It's a cover-up

Here's to all the shout outs!

Bemz is simply loving all the great coverage we’ve been getting in recent weeks! Thanks to all you design savvy journalists and bloggers for your appreciation. Right back at you!

Our latest collaboration with British Designers Guild has been stirring up a lot of excitement out there. Thanks to Poppytalk - one of our fave blogs - who writes that she’s “loving the new collaboration between Bemz and Designers Guild.” She is also a contributing writer at the on-line parenting mag Babble, where the collaboration gets her seal of approval again. Cheers for that!

Surroundings also loves our collaboration with Designers Guild. In particular, our unique new Loose Fit Urban covers from the popular Brera collection by those creative Brits. Many thanks Linda! Tack så mycket also to Swedish interior site mobler.se for the shout out in their recent article compiling tips on pimpin' your Ikea furniture - also featuring a Bemz Brera sofa cover. We like your way of thinking!

We're also thrilled that Séan O at Room Envy by 25 Beautiful Homes recently discovered Bemz and our wide selection of Ikea sofa covers, ranging from subtle to individualistic and wacky. He quips that the Designers Guild sofa cover featured in the photo below is “hardly for shrinking violets.” Thanks Séan O, great to know we have another fan.

Thanks also to Co Design, who provide useful tips on super fast ways to upgrade your Ikea sofa, Bemz slipcovers among them. We're also feeling the love from German Lisa Wohnen & Dekorieren, which featured a Klippan sofa woith a cover in Unikko Red by Marimekko from the Bemz Designer collection. Dankeschön! Home decorating trends magazine Tréndir writes about Bemz's unique solution for customizing Ikea furniture, touting our "snazzy and durable slipcovers." Tréndir is quite smitten with the Bemz Marimekko Unikko printed cotton fabric - all flowery and bold and ready for spring! We’re quite smitten with Tréndir. Thanks for the kudos.

The folks at About Design & Interiors share tips on how to give a room a new look at price that is affordable using – you’ve guessed it – slipcovers, such as those offered by Bemz. Thanks a mill! While Metro Home Canada lines up five super ideas on how to give your home some spring. Number one on the list is to cover your dark sofa in a bright, custom slipcover from Bemz. Thanks for that! And, Interior Domain is right on top of the slipcover trend, posting the photo below, featuring an Ektorp in a pretty Lavender Rosendal Pure Washed Linen slipcover from Bemz. “Believe it or not this is an Ikea sofa," they write. We believe it!

A big thank you goes to My Hunter Gatherer and their kind words on Bemz and our "very clever business of making mass market Ikea furniture one of a kind with custom made slips and covers." And mucho gracias to our friends at Deptto51 out of Chile who write that there are many creative people in the world - such as the people behind Bemz who help you personalise Ikea furniture. We like! Thanks to Life in Shanghai for featuring Bemz and one of our beautiful bed skirts. Hope things are fine up there on the 21st floor!

And finally some more media love for Bemz from Hege in France - also one of our fave blogs and bloggers - with linen slipcovers from Bemz on her wishlist, Bemz Vintage Industrial style in particular. Merci bien Hege et à bientôt!

Design-It-Yourself: Side table

Having been invited to Pinterest (check us out!) not so long ago, my travels through cyberspace seem to be reaching far farther and wider than ever before. Over said travels, I came across a lovely blog called 508 Restoration and Design. I have pinned as well as shared some of their creations on Facebook and everything has been very well received. It's run by a creative couple out of Virginia and this is one of their creations.

They used up tiny bits of left over paper for the drawer and combined it with a lovely cottage blue paint. The interior shelves were painted cream and finished it off with a wax treatment which, and I quote, "ended up giv­ing it a lot of weird stripes, vari­a­tions and texture…and I like it". So do we!

And of course the knob makes it! 

What a tremendous transformation - and all that with scraps of paper, paste, paint and wax. Throw in some elbow grease and a whole lot of creativity and voila! Although the Design-It-Yourself series is really all about personalising things yourself, sometimes it's easier to just buy them - and this baby is for sale, if that's what you want to do.

Anyone else notice the typically Swedish Dalahäst on the wall and the trasmatta under the table? Some seriously sweet Scandi charm going on over there in Virginia! Like.

Thank you for the shout outs!

Some of our favourite blogs have honoured us by including a Bemz feature among their pages in recent weeks.

Holly of decor8 not only waxed eloquent about our new Loose Fit - Urban collection but has also made the plunge and ordered a new cover in one of our Rosendal 100% pure washed linen fabrics for her Karlstad sofa. We look forward to seeing the transformation!

