Hmmm, whatever you're looking for is no longer here. Or maybe you mistyped the URL? Either way, we hope you find your way again. Vous cherchez quelque chose ? Hum, ce que vous cherchez n'est plus là. Ou peut être avez-vous fait une faute de frappe? Dans tous les cas, on vous souhaite de retrouver votre chemin. Mmm, lo que buscas ya no está aquí. ¿O quizás fué un error de tecleo? En todo caso, esperamos que encuentres tu camino.Last fall we bought an IKEA Ektorp sofa. At $399, it was a steal. If you’re unfamiliar with this classic IKEA sofa, here’s what you need to know: you buy your sofa base and choose your own slipcover from a dozen or so options. I had planned to get beige slipcovers, but they were sold out. Since we live 120 miles from IKEA, popping in a few days later to pick one up wasn’t an option. So we went with white. Before you tell me I’m crazy (four kids and a dog!) let me explain: strong I’d read many blog posts (like here, here, and here) from busy moms who love their white Ektorp sofas, and who swore they’re not hard to maintain.

If you read those posts (and the other Ektorp reviews online), you’ll notice a common thread: the people who love their white couches wash their slipcovers all. (Typical recommendations are to wash weekly or every other week.) We’ve now had our Ektorp sofa for four months. The maintenance routine looks like this: I strip the slipcovers from the base and the couch’s six cushions. I wash them in two separate loads (even though I have a front-loader, it’s a bit much for one load). I dry each load separately to 60 % or so and s-t-r-e-t-c-h the covers back onto the frame and cushions. (I hate that last part.) The whole drill takes about 30 minutes of active time, which isn’t a lot. But it’s not time well spent when I’m actively trying to decrease my time spent on home management. The sofa looks best when I wash the slipcovers every week, but I don’t wash weekly unless we’re having guests or somebody spills something. It looks pretty good with every other week, and I can stretch it to three if I need to.

But that’s still way more time than I want to spend maintaining a couch. I have found a few things that make the maintenance a bit easier:My mom gifted me my first bottle of this nontoxic instant stain remover, and it’s amazing. When I spilled red wine (sad but true) on the arm of the sofa, the Folex made it disappear. (My kids have rules about where they can and cannot have snack, yet I’m the one always spilling wine and coffee everywhere. Anne may mean “graceful” but it doesn’t always fit.)This product relies on grapefruit seed and orange extract for cleaning power, and I love its fresh, subtle smell. My favorite part of washing the slipcovers is the way the whole living room smells when they’re newly cleaned. We use Biokleen because my girls and I have sensitive skin, but the important thing is to choose a detergent you really like the smell of–because the smell will permeate the whole room on that first day.I use this in every load to brighten and whiten.

Similar to OxiClean but I prefer this brand.slipper chairs for cheapNo, it’s not gentle, but I bleach the slipcovers every 3 washes or so to get rid of the dinginess that comes with having 4 kids and a dog (and a mom who sloshes her coffee).slipcovered dining chairs for sale I like my sofa. chair bows to hireI love the look of the white. mini designer chair collection vol 1And I know I can buy new slipcovers or dye the ones I have or cover the couch with blankets to protect it. bean bag chair child patternBut what I really want is to not be high-maintenance about my furniture.chair covers china wholesale

My sofa may have been cheap, but I can’t believe how much it’s costing me. This thing should have come with a maid. IKEA furniture: tell us all about yours in comments.With its bentwood frame, cantilevered seat, and curved backrest, the Poäng chair is one of Ikea’s most recognizable pieces. The Swedish furniture maker has produced over 30 million Poäng chairs since it debuted in 1976, and it continues to sell about 1.5 million every year–the company’s bestselling armchair–not bad for a design that’s settling squarely into middle age. So what, exactly, made the Poäng a commercial success and an instant icon for Ikea? The secret lies in a genius concept that’s been gently updated with the times. The company doesn’t normally put individual designers in the spotlight, but for the Poäng’s 40th birthday, it did. Japanese designer Noboru Nakamura is the creator of the Poäng. He came to Ikea in 1973 to learn more about Scandinavian furniture–and there, he collaborated with Lars Engman, the director of design at the company, on a chair that would use plywood veneer construction.

In a video interview, Nakamura, who left Ikea in 1978 to start his own furniture company, describes how the chair came about. “I learned by experience that a cantilever consisting of a U-shaped structure could, with a person, swing to some extent with the use of molded plywood, and I wanted it to swing in an elegant way, which triggered me to imagine Poäng,” he says. “A chair shouldn’t be a tool that binds and holds the sitter; it should be a tool that provides us emotional richness. [Poäng] creates an image where we let off stress or frustration by swinging. Such movement has meaning and value.” The final silhouette resembled Alvar Aalto‘s Model 406 chair of 1939, but in lieu of a webbed or caned seat, the Poäng sported thin upholstery. “While the design has remained largely unchanged since its inception, this iconic product has undergone some alterations to make it more accessible, more affordable, more relevant, and to increase the quality,” says Mark Bond, deputy range manager of living rooms at Ikea.

There have been tweaks to the upholstery color and pattern to keep the chair relevant with consumer tastes, but the biggest change happened in 1992. The chair’s seat was originally made from tubular steel, but in the early ’90s, the company switched to an all-wood frame and also narrowed the size. This allowed the chair to be flat packed–a move that reduced the price by 21% for customers (it’s actually less expensive now than it was when it launched). That same year, Ikea changed the chair’s original name, Poem, to Poäng. “The evolution has always been design-focused, thinking of this product not as a fashion item but rather adhering to and improving upon the classic design,” Bond says. Considering that the Poäng routinely shows up in houses, apartments, dorm rooms, and anywhere you need to kick up your feet, Nakamura’s emphasis on an emotionally rich chair–and Ikea’s affordability-minded engineering–have proven to be a winning combination. To honor the design, the company is selling a limited-edition version of the chair, with a grasscloth-like cushion cover much like the inaugural offering had in 1976, starting in September.