stylish slipcovers for Ikea furniture

See the beautiful lavender slipcovered sofa? That is an Ikea sofa with a custom Belgian linen slipcover by Bemz.

Our older kids have Ikea sofas in their apartments and I am sure our youngest will one day have an Ikea sofa. When they start showing too much wear and hopefully are still in sturdy shape, Bemz has the solution. 

They sell stylish and sturdy slipcovers to cover current and popular discontinued Ikea furniture. All fabrics are 100% natural and washable and they deliver to 35 countries!

Leslie Pennington started the company when she wanted to stray from the limited fabric choices Ikea offers to achieve the look she wanted for her summer house in Sweden.

Bemz offers 70 solid fabric choices and 80 prints by known designers and even Marimekko, as well as a  3 year guarantee. They offer fabrics in lots of different looks, whether you like Swedish style, industrial chic, modern urban, traditional, boho or eclectic. 

The company makes slipcovers for sofas, chairs,  stools, headboards, bed frames and dining chairs, cushion covers, bed skirts, throw pillows and extra fabric is sold for coordinating window treatments, etc. 

The website has a nice feature that allows you to apply different fabric choices onto your particular Ikea piece to play around with. 

Shop Bemz here. Read their blog here.

happy little room

Skona Hem

need a cute baby gift?

Some paper mobiles from Danish paper artist Ole Fiensted, son of Christian Fiensted, whose mobiles were popular in the 60's. In the US, they are often found in museum shops and bookstores.

to find a retailer and visit his website, go  here

to read an interview with Ole Fiensted, go here

marimekko...part 3

to read marimekko part 1, go here...part 2, go here


marimekko inspired fabrics from ikea...all under $10/yard

                               to purchase, go here
                            images via ikea, etsy

marimekko...part 1

   

Marimekko is celebrating its 60th anniversary this year

The company was created during the international design revolution that came out of post war Helsinki, Finland. A woman named Armi Ratia and her husband Viljo joined other well known designers in interior, fashion, industrial and graphic design and architecture to create a new design aesthetic with clean lines, practical ingenuity and bold colorful patterns.

Many of us remember first using their  fabrics in the 1970's with stretcher bars and staple guns to decorate the walls of our first apartments, an inexpensive way to make a strong style statement.

Marimekko is popular again, with their own stores, many online sources and Crate and Barrel still carrying their products. They are launching  a flagship store on Fifth Avenue in NYC, opening in the fall of this year.

the spring/summer 2011 collection fashion show

One  Marimekko pattern is legendary. Unikko was designed in 1964 by Maija Isola.  She had designed using nature as inspiration earlier in her career but decided to exaggerate the poppy flower design. It has become a pop icon.  You can find it many forms. It is a happy design, easy to love.

to read about the history of Marimekko in a beautiful coffee table book, go here

online sources for marimekko products: alwaysmod.com, finnstyle.com, finnishgifts.com, etsy.com, kiitosmarimekko.com

images and research via always mod, home workshop, apparel fashion law, flickr, cutie gadget, this next, scandinavia-design, squid, finnish design, amazon, kiitos marimekko