Remodelista is definitely topping our list of faves as we featured twice recently on their pages! Once citing our Loose Fit - Urban covers as the most "thrillingly transformative" Ikea hack they've come across yet. Then, we were included in their list of 10 favorite linen-slipcovered sofas - although here we featured at the bottom of the list... as it was ranked from most to least expensive. A Soft White cover on a Stockholm sofa and an Absolute White cover on a Karlstad made the cut. Thanks Remodelista!

We were thrilled by our recent feature in French Journal des Femmes. This was not a traditional Bemz shout out but a feature on Lesley Pennington, Bemz founder and CEO. There were three (count 'em!) different features: one was a house tour of Lesley's home which we also shared here, next came an in-depth interview with Lesley about interior decorating and the story behind Bemz, and finally, a competition where one lucky French winner will get a new Bemz cover and a personal consultation with a professional interior decorator. Un grand merci à vous Journal des Femmes!

UK-based Home Shopping Spy (of the famed Ideal Home magazine) also gave the Loose Fit - Urban collection and the Rosendal 100% pure washed linen fabrics two thumbs up. Thanks for that Alice.

Also in Britain, the Mail Online included Bemz as a viable solution for "How to... give your home a spring makeover without spending too much time and money." While The Independent included a Klippan with a cover from the new Loose Fit - Urban collection as their number one product for giving your home that Industrial Vintage look. Cheers for that.

And we even got some home-grown recognition: The Ottawa Citizen, newspaper from Bemz founder and CEO Lesley Pennington's home-town, stated Bemz as their favourite place to shop for slipcovers. Heart warming! Thank you Ottawa Citizen!

Over in Germany, trilingual All About Easy Living included Bemz in their story about businesses that have springboarded off the Swedish giant, Ikea. Vielen Dank für die netten Worte über Bemz! And the same goes for This Little Street (pictured above) whose focus was also on personlising your Ikea furniture and included Bemz as a great option. Thanks for that This Little Street.

Knitty Mummy shared her Bemz shopping experience with her readers and was very pleased with the outcome. As were we! Thanks Knitty Mummy. The same goes for Dutch Miriam of Stins who said, and I quote "Everything went perfect!". Thank you lovely bloggers!

Go large or go home? Designer furniture you can afford

Let's be honest - there's plenty we covet. In my book, a lot of it is designer labeled. But coughing up the cash isn't that easy. Mostly because there is no cash... The beauty with Bemz is the proverbial can't have your cake and eat it too does not apply here. Yay! See below...

Check out this gorgeous armchair I just saw featured in the March 2012 issue of Livingetc: the Norton armchair in Marimekko's Unikko fabric. The ideal springtime boost for a white space, they write. Couldn't agree more. Except this one will set you back a clean £1800 (US$2820).

Or how about this sweet number: a Karlstad armchair from Ikea with Marimekko's Unikko fabric in red from Bemz. This baby, all said and done, will set you back £279 (US$440). I can think of a few things I could do with that extra £1500 (US$2300)... And the beauty of this solution? You don't have to buy the chair - just cover the one you already have (but if you do buy the chair, you might want to know that you can buy it without the Ikea slipcover and save a few bills there too). Karlstad not the chair you have? No worries. There are over 20 different styles and models to choose from at Bemz.

By the way, this is not the first time I've made this kind of comparison. And, if you found this insightful, you may also be interested in playing our which of these is more expensive game! Check it out here.

Behind the scenes: Bemz photoshoots

We often get asked about accessories and design details readers see in our photos - which is great. That's proof positive that our designers clearly know what they are doing. Not that I ever doubted them...

Sometimes the items can be purchased at source, other times not. Most recently, Bemz design duo Lisbeth and Katarina worked with Swedish Norrgården on the Industrial Vintage photoshoot - and here are some fab items they have on offer. 

The girls at Norrgården are a dab hand at spotting great old finds and sprucing them up as well as selling lovely new things too. 

You can see why it was an ideal location for the Industrial Vintage theme! If you like what you see, read more about this trend here, here and here. Also, check out our Loose Fit - Urban covers that suit this style to a 'T'.

Books to Inspire: Make Hey While the Sun Shines

What does the expression make hey while the sun shines mean anyway? Originally its meaning was literal: farmers should cut and gather their hay while conditions were optimal. Nowadays, it is used in a more figurative context: to make the most of the time when the conditions are right. Unwinding on holiday by knocking up a new bicycle saddle cover perhaps? 

Make Hey While the Sun Shines by Pip Lincolne walks you step-by-step through 20 crafty projects with instructions and illustrations to guide you. The crafts start off with making an individual family flag (like!) and then range from painting ceramics to making party bunting to a patchwork pillow and finally a deer quilt. Pip allows for newbies to experienced crafters alike to benefit from her book.

