This is a story about a couch. Our couch.
We bought our couch 11 years ago. It was (is)a Broyhill, a good solid brand, and we got it at a good price. I think. I honestly don’t remember the exact amount, but I remember being happy to have found it and thinking that it was a good deal.
What I really, really wanted was a red couch but they were hard to find in Central Arkansas in 1997, and if you did find one it had to be custom ordered and cost a pretty penny. So we went with the Clearance Brown version instead. The shape and overall style was exactly what I had been looking for and I loved the piping and it was comfy. What more could I want?
Phase 1: Brown Couch
This is our little brown couch in our itty bitty Broadmoor house… Oh I loved those green walls!
Phase 2: Patchwork Style
By the time we moved to this house a lot of living had been done on that brown couch. Lots of hippie brother sleep-overs and baby spit-up sessions and soy sauce explosions. The little couch that could needed a make-over. So my magical momma came to the rescue and recovered my couch in a “patchwork” style for me as a birthday gift.
We detached the previously attached back cushions so that I could flip them from the red side to the back side (which was a very similar brown to the original couch.) In theory this would have helped the poor cushions keep their shape better. But alas I loved the red too much and we rarely flipped them and they got all squished and misshapen and just turned blah.
2 Easters ago my sweet Maw gave me this great white fitted slipcover. She had found it on sale at Big Lots and snatched it up. I had been wanting a white – true white – slipcover for ages, but they are impossible to find. Lots of “linen” and “natural” and “ivory” out there, but not a lot of white. So when I saw this sitting on her dining room table last summer I squealed with delight and may Maw knew instantly then that she would have to give it up. Happily she did and my dream of having a white couch in the spring and summer months finally come true… But those pesky back cushions were still wearing out and getting squished further and further down…
Phase 4: Three is a Magic Number
Enter the Euro Pillow treatment. At some point this past year – I think it was in the middle of a late night banner stringing session – I had the brain storm that if we took off the 2 long back cushions and replaced them with 3 Euro Pillows that they would be easier to fluff and clean and it would be a whole new look for not a lot of cash…
So for 6 months I have planned to design/make/ask my mother to make some back Euro Shams for me. But I could never decided on material or style and frankly I have just been to busy to worry about the pillows… That is until we went to Memphis and I had a good nights sleep and another brainstorm design moment. What if I simply bought some Euro Shams and insets instead of making them? What if I looked at the Pottery Barn Outlet (our fav Memphis shoppin‘ stop) and just took a gander what they had to offer? What could it hurt? I had a gift card on hand after all…
I could not believe my luck when I spotted these 26″ Quilted Brushed Twill Euro Shams from Williams Sonoma Home on sale for 5.99 each. I am pretty sure I did a happy dance right in the aisle. I am pretty sure that I got some weird looks, but who cares? $5.99 a piece – I couldn’t believe my eyes.
They had white shams but I decided to be a tad more practical than I am usually inclined to be about such things and got the light khaki color instead, thinking that I could use the khaki color with both the white slipcover in the summer & the red patchwork look in the winter.
So hear is my couch, newly dressed with the 3 square euros, ready to finish out the summer in style…
Oh and here is the chair I got for 6.99 at a thrift shop and covered with a sage green, Ebay purchased slipcover. I also used another one of my new found Euro’s as the back cushion on the chair, just like on the couch…I thought this would help pull the 2 pieces together and add more originality to the chair.
This is a 2 piece slipcover so the seat has it’s own cover, which I love.
I adore slipcovers and believe you just can’t take no for an answer when working with them. It is the only way to win. Also I adore the cotton look, and I like the slightly rumpled look, so none of that bothers me… It’s like little girls in sundresse’s to me. A little wrinkle adds to the charm… I have a wingback chair that better watch out. I have my eye on a slipcover for it as I type…
I love all your couch transformations. They are all great! It is nice to see someone making little updates instead of running out and buying brand new all the time. I love your style!
God bless you and your white couch!! It looks good, but in my house it wouldn’t last the week out! LOL Too many, dogs, kids and accident prone guests!Say, where the heck do you live? Back in 1995-1996 we lived in West Memphis, Arkansas. Is that somewhere near you?
I can never find a couch I like long enough to keep more than 5 years. Terrible, I know. Our current one is a horrible dark brown, and to make matters worse it reclines on both ends, so it is impossible to slipcover.Your couch makes me miss my old white slipcovered version I had when I lived in FL!
This comment has been removed by the author.
You have such great style! I love the transitions I’m seeing here.We just threw our couch out. It was bittersweet I must say.3 babies came home to that couch.I suppose that after 9 years they were the cause of its demise!
You’re so talented, that couch looks great in every style you have had it in.I have 2 wing chairs I bought at a garage sale..from a couple who told me they had bought every slip cover known to mankind and none fit..so I have never even attempted to try a slip cover on them…but I really should, because we got a price for re-upholstering them and YIKES!I am going to be doing my basement in the Beach Cottage look…can’t wait 🙂Nice to meet you:)Bella
I love the white slip cover and yes, Biglots rocks.
Girl! I love your sofa. It has scads of personality and is totally you. Big freakin Lots? Are you kidding me? I’m amazed.
Totally agree with you on the wrinkles. Our couch was red, but is fading fast, so maybe be grateful you didn’t find one? Funny aside: my husband’s grandfather was named Clarence Brown, but someone in the Navy added an “e,” making him “Clearance Brown.” 🙂
sorry ben had to play the passed out drunk on your beautiful couch last night 🙂 lol
Hi Terri!We actually live in North Little Rock – not too far from Memphis!
I had that couch! It drowned in a plumbing flood though, so it had to go couch heaven. Break the news to it’s twin at your house nicely.
Your couch transformations-and your chair update are so inspiring! What a brilliant idea to use the euro shams-I love the way it looks! xo-Mel
Your couch transformations-and your chair update are so inspiring! What a brilliant idea to use the euro shams-I love the way it looks! xo-Mel
Your couch transformations-and your chair update are so inspiring! What a brilliant idea to use the euro shams-I love the way it looks! xo-Mel
Your couch transformations-and your chair update are so inspiring! What a brilliant idea to use the euro shams-I love the way it looks! xo-Mel
Your couch transformations-and your chair update are so inspiring! What a brilliant idea to use the euro shams-I love the way it looks! xo-Mel
ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhh – such a fun post! I love your couch transformations – it is indeed such a perfect couch! AND I adore your chair – the slipcover is perfect! I’d love to sit there and visit with you!Have a happy week!xo,Kim
Have I told you how much I love this? I keep looking for one of those stretchy slipcovers in white… something tells me that’s not going to happen. AND… if I did that the dog/cushion/squishing would continue on. But your living room looks great, such a fun change.