It's a cover-up

Klippan gets urban in the UK

Clare of the UK sent us this photo of her Klippan sofa with its new cover from Bemz in Urban Tapestry - Olive Green.

This is what Clare had to say: Received our sofa covers recently and are soooo pleased with them - the fit is perfect and they look fab - thanks Bemz - didn't think you could "do up" old Ikea sofas!

I like the way the khaki color lifts the carpet and highlights the fireplace while the urban tapestry pattern gives the room a boost. The injection of fuchsia with the cushion gives it a bit of oomph. Well done Clare, nice choice! And thank you for sharing.

Upload a picture of your Bemz cover onto our Facebook page - we'd love to see it. Or, send it to me at blog [at] bemz [dot] com and you too may find your home featured here on It's a Cover Up.

Design-It-Yourself: Felt wreath

Now I don't want to be jumping the gun on the whole Christmas thing, but I came across this Design-It-Yourself wreath on Slipcover Your Life and thought it was brilliant enough to share.

OK - perhaps this is not a real Design-It-Yourself post as I don't have the instructions on how to do it but I would guess cutting out the white felt in the various flower, flower-centers and leaf shapes and then using neon colored thread to sew them on would be the (over!)simplified version.

Rather than a wreath, I think I'd be more inclined to apply this idea to jazz up a dull cushion cover! It would add interest, dimension and texture not to mention up the uniqueness factor and could be used year round.

Photos c/o Slipcover Your Life

Good apps for interior aficianados - free too!

You've spotted your perfect color while you are out and about but how to remember it? Take a snap on your iPhone, zoom in on the shade, then the free Crown Color Match app will match it to a Crown paint and suggest complimentary shades.

Similar to the Crown app is the Ben Color Capture app from Benjamin Moore and the Sherwin Williams app. You take a picture and it matches it up with the exact paint color.

The iHandy Level app ensures you have a spirit level in your back pocket. This comes in handy when leveling pictures on the wall, putting up shelves or if you are working on a display.

If you find yourself dealing with small print, then download the Digital Mag app, which is a magnifying glass on your phone - if for nothing else than deciphering those hard to read dimensions on floor plans!

Units from MacBox allows you to easily convert from various units into lots of others. Units can convert area, currency, energy, temperature, time, length, weight, speed, pressure, power, and volume. Phew! As an added bonus, it also has a built-in ruler, for doing small, quick measurements when the need arises.

Evernote is a great one to help keep you organized, from notes, to ideas, to snapshots and recordings. All those inspirational ideas you've spotted and loved can now be saved along with your thoughts of how you'd apply it to your life and home right there and then.

And if you are just looking for some inspirational pictures to look at while you kill some time outside the school, at the airport or in a traffic jam, Interior Design Inspirations provides a list of random photos of beautiful interiors but the free version is very limited.

Have you got a handy app that we should know about?

Credit: Patricia Gray

Monochrome living for Karlanda

A nice follow-up on our post about how to make a monochrome palette work, is this photo sent in by Gerda of the Netherlands.

With the help of a new slipcover in Unbleached Linen from Bemz for her Karlanda corner sofa, Gerda has successfully achieved a monochrome palette without sacrificing on warmth. Her living room is sophisticated, contemporary and inviting. Even the dog matches! Well done Gerda, yours is an example of masterclass.

Here's what Gerda had to say about her new covers: I AM SO VERY VERY HAPPY WITH MY NEW SLIPCOVERS!!!!!!! THEY ARE PERFECT!!!!!

Feel like sharing your success? Send me a picture of your home with your Bemz cover to blog [at] bemz [dot] com and you too may be featured right here on It's a Cover Up. Alternatively, you can upload it to our Facebook page.

Meet the people behind the mails: Bemz customer service

Welcome to the first installment of “Behind the Inbox”; our series aimed at bringing you closer to our fantastic customer service team that deal with all kinds of questions and concerns – in four languages no less: Swedish, English, German and French! During the course of this series become acquainted with Ben, Emma, Lisa, Amber, Sophia (Bemz Inspiration Store) and Tina.

