It's a cover-up

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'.

Which is more expensive: can you tell the difference?

Just as it says in the title - here are some photos of sofas grouped into pairs that look quite similar. Which of the two do you think is the more expensive version? Don't forget to check out the price differences after the photos! 

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Pair 1: £1412 vs £269 (excl. sofa). On the left, Arco in chartreuse polyester from BoConcept; right, the now discontinued Kramfors sofa from Ikea with a Bamboo Green cover in Tégner Melange textured cotton from Bemz.

Pair 2: £674 vs £6,624. On the left, the Kivik sofa (£375) with a Light Olive Green cover in Belgian Linen Blend (£299) from Bemz; right, Neo Wall in Tosca 45 cotton linen mix at Geoffrey Drayton.

Pair 3: £3785 vs £149 (excl. sofa). On the left, Petal in velvet from Rume; right, the discontinued Stromstad sofa from Ikea with a Bemz cover in Real Red. 

Pair 4: £379 (excl. sofa) vs £4999. On the left, the discontinued Stromstad sofa from Ikea in Unbleached Linen from Bemz; right, the Crescent Corner sofa in linen from John Lewis.

Pair 5: £1624 vs £439 (excl. sofa). On the left, Slim Suzie from Sofa Workshop in wool mix; right, the discontinued Tylosand from Ikea in Zinc Grey Tegner Melange textured cotton from Bemz.

These sofas are a selection from interior design go-to guide House to Home's very own 'Pick of the best modern sofas' which I then paired with an Ikea / Bemz version to match. It is true that many of the Ikea models are now discontinued but that's the point - you don't need to get a new sofa. Recovering your existing one is enough to get the look of the best modern sofas around!

And if you still need convincing, check out this delicious Lotus in Designers Guild fabrics from Heal's which will set you back a cracking £4755. 

Could you not achieve that very same looking using the sum of these parts (covers come to £529)? 

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Tylosand in Aubergine Raffia, Fuchsia and Pirput Parput Red/Pink from Bemz

If I were to reiterate my question posed in the title of this post: 'Which is more expensive: can you tell the difference?', I think I might change it to say 'Which is more expensive: would you pay the difference?'.

Design-It-yourself: Billy bookcase goes gable topped

I came across this Design-It-Yourself idea in the Ikea Live magazine delivered through my door. In this house tour, home owners Isabella and Martin transformed the simple and ubiquitous Billy bookcase into a fun and colourful gable topped city in their daughter Ella's room.

After writing this up I came across the same room on Ohdeedoh, a great blog from the Apartment Therapy family focused on children and families. There, the owners gave these instructions