I hope you’ve been having fun following along with my living room makeover! I’ve been having a blast over here. The last piece of the puzzle has fallen into place, and I’m so excited to share it with you: The Karlstad 3+2 sectional slipcover! I know before I had said it was the media center, but I stand corrected. THIS is the most dramatic change of the whole makeover. Our living room actually feels sophisticated now!

You may be wondering about the slipcover process, so read on! I put together a review of the Comfort Works slipcover I received for my Ikea Karlstad sectional.

I found Comfort Works after searching online for Ikea replacement slipcovers, and was really excited about the fabric styles available. I didn’t like the options available at Ikea, and actually my sofa model has been discontinued since then. Yikes! Thank God for Comfort Works. I knew I wanted something light, neutral, and natural (probably linen), and they had a lot of fabric options to choose from. But not so many that it was overwhelming by any means. I ordered 8 fabric samples, and was able to see their comfort and durability ratings, as well as dump coffee on them to see what happened!

My favorite option was the 20% linen 80% viscose blend— Liege Biscuit. It was soft, had the natural look I liked, and my coffee beaded up and dripped right off when I dumped it. That was reassuring! So I ordered the 3+2 sectional slipcover, and also requested that two bolster pillows be made in the same material. I simply provided them with measurements, and they sent the covers with the rest. (I had to stuff them myself when they got here.)

The slipcover arrived in fabric pouch that was shipped inside a medium-size cardboard box. I was actually surprised at how compact it was in there. I excitedly pulled it out, snapped a pic, and put on Tangled to keep Lucy occupied as I set out to slip the new covers over my cushions.

Each of the covers were labeled, so it made it really easy to figure out what went where. The zippers were easy to close, and the covers fit like a glove. Not too tight to zip, but tight enough to to look very tailored.

Of course, because of the linen blend and the compact packaging, the cover had wrinkles after installation. I had thought about steaming it a bit, but then I didn’t get around to it, and now the wrinkles have mostly fallen out on their own, with a bit of subtle wrinkling on the skirt portion, which I actually kind of like. I had wanted the natural linen look, after all. What you see below is after the wrinkles had fallen out. I didn’t do any ironing or steaming.

Comfort Works specializes in Ikea replacement covers, but they also do custom covers. You can contact them with your needs and someone will assist you with what measurements you need and pricing information.

I really adore our new sofa cover, and love the fresh look it’s given to this whole room. The piping details, skirt, and bolster pillows make the sofa feel like a brand new piece. It certainly feels much more expensive than what it is. Ikea? What? No way. YES WAY.

As you can see, the kids are all over this thing. I already had to clean up a couple of food accidents (Cheetos once, chocolate the other time), and it easily wiped clean. Whew! I’m so glad I finally went with the light cover I had been afraid to commit to when I first bought this sofa. I know I wouldn’t have been happy with the Ikea ivory cover, so I’m glad I waited until I found Comfort Works. What a dream this baby is!

Comfort Works gifted me with this slipcover to review and share with you all. Everything I shared is honest and authentic, and I couldn’t be happier with my new slipcover! I know many of you have Ikea furniture too, so hopefully this was a helpful review for you, and I hope you’ll check out Comfort Works if you’re looking to up your furniture game a bit. Thanks for following along!

You guys! Our living room revamp is so close to being completed! I’m just waiting on one piece of art to be custom framed (it’s been sent out, I’m waiting for a call to pick it up), and then I’m callin’ it. I thought in the meantime I would discuss one of my favorite aspects of the revamp: the media center!

First, let’s take a trip on the way-back-machine. The first image below is from right after we moved into our home from our big, gorgeous 1920s apartment. (You’ll have to browse through old posts in my “home” category to see the beautiful old apartment and my granny-chic style.) Things from our old home didn’t fit or feel right in our new home, but because money was an issue, we just had to ride that wave for a while.

We literally saved up money in an envelope until we had the funds to buy an Ikea sectional. Along the way I collected some plants, rearranged art, and found a pair of orange armchairs at a garage sale for $5! It all was an improvement for our space, but still wasn’t tailored to our taste. But it fit the price point, and that’s all that mattered, really.

Finally, four years later, we’ve slowly been able to make enough changes to this room by selling off some things (rugs, art, furniture) in order to buy some new items which fit the style of our home as a whole and also went along with a more refined color palette and aesthetic. In addition to swapping out items, tweaking the arrangement of objects has made a large impact in the space. Removing the gallery wall and installing shelves to create a media center is one of the biggest changes we’ve made as far as the balance of the room goes. It feels much more calm, and is way more useful than the random assortment of art, which may have helped our t.v. blend in a bit better, but maybe didn’t suit our needs so well in the end.

