Hispanic Woman out of the way, who was determined to get in there and grab something just because I was there, I picked out the 3 essential pieces needed to slipcover my armchair.

Meet my new and improved slip-covered armchair! I paid 5 dollars for this! The body cover was 2 bucks, the seat cushion was 2 and the back pillow was one dollar.

SCORE!!!!

And all that was left to do was pry apart this sofa to make the Ektorp Slipcover fit it completely. I had to slit the back cushions off of the frame, as they had been sewn to it for some weird reason. But I didn't spend 40 years as a seamstress for nothing! Give me a razor blade, point me in the right direction, and I'm not afraid to close my eyes and Slice Away!

VIOLA!!!