Costumes: They aren't just for Halloween

Slipcovers are an amazing thing. They're costumes for your gross old, inherited furniture & they cover a multitude of sins. I can't express enough how much I love these suckers. Just like a fresh coat of paint, they kinda make everything look a little better & brighter and make you feel better just looking at em. Slipcovers and also be incredibly expensive, especially when they're custom made.

Enter UglySofa.com. They sell high quality slipcovers from a big name company they refer to as " Brand X" (FYI: it sounds a lot like "shlotterie-yarn") & they sell them at a deeply discounted cost. I found the company a while back when I was looking to buy a new slipcover for our couch. I've been following them on facebook for a while and today I came across their post about a give-away on a design blog. Since I've been obsessed with finding new design blogs, especially those that feature projects I can do on my own and any written by real folks, not just professional designers, I was really happy to learn about Judy from DIY by Design. Right now she's hosting the uglysofa.com giveaway - she also has a pretty awesome blog so go check it out. It's not often I enter these things & I never blog about them,  but for this one, I am totally throwing my hat in the ring.

 Buying a new home has a tendency to render any new home owner BROKE. So Hubs & I can use all the help we can get. With everything else we need to do for the new house, buying a new couch just isn't on the list. We're going to have to make-do with my Nana's old couch.

I bought the slipcover we use now a couple years ago at The Christmas Tree Store (it's a discount store related to BB&B. I'm totally obsessed, but that's another post).  Here's what it our couch looks like in our Living Room right now.

From a distance I suppose our couch doesn't look that bad but the cover is ill fitted - you can see how it doesn't look right on the arms of the sofa & I really don't like that it's 1 whole piece. You can't even tell where the seat cushions begin & end. It looks like a huge potato. Also, if you take a closer look, you'll see this cover has had more than it's share of wear & tear. Literally...

All those pulls, holes & snags are courtesy of this little lady right here. Even though she's not really allowed on the couch. 

I can't believe I'm actually about to show you this monstrosity, but here goes. Underneath all that, I'm sure you understand WHY I'm obsessed with slipcovers & why we need them so badly. Because this my friends, is what this sofa looks like nekkid...

I mean really. No this sofa was not bought in 1984, I think it's from like 99 or something. She's passed on now & I love my Nana but I have no idea what on earth she was thinking. Oh it gets better too - there's a matching full-size chair as well. Oh joy. I'd show you that, but it's draped with a drop cloth & sitting under 13 piles of Hubs clothes in the bedroom right now. 

The cover we have now is made of a fake micro-fiber stretchy material. What we really need is a heavy-duty, durable cotton duck material. I'd really love to have something that looks a lot more streamlined & tailored. I'd also buy the cover for the armchair as well, but if I can win either or both of them in a giveaway & save us on some much needed cash ~ well, it's kind of a no brainer. 

uglysofa's Separate Seat T Cushion Slipcover 

From the aforementioned Brand X site. 

Go check out DIY by Design & enter the giveaway if you want to try your luck too. Or if you're just in the market for a new slipcovers yourself check out uglysofa.com. They're also running a huge sale right now on "Brand X" stockings, just in time for Christmas, so head on over if you want to check them out too.