First up, we welcome Tina Berglund, customer service manager. Tina (pictured left) is from Stockholm, Sweden, and works in Swedish and English:

"I started at Bemz in September 2007 during an exciting time. Like today, it was a period of rapid growth and I was brought in specifically to strengthen and give the department direction. In addition to guiding my employees and all that comes with those “managerial responsibilities”, I also participate in day-to-day customer service work – the best way to stay in touch with our customers and know exactly what they are really thinking! One of my favorite memories is from when our offices were located on the fourth floor at Riddargatan with no inspiration store or showroom to speak of. An American couple, on stopover in Stockholm while on a cruise from the States, chose to spend their one and only day in Stockholm tracking Bemz down and paying us a visit!"

At home: a Tomelilla three-seater sofa in Graphite Grey Belgian linen with cushions in various Designers Guild fabrics; and, two Ektorp armchairs in one of Tina's absolute favorite patterns: Josephine - Graphite Grey (cushion pictured top right).

Outside work: Tina loves the Swedish version of Pop Idol, which can frequently be heard being discussed in the office with other eager colleagues. Another keen interest is music, and she often finds herself at concerts throughout the year.

If you would like to know more about Tina, send her an email to tina [at] bemz [dot] com.

Next installment: Ben tells us what it’s like working with our German customers! Watch this space...

Top tips: How to group collections

Collecting stuff can be fun but how can you best show off your precious treasures so that they add character rather than chaos to your home? This post is here to help.

It doesn't matter if it's vases or hats, vintage tins or Lego creations, apply these top tips to ensure you get the most out of your collection and help your home look great.

Any collection makes more impact if grouped together.

Find a connection: Group either by the material from which they are made or the same root color or of a similar style/era for a cohesive look.

When grouping, use a variety of sizes, shapes and textures to make a big impact and to avoid it looking contrived or over-styled.

If you want your collections to show your creativity, think about displaying your treasures in more unusual places and unusual ways.

Ceramics and glass need to be placed somewhere where they will be well lit to make the most of their transparency and lightness and to avoid them looking dull and lifeless - and don't forget to dust them regularly!

Display your collection in a wall cabinet or on a coffee table with a glass top. This way it can be admired without risk of damage and can easily be added to or repositioned.

Can anything qualify as a collection as long as you have several of "it"? Do you have a collection? What is it and how do you display it?

Credit: Livingetc, Nov 2010; Photos c/o Apartment Therapy

Design-It-Yourself: Henriksdal wheelie

I can't believe I never published this: our very own Bemz in-house Design-It-Yourself project! It has already made the cut on Ikea Hacker, one of our fave blogs, but I have to feature it here on our own blog too. Plus, it's a short and sweet one.

Bemz is all about personalization which is what instigated this whole Design-It-Yourself series. Here's a little job we undertook to make a Henriksdal bar stool work better for us. We liked the look, size and shape of the bar stool for the Bemz Inspiration Store but were finding it was impeding movement. Plus, its dimensions were not quite right. It sits by the swatch table - and anyone in retail can attest to how often you have to get up and move around the room. To make life easier our Bemz DIY:er personalized it to better suit its function.

For this project, you will need:
- Henriskdal bar stool
- Casters (4)
- Bemz slipcover
- Saw
- Drill
- Screws
- Screw driver

Here's how to do it:
Saw the legs off to achieve the right height, i.e., to fit snuggly under the table so that your own legs can be crossed comfortably yet still high enough that arms rest correctly when typing on a laptop. Note! Keep in mind the height of the casters you plan on using when deciding how much of the leg to saw off. The casters will obviously add height on.

Then simply screw in casters of choice. To alleviate the screwing in process, a hole can be started with a drill, using a bit a size smaller than that of the screw.