So here it is now! I purchased some new boards which are supported by a shelving standards system I had taken down from the the wall on the other side of the room when we installed our office set-up. (See the post about our office wall here at A Beautiful Mess.) Finally our record player is set-up in a convenient place with access to our receiver and speakers. We have movies, blankets, and media equipment stored in the sideboard, and— no longer in hiding— our t.v. enjoys prime real estate, because let’s be real guys, we watch a lot of t.v. Ain’t no shame in that! (I call myself a movie buff to make my habits seem more refined.)

The girls and I have been listening to records almost every day now, and our room feels way more put together with this set-up than it had before. I still need to work on some cord control, but overall, I’m really pleased with how it has affected our overall enjoyment of our living room.

I can’t wait to share the rest of the space with you, and! Our new slipcover, which arrived last week during a really frustrating and dark time in my Summer— so I just couldn’t be happier about it. What a fun experience this revamp has been! So happy to share the process with you all. -Mandi

Okay, I know what you are probably thinking… “Update?! Didn’t she just give her entire kitchen an update?!” Well, yes, yes I did. But that doesn’t mean I don’t have the blogger itch to make changes every couple of years! Nothing big this time, but some superficial changes that will hopefully be an upgrade to my inexpensive choices the first time around, and in turn gelling better with the general style of my home. So, yeah! I’ve got a couple of projects in mind for the month of August! And I wanted to share it with you and get opinions before I throw myself head first into them. (The above image is a rendering of the changes I plan to make.)

First, let’s review. My kitchen has been through quite a transformation already! When we moved in, our kitchen looked like the one below.

Now it looks like the image above. Much brighter and more fitting to our style. But some of the finishes and installations I had chosen simply for their budget friendliness, and I’m ready to upgrade them now. Check out the link list below to view my detailed posts about each step of our budget kitchen reno. And read on to hear about the new updates I’ll be working on this August!

• Planning a Budget Kitchen Renovation
• Refinishing Kitchen Cabinets
• Cleaning, Painting, and Drilling into the Brick Wall
• Reconfiguring Existing Cabinets for a Fresh Look
• How to Make an Inexpensive Plank Backsplash
• Installing Butcher Block Counters with an Undermount Sink
• Kitchen Renovation Reveal

This one is nonnegotiable. I’ve been wanting to tile my kitchen walls since I first did a facelift to this space two years ago. But instead I chose a shiplap treatment that was incredibly budget friendly, in turn helping my entire ktichen reno log in at under 2K total.(Read about the shiplap process here, with details on the cost of each material used.)

I’m very drawn to the dramatic tile wall trend that’s happening right now, in particular, tiles with a sixties modern boho vibe. Jonathan Adler designed a beautiful circle-textured tile for his home that would be perfect for what I envision for my kitchen, but I couldn’t find anything like it in my price range. Enter: The DIYer’s Solution! You guys, I’m going to use ceramic coasters to tile my kitchen wall. This is a thing that is actually happening. I’ve ordered the coasters in bulk and am currently waiting for them to arrive. Before I get to work, I’m planning on changing up the shelving situation as well. Let’s talk about that next!

This is actually the first part of the work I will be doing. I decided to instal floating shelves first, then cutting the tiles to instal around the shelves, making the design fully integrated and visually cohesive (no gaps between shelves and the wall). For my first budget kitchen facelift, I had chosen simple Ikea brackets and used 1x10s and 1x8s with a 1×2 front lip that I glued in place to give the shelves a more substantial feel. The end results was a nice, bright open-shelving look, but perhaps a bit more country than I’d like. Not a big deal, but since I’m redoing the wall, I wanted to take this opportunity to change up the shelves as well.

I purchased some 2×6 and 2×4 poplar boards that I’m edge gluing to make them wider and will be installing them as floating shelves, with no visible brackets. I’ll share all about the easy process later this month! But for now I’m stuck on deciding if I want to paint the shelves white, or stain them. I had to do a mock-up to see how both ways would look with the new tile I plan to do, but I still can’t decide! I love the clean, crisp look of the white. But I love the warmth of the wood too.

I’d love to hear your opinions! I’m very excited to do this little addendum to our kitchen facelift, and am so excited to share the results with you guys! Later this week I’ll share peeks at the progress of our little living room facelift as well. So many little changes that are adding up to a big shift in the look and feel of our home. We’re lovin’ it!