The price reflects selected options CA, East Palo Alto Go to POÄNG seriesIt's been awhile (I hope you missed me because I missed you) but I'm back to share a little cleaning tutorial that I promised ages and ages ago in this post about white slipcovers. Go to Chair coversThanks for stopping by once again.  It seems many of you are interested in the IKEA Ektorp sofas.  I don't blame ya.  These are some reasonably priced sofas and chairs with slipcovers.  That's my kinda thing.  You want to know if they're worth it and if they surpass their lower price tag.  You want to know if they wash well.  You want to know if they hold up to the wear and tear of kids and pets.  You want to know if it's gonna be something you'll like. You can find my initial review of the sofa, love seat, and Tullsta chairs here.  Now that I've washed them a bit, I'm back with more of a review. I will tell you.....I Still Love Them!  Maybe even more so since I now have couches that I can wash.

I've had the couches since January of 2010 and they are just as comfy as ever.  They have the perfect amount of give, with the perfect amount of support.  They fit my family well.  The dog's favorite place to sleep is on the love seat.  (Update...find the 6 year review here.) Oh, but what about the washing?  Come along with me as we tour a recent washing episode in my house.  You can find out what I do and at the end of this you'll find out what I think about washing slipcovers.  You're just super excited, aren't you?  I know I am....cause there's nothing like laundry to get your blood boiling. The picture above is the day before washing.  The love seat is the dog's favorite and we usually cover it with a blanket when he sleeps on it.  Honestly, I often times don't remove the blanket unless company is coming over. You can tell I strip the couches at night.  The kids are in bed and it makes it easier for me.  I can pile stuff up without fear of them jumping in it and getting it even more dirty.

See.....the dog and kids track in dirt.  It gets in the crevices of the couch.  You can't freak out.  You have to know that these couches will get dirty.  But you can wash these slipcovers.  Give me a, "Thank goodness!"  Washing lets you know they're clean.  I did get a free second set of slipcovers with my couch and love seat when I ordered them.  That promo was my big incentive to order them.  I love having a second set.  I strip the couches down and put on the clean set.  wooden folding chairs for rentThen the used/dirty covers can wait till I have time to do laundry.  want to buy old barber chairBecause if you know me.....laundry never gets done in one day here.  cheap heavy duty office chairs uk

So the slipcovers sit in a laundry basket and a big IKEA bag until I can do them. I keep my extra sets in a cedar chest that was passed down to us from Biker Boy's grandmother.  Just in case you were wondering. They get a little wrinkly because I'm not the best folder.  If you have trouble folding fitted sheets, these slipcovers are going to throw a whopper at you.  Plus, I'm not fond of ironing.....so I don't.  The slipcovers are a little wrinkly when they first get put on, but the wrinkles settle out.  used throne chairs for salePlus, I'm not about perfection here, so I don't mind. living room chairs phoenixIf you don't like wrinkles, you're going to have to do a little more.bean bag chair price comparison I washed according to the directions.  tub chair ikea cover

You can look at the IKEA website for any Ektorp product and find the instructions.  It basically says to remove cover, wash in hot water separately, do not bleach, do not tumble dry, and iron on high cycle.  You can dry clean on normal cycle.  No thank you, not for me. I did wash on hot with a mild detergent.  I did not tumble dry.  I've read reviews that the slip covers have shrank in the dryer.  They're made of cotton....they'll probably shrink if you dry them with high heat.  flexible love chair comfortableI think you could air fluff them in the dryer without heat, but I haven't attempted that.  leather armchairs sale ukThe sun works wonders.  I dry mine outside in the sun.  The sun is a natural bleaching agent, so it gets out any marks that the detergent doesn't.  If it's ever muddy or wet out, I'll dry them inside on drying racks.

Wondering about the no bleach part?  Yep, I saw that.  If you read my first review you'll know we had a grape juice incident on one of the cushions.  Yep, 100% grape juice on a white cover.  Knowing the directions say "No bleach" I was about freaking out.  I tried pouring hot water through the back of the slipcover to no avail and even tried some stain remover.  Biker Boy sprayed some bleach on the offending spot and the grape juice disappeared before our eyes.  So while we didn't dump bleach into the machine (which I know some people have), we have used it happily as a spot treater.  Overall, I'm still as happy as can be with my Ektorp furniture.  It takes me 3 loads to wash 4 pieces of furniture, but really....I'm already doing laundry, so what's a few more loads?  I'm happy I can have clean couches anytime I see fit.  I highly recommend having a second set of covers if you've got little ones and pets.  I'm completely happy I went with the white, even with kids and pets.