And voila! A new Henriskdal desk chair on wheels with a Designer slipcover from Bemz in Marimekko's Unikko Black. (The poster in the background is of a Henriksdal dining chair with a cover in Sagrada Blossom from the Bemz Designers Guild collection).

We made ours and the osteopath's day! If you've got a good Design-It-Yourself idea, send it along to me, with some photo(s), to blog [at] bemz [dot] com and help us inspire a little personalization into everyone's lives...

Feel like hibernating? Curl up in your armchair!

With the onset of autumn, it’s high time to up the cozy-factor in our homes.

And what better way than with a cup of tea curled up in your favorite armchair?

But does it need a bit of TLC? If it’s starting to look a little worn and frayed around the edges, or you simply feel it’s time to brighten your cozy corner up, this is your chance to go “the whole nine yards” design-wise as you’re only dealing with a smaller piece of furniture.

Get adventurous and opt for a brightly colored slipcover, like those pictured here, or a pattern that complements the rest of the room's furnishings.

With over 150 fabrics to choose from at Bemz and made-to-measure slipcovers for over 20 models of armchair, along with detailing options such as piping and loose fit, you are sure to find the look you need for your home. 

Get inspired with more pictures by our talented designers’ various armchair creations from over the years!

Books to Inspire: Essential Small Spaces

They say size doesn't matter and for many of us, there's just nothing we can do about it anyway. Space is at a premium as we've discussed previously. This is where a little professional help on how to max out on our useful space comes in handy.

Enter decorating icon Terence Conran's Essential Small Spaces. Terence Conran is one of the world's leading designers, furniture-makers, restaurateur's, retailers. This book not only inspires but also allows you to celebrate your small space by emphasizing all the positive things about living petite!

Clever Terence asks all the right questions about what it is you really want and need from your home and then gives you an array of solutions to many common design dilemmas, while not losing sight of maximum comfort, usability, and visual appeal.

Covering all kinds of areas such as clearing out clutter (ugh!) to how to make use of redundant space and how to make the most of storage, this book offers a lot along with inspiring decorating ideas and images. Plus, as it comes in a small size, just pop it in your bag and bring it along with you.

Bemz features as an extra in Reebok TV ad

Unbeknownst to us, one of our sofa slipcovers has received global television coverage...

The ad is admittedly slightly distracting but here's a helpful hint: pay attention (or just hit the pause button!) around seconds 16-19; when the unidentified bottom is vacuuming!

That's it!

A Karlstad corner sofa with a cover from Bemz in Spezzatura Fuchsia (sadly, a discontinued fabric). This part of the ad was filmed in Bemz Facebook fan Siobhán's home. Siobhán has brought out the color of her sofa with cushions in a fabric from Designers Guild. She's obviously a woman after our hearts!

Thanks Siobhán for sharing - and well done on your beautiful color choices! And your fame...

If you would like a cover in a similar pink, have a look at our newly launched Tegnér Melange Fuchsia which comes in a similar textured cotton weave.

Alternatively, if your are looking for the vibrant color with a bit of pattern, our Fandango - Red (pictured right) or Pirput Parput - Pink/Red (pictured left), both from the Bemz Marimekko designer collection may be just the ticket.

If these pinks are darker than what you are after, have a look at our Candy Pink (pictured left), even lighter Dusty Rose or really jazz your sofa up with a slipcover in Stockholm Stripe - Candy Pink (pictured right).

You can also choose from a number of patterns that incorporate as much or as little pink as you want: Hounds Tooth - Dusty Rose, Prisma Stripe - Eggshell Blue (pictured top), Josephine - Strong Pink, Baronessa - Pink, Sir Harald - Multi, Static Stripe - Fuchsia (pictured right), Gustavian Flowers - Dusty Rose, Unikko - Red from Marimekko, and Barcelona Crocus, Sagrada Lime, or Sagrada Blossom (pictured left) from the Designers Guild collection.