This blog is written by the folks at Bemz.com — a fine place to visit if you want to transform your ordinary IKEA sofa, armchair, dining-room chair or barstool into something extraordinary!
We knew we weren't alone when we started talking about a return to a simpler, more basic way of life. This concern was born not only out of the present global financial crisis - with all the doom and gloom being spouted we can't help but feel the need to tighten our belts! - but more importantly, out of one of our greater concerns, a concern that will not change with onset of a new economic tide: the environment. Over and over again, we found these discussions to be heralded by our peers and so Simple Life was born.
Inspired by nature, this latest addition to the Bemz Lifestyles is for people searching for a return to a simple, basic way of life that embraces re-using, recycling and combining new and old items to create a personal living space that reflects this concern.
Cues for the lifestyle have been taken from the environment with a predominance of natural colors, like stone white and sand beige reminiscent of the windswept beaches of Sweden's darling Gotland, and the grey white foam of the incoming waves from its surrounding Baltic sea.
These colors have been interpreted by Bemz as natural textiles in neutral tones: Ash Brown, Cloud Grey, and Soft White, to name a few. Spot on for some hot trends we've been seeing in 2009. Good for the environment and good for the psyche - there is something tranquil and rejuvenating about this lifestyle. I feel my stresses melting away looking at these pictures.
Along with the reduce-reuse-recycle mantra for the environment, we also want to be kinder to it. Although our cottons and linens are sustainable and biodegradable, we want to take it a step further: Bemz is going to launch a line of new organic cotton products in an unbleached beige tone. This, the first in a series of upcoming organic textiles designed exclusively for Bemz, will be available from the 1st of May.
Get voting quick for the one you like most of these last entries to our My home, my way: Bemz competition! The competition ends tomorrow. After a real lull last week, we have suddenly had a dash for the finish line! I guess the reminder in our newsletter* that went out last week got people moving. *If you don't receive our newsletter but would like to, become a member at Bemz and you'll be included in the next send-out.
Jodi Brennan of Canada may be late out in entering the competition but once she set her mind to it she REALLY entered! Jodi sent in a slew of beautiful photos and numerous entries of which three have made it to It's a Cover Up.
The picture above is the first of those, and this is what Jodi had to say: Bemz helped make my home my way... By giving "me"...a slightly obsessive furniture maverick, the perfect outlet to showcase my compulsive need for change...I love, love, love, changing/rearranging my home and furniture... With Bemz I have a multitude of choices. My couch, shown here in a Bemz slipcover, is paired with cushions I made from your Bolster Striped-Eggshell Blue fabric. It all goes soooo nicely with the laid back feel of my other things... The blues, although not perfectly matched...blend together easily and make the couch look that much more comfortable. And with three kids and a naughty dog...comfort "almost" wins out over style...well almost... Thankfully I do not have to choose!
Second entry from Jodi Brennan of Canada: Bemz helped make my home my way by having the perfect beachy fabric (Bolster-Eggshell Blue) to cover my Jenny Lund chair. The fabric is laid back and adapts well to the many wet bathing-suited bottoms that sit upon it in summer weather....the colours go sooo well with the ones in my home...anything from sand to white to light blue... The chair now cozies up effortlessly, in any space or any room that I put it... Next to a white couch or a blue chair or a tan ottoman...it doesn't matter...it just "goes" with our decor, our lifestyle, our family!
And finally, entry number three from Jodi Brennan of Canada: Bemz helped make my home my way by being the "stylish glue" that holds my living room together...let me explain... by tossing some throw cushions made with Bemz fabric onto my non-Ikea sofa...and by covering the Ektorp chair beside it, in the same Classic Ruta-Eggshell Blue...I can bring a room "together" without it looking too matchy-matchy....savvy? Throw in a foot-stool in Bolster Stripe Eggshell Blue and the room becomes beautiful!! So no matter where I may move the furniture in my house (and there are numerous possibilities)...I can tie everything together and have "flow" by simply changing a slipcover and by recovering a couple of pillows! My family may not be able to sit down in the dark, without turning on a light first (to find out where the couch is now)...but the furniture sure looks good when they eventually find it!!!