Make Hey While the Sun Shines isn't only about crafting though. Pip also includes some pull-out recipes and even a playlist! That's the kind of individualisation we love.

If you like what you see, check out more from Pip on her blog, Meet me at Mikes.

Trend alert: Crocheted granny squares

Who would ever have thought that the old granny squares crocheted blanket could ever become cool again? Assuming they were they ever cool... I've been seeing them everywhere and I've got to come clean. I want one! Some of these afghans even suit a modern interior.

By Atelier Abigail Ahern via Livingetc

By Chandlers via Country Homes

By Emma Lamb

Via All the Luck in the World

Via H is for Home's photostream

Via Nesting Blog

Via Where your heart is

Via Posie rosy little things

Via Fuck Yeah Granny Square

Via whereyourheartis' photostream

Via the Victory Garden

Via Design*Sponge

C'mon! Who's with me now?

Thanks for the shout out all you design savvy bloggers!

We have been getting great headlines in and around the cybersphere, for which we are so very appreciative! 

Thanks for Leslie of Live Love Leslie for giving her Bemz shopping experience top marks, the result of which is pictured above. This blogpost was the Bemzie January highlight for 2012!

Oh Canada! We are thankful to you too: online papers, The Province and the National Post both gave Bemz the thumbs up. French Canadian blog Déconome was thrilled about finding Bemz and a little sad that she didn't have any Ikea furniture... She also posted on her Facebook page. Merci Déconome!

Dankeschön to Germany where we are getting big love right now! Lovely blogger, Nadine of herz-allerliebst, shares her ideas and sources of inspiration - in German and English - as well as her home where a Mysinge sofa with and Ink Blue Tégner Melange cover from Bemz sits centre stage (pictured above). I see Nadine shares my love of butterflies... 

Another lovely German blogger, Miris Jahrbuch, proudly showed off her new covers from Bemz, pictured above. What a fantastic room - loving the crocheted poof!

And Melanie of German Meine grüne Wiese, also displayed her Ektorp with its new Bemz cover, pictured above. I love the oversized black and white photo - I wonder if it's of her?

We were lucky enough to have blogger, Betti Bee visit our Inspiration Store in Stockholm where she wrote up a raving review on German Mony Bloggt.

And still in Germany (I said we were getting big love from Germany!) - women's magazine Schöner Wohnen likes out new Dark Denim Blue Piper Twill fabric while Womens Health lists Bemz as one of their nine tips for beautifying the home. Yay!

Interior magazine and blog from Down Under, Adore Home were tickled pink by our great Designer Collection. Thanks for that!

This one came out before Christmas but I missed it. Förlåt! Not too late for a thank you I hope, to Swedish magazine Hem & Hyra for including Bemz in their top ten vibrant sofa colours. Tack så mycket!

And finally, ahead of the impending launch, French magazines Marie Claire Maison and Le Journal de la Maison gave us a wonderful shout out for our new Loose Fit - Urban collection, available from February 13, 2012. Merci beaucoup!

Post Christmas Ektorp

Last week, our customer profile featured Anna of Sweden and her two beautifully recovered Sand Beige Ektorp sofas. Anna sent in those original photos pre-Christmas thus the festive slant to her decor. Anna recently updated us on our Facebook page of her post-Christmas look.

Chez Anna, Christmastime

Chez Anna, post Christmas

I wanted to share this as it is a wonderful example of how a change of accessories, like cushions, candles and plants, can change the whole feel of the room. Anna swapped out the red cushions and accents, the evergreen plants and candles for dusty pinks and soft whites, fresh cuts flowers and leafy greens giving the room a light and soft feel that is at once inviting and brings spring to mind. 

Thank you Anna for sharing your beautiful home with us. Again! 

You can see more of Anna on her Swedish blog, Lantligt på Svanängen. And if you have a Bemz cover, don't just sit there! Share it. Send a photo in of your home to me at blog[at]bemz.com or upload it directly onto our Facebook page.

Ektorps recovered in time for Christmas

Facebook follower Anna of Sweden uploaded this beautiful photo of her living room where two Ektorp sofas in Sand Beige hold centre stage.

I shared this photo with all our followers and it was very popular so I wanted to get it up here on It's a Cover Up before the Christmas decor felt altogether out of place. I love the Scandinavian Country feel of Anna's home - a reworking of traditional style with a beautiful rustic charm. The splashes of red give the cosy vintage look a Christmas feel. Well done Anna.

Get more ideas and inspiration from Anna by visiting her blog, Lantligt på Svanängen. 

If you have a Bemz cover, why not inspire us by sending us a photo of your home? You can upload it directly onto our Facebook page or send it to me at blog[at]bemz.com.