I did a few things for the house in the past week but we spent the weekend at a fabulous beach house with 10 friends and a 3,000 piece puzzle. It was fabulous and more on that later. But one thing that's really been on my mind for the house this week is choosing the color and weave of a custom slipcover for our IKEA Karlstad sofa!
I think we'll be getting a Karlstad cover from
Comfort Works along with some medium wood tone midcentury feet. We've had our basic grey Karlstad sofa for several years and while it's very comfy, the cat has used it as a scratching post and it's definitely seen its share of red wine and little bits of chocolate. Plus, we have our grey West Elm Henry sofa in the family room, so we don't really need another grey one. Comfort Works slipcovers for the Karlstad come in soooo many fabrics, and nothing else in the living room is set in stone!! So there are SO many options for what this couch and sofa could be! I am having a really hard time deciding, so thought I'd share a few options.
We have 1) brown wool blend 2) blue velvet 3) emerald velvet 4) navy basic woven upholstery and 5) tan basic woven upholstery.
Here's what the living room looks like now. Remember all of this can change! I was originally going for a neutral look in here, black and white plus natural elements like the jute rug, but the grey couch is just too boring and I know it needs to change, so not sure the existing pieces will work with whatever we choose.
Widest room shot I could find, though this is before we got the big jute rug.
Things styled a little bit... I played with some art above the sofa but still not sure what to put there.
So pretend it's mostly a blank slate!
One of my first thoughts was deep blue velvet. I know that could sound really fancy French apartment-ey, but check out these inspirations--it actually can look really boho and cool. Looks great with leather, tan, brushed brass.
But in looking at colorful couches I also saw some dark green velvet ones that are really special and different!
Of course, I think what I'd really like if I was to buy a new couch would be a soft, warm leather, like one of these. This color of leather or fake leather isn't an option for the cover, but I could do a warm tan wool blend that might sort of get the look. Although, it could blend into the jute rug and get a little lost--maybe unless I did a ton of colorful pillows and artwork?
I do notice now that none of these rooms have jute rugs--all fluffy white, which I'm not into for this room which gets a lot of traffic, or a beautiful oriental rug which I guess is an option if I could find the right one. But we do like the jute rug. Would blue or green velvet be weird with jute??
I think I've pretty much narrowed it down to 1) brown wool blend 2) blue velvet or 3) emerald velvet but I'm torn about the rug situation for all of those, and of course what art and pillows. Would love to hear your suggestions!