Anja Weisscher of The Netherlands sent in this shot of her very busy sofa and a little ditty: Bemz helped make my home my way... By creating the perfect place to stay. Every night there is a fight who sits where. Our Bemz couch now has flair !!
These are just three of the many wonderful photos Anna Leonsson of Sweden sent in. Here's what she had to say: Bemz helped make my home my way ... Vi hoppas att Bemz ger oss en trebarnsfamilj möjlighet att få det vi drömmer om - ett nytt överdrag till vår soffa. Ända sedan vi köpte vår Karlanda-soffa har vi planerat att köpa en sommarklädsel till en varma, men mot bara ben stickiga, Ulltuna överdraget. Döm om vår förvåning när IKEA svarade att de inte sålde Karlanda modellen längre, dagen när vi väl bestämt oss!! Får man göra så, undrade jag upprört? Nja, det var förstås inte helt lyckat att modellen fanns med i det årets katalog, det höll kundtjänst med om. Den vänliga damen på IKEA informerade då om att det fanns dock en möjlighet till att köpa en mjuk sommarkostym till vår soffa... och så avslöjade hon att BEMZ fanns! I jämn följd har sedan våra barn anlänt, vilket skjutit upp inköpet. Nu känner vi oss dock mer än redo att införskaffa ett tvättbart överdrag som brunbenta sommarbarn med barfotafötter.
Roughly translated: Bemz helped make my home my way ... We hope that Bemz will give this family-of-five the opportunity to fulfill our dream - a new cover for our sofa. Ever since we bought our Karlanda sofa, we've wanted to buy a thin summer cover but warm enough for bare legs. When we finally decided to invest, imagine our surprise to find out IKEA no longer stocked the Karlanda range! Can you do that, I wondered outraged? Worse yet, they had forgotten to omit the model from that year's catalog. Fortunately, the friendly lady at IKEA informed us that there is one place we could buy a soft summer cover for our sofa... BEMZ! It's been one child after another since, which put the purchase off, but we now feel more than ready to get a washable cover in which our children's tanned legs and barefeet can curl up.
We are on the brink of launching a new Lifestyle at Bemz and I asked Katarina and Lisbeth if they could share some pictures from the photo-shoot, a "behind the scenes" look if you will. The shoot took place on a beautiful island called Gotland, off the eastern coast of Sweden, pictured above.
The whole aim of our Lifestyles is to help you make choices, to take some of the edge off the decision making process, provide inspiration and ideas, to give you an idea of how a style may work in your home.
There's no need to pigeon-hole yourself into one style though. It's really important to think about which styles reflect your different moods or different locations. For example, you may elect to have a really urban sleek look for your living-room, somewhat reminiscent of the Downtown Lifestyle, but choose a softer more relaxing Lifestyle such as Swedish Grace for your bedroom. The two Lifestyles share the desire for clean lines and understated tones but communicate a different feel for each room.
Despite these clean lines you may want to go large for children's rooms or a family room, taking inspiration and ideas from our Playground Lifestyle or opt for a more eclectic, lived-in feeling as seen in Bohemian Chic.
Those of you who are lucky enough to have a holiday retreat may choose to decorate this second home completely differently. Perhaps you will choose its setting as the foundation for your decor choices, such as Archipelago for a beach house or Country Romance for a summer cottage.
These are of course only examples. Some of us long for contrast and choose to go with a style like Country Romance smack dab in the middle of the pulsing city in order to establish it as a retreat from the concrete jungle, or jazz up the urban look with a little Bohemian Chic.
Whatever your style, whatever look you are after, Bemz aims to help get you there. That is one of the reasons we are launching another Lifestyle later in the week. Some of the images used in this post may give you an inkling of what this new Lifestyle is about. We hope it will open up a new set of possibilities for us all!
With only one week to until we see the end of our My home, my way: Bemz competition, entries are really dwindling. We still have a couple of hopefuls for this week. Vote for the one you like best and if you want to give the entries from previous weeks the once over and have your say, please click here.
Alice Castle sent in this photo of her children on their Fotö Footstool covered in Woven Whimsy- Cinnabar Red and said: Bemz helped me make my home, my way ....with this lovely cover for my Foto footstool. Unfortunately, our cat finds it irresistible, and has clawed it so badly I would now love to replace it!
