Slipcovers for office chairs

What's better than Ikea? Well, a lot of things. But one of them is Ikea furniture that doesn't look like Ikea furniture. Ikea hackers know this first hand, but as inspiring as it is to browse through the blog and see all the amazing transformations, I still question the quality of the finished product. An Ikea dresser is an Ikea dresser, even if the knobs have been changed. Is it worth it to put that much effort into a piece of furniture that might not last for more than five years?

Which is why this photo stopped me in my tracks. It's been hanging out in my files for a while, but I never really took a good look at the chair.

Margot Austin

That, my friends, is the Ikea Karsten Swivel Chair with a slipcover! Here is the chair in all its naked glory:

Ikea Karsten Swivel Chair

The colorful slipcover and tidy office are very painful for me to look at, because three weeks ago, I trekked out to Ikea in search of a desk chair. The Karsten Swivel Chair caught my eye, and I had grand plans of making a slipcover pretty much exactly like the one in the picture above. But unfortunately, the chair never made it through customs. Marc sent it back to Ikea because it was missing arms, which apparently is an important feature when it comes to office chairs.*

During the same trip to Ikea, I spent a lot of time caressing furniture from the Trollsta collection. I have no use for a bright yellow end table, but isn't it a cutie?

Ikea Trollsta Table

And here it is looking like a bright spot of sunshine in a room with sky blue walls, breezy curtains, and spring flowers on the pillows.

Margot Austin

When Ikea looks this good with minimal hacking involved, I'm all for it!

* The office chair we ended up getting came from Staples and is also of the black mesh variety. This one is "more solid feeling" and comes with arms ... but it's still U.G.L.Y. If you have a slipcovered Karsten chair -- or any other office chair -- I'd love to see a picture. Anything to convince Marc that fabric beats black mesh any day.