And Thomas Harmon of the USA wrote in along with this photo of his Karlanda corner sofa in Chenille Graphite Grey: Bemz helped make my home my way by providing us with the ability to customize our favorite piece of furniture... our couch.
Anyone who has been waiting for their Ikea sofa or chair to be added to the Bemz range may be in luck. It's new pieces in abundance at bemz.com!
As modular sofas is a really hot trend right now, we've added a few key pieces to make this option a viable one for our customers. Completely new to the selection is the Falsterbo collection (now discontinued at Ikea). Included in that selection is the two-seater sofa, the left and right armrests as well as the left and right chaise longue. We've also added the chaise longue to the Ektorp series and the corner module to the Karlstad range. Go modular go!
In armchairs, we've added the discontinuedStockholm to our range as well as the easy chair from the existingStockholm series. As with all sofas and chairs included in the Bemz selection, you can choose from over 100 beautiful fabrics in a wide array of colors, fabrics and patterns for these new additions.
Completely new to Bemz is the Pällbo footstool. This little cube's a great solution for extra seating and is easy on the wallet.
And speaking of wallets, remember, if you have your eye on a Bemz cover, you can always buy the furniture from Ikea without a cover. For an even better bargain, scour sites that sell and/or give away household items for a sofa or chair and make it your own with a new Bemz cover. (Click here for other tips for shopping during a recession!)
It's unfortunate that we haven't got pictures for many of these new lines up in our shop yet, but as a lot of customers have been asking for new products we decided to focus our energies on getting them out there first and fast. This means you can't test-drive the fabrics on the new ranges for the time being but it's coming. If you feel uncertain as to which range your furniture falls under, contact our customer service reps who will be able to guide you. Believe me, they know sofas!
PSSST! ONE LAST NOTE: we've got a new product in the pipeline which is going to be our first EVER departure from the Ikea platform... I've said too much already! WATCH THIS SPACE.
As this is the last month for entries to the My home, my way: Bemzcompetition, I've decided to jazz things up a bit vis-a-vis the monthly cushion cover prize. As is always the case, the entry that gets the most votes will win a set of cushion covers but rather than me pre-determining the prize I've decided that the winner can choose from two distinctly different, but both very current, styles.
The winner will get to decide if they want to go for the urban cool designer chic look of Downtown with one Josephine- Graphite Grey cover (pictured left) designed by famed Göta Trägårdh and one Jet Black cushion cover to help it hit home with attitude, or will they heed the onset of spring and succumb to the call of clean country air and the open seas with Archipelago's Stockholm Stripe- Cafe Latte paired with a contrasting yet complimentary Deep Navy Blue in Belgian Linen blend (pictured right). Either way, both sets are a winning combination of sophistication and style.
To see and vote on entries from the competition, please click here. To find out more about the competition and enter, please click here.
One of the entries to our My home, my way: Bemz competition came from Florence Michon who runs a beautiful B&B in France called Le 33. Along with the photo of her Bemz covered sofa, Florence included the link to her site and I couldn't resist a peek.
I was met with a beautiful array of photos, walking me through a charming building dating back to the French Revolution and its extensive well groomed grounds. The result is a lovingly preserved yet fully modernized inn decorated with tremendous attention to detail and a style spot on the money. I tried to convince the bosses that a visit was in order to ensure a proper and objective review but they were having none of it. Quelle surprise! So instead, here is a collection of photos from the Le 33 site to inspire.
Florence has done a wonderful job of creating an elegant and graceful atmosphere punctuated with warmth to ensure a cozy milieu.
The combination of beautiful old furniture, antique objects and distressed pieces matched with classic clean lines and simplicity makes for an impressive and extremely welcoming atmosphere.
Throughout the house Florence has used a lot of whites starkly contrasted with injections of dark and softened with touches of glamor and luxe which together scream sophistication. This can be seen in the entrance, pictured above, where the furniture and the fabrics are predominantly kept white but paired with commanding dark walls and punctuated with softer, more feminine details such as the chandelier.
(For a dining room like this, look at our long-skirt covers for the Henriksdal chair in Belgian Linen blend Soft White. Throw in some extra fabric by the meter for a matching tablecloth.)
These pictures were just too beautiful to exclude. Le 33 has been featured in many interior and travel magazines from France, Belgium and The Netherlands, including IKEA Family Live, and has even has its television debut!
Florence Michon also has a couple of blogs: Le 33 le blog mostly relating to the B&B and Le Blog du Goumy, perhaps a more personal one. Thank you to Florence for the use of her pictures.
Our My home, my way: Bemz competition is really reaching it's end with only a couple of weeks to go. Help these latest entries along by voting for the one you like most below. If you want to vote on entries from previous weeks, please click here.
Anne May Abrahamsen of Norway sent in this photo and said: Bemz helped me make my home my way by having my beautiful white linen sofa!
And this from Kevin Coutu of the USA: Bemz helped make my home my way... By turning my couch from something I can live with into something I am in love with. From an eyesore with a swatch, to a cozy piece of comfort.
FellowAmerican, Linda Burbank, sent in this picture of her Jennylund armchair with a Bemz cover in Old Gold and wrote: Bemz helped make my home my way by giving me rich color choices at affordable prices.
Another entry from the USA, Ari Stern, sent in this shot and wrote: Bemz helped make my home my way ... by still making covers for my discontinued IKEA couches!
And our final entry for this week comes from Maria Israelsson of Sweden who states: Bemz hjälpte mig att göra mitt hem på mitt sätt genom att förverkliga en av mina vita drömmar! Istället för att köpa en ny soffa, kunde jag förvandla min nuvarande Ikea-soffa till en vit dröm med hjälp av ett överdrag från Bemz. Tack så mycket!
Roughly translated: Bemz helped make my home my way through the realization of one of my white dreams! With the help of a Bemz cover, I was able to turn my existing Ikea-sofa to into a white dream and avoid having to invest in a new one. Thank you very much!
(Btw, Maria has a blog dedicated to all things white called Hwita Drömmar {White Dreams} where you can see more photos of her sofa as well as lots of other beautiful things!)
Came across these two wonderful pictures on Flickr, taken with an iPhone at the Bemz Head Office recently.
On the left you'll find our two unofficial Bemz models who have worked on several photo-shoots: Pigge the Jack Russell and John-John the Pug. Aren't they beautiful? They are actually our beloved Sara's dogs - which brings me to the photo in the middle, with Sara (facing us) greeting a couple of visitors. That's John-John busy at work on the right.
Probably not the best portrayal of the Bemz offices which are really very nice and located in a beautiful area of central Stockholm. Everything looks unusually disheveled here. Perhaps I can manage a tour of the office with pictures on my next visit?
This is the last month to enter our My home, my way: Bemz competition and be in with a chance at winning the 5000 SEK* shopping spree at Bemz. The three entries most favored by our readers, i.e., who have accumulated the most votes throughout the competition period, will be put forward as finalists to our panel of judges. The judges have been chosen from among the world's best design and shelter blogs and will be left to decide on the ultimate winner. (If you want to know more about our fantastic judges, please check out the posts entitled "Meet the Judges" in the December and January archives).
Vote below for the entry you like most this week. If you want to vote on entries from previous weeks, please click here.
*5000 SEK (Swedish Crowns) is approximately equivalent to €500 / £400 / US$700 / CND$800. The actual value will be given at the exchange rate on the day of the draw.
Ann Leijon of Sweden sent in this photo and wrote: Bernz helped make my home my way. It's almost as I have a completely new living-room thanks to the new slipcover.
And John Downs says: Bemz helped make my home my way by repairing the dog and cat damage. Here is a picture of the original sofa.
And this from Christine Jacobsen of Norway: Bemz helped make my home my way, a relaxed comfortable style.
Veronica Yngwe of Sweden sent in this colorful entry and said: Bemz helped make my home my way, by providing variety, the little thing that matters - the spice of life!
And finally for this week, from Alexandra Mattsson of Sweden: Bemz helped make my home my way... and in a minute our old white Karlanda became an exciting place for our 3-year old to play pirate in. Ohoy, sail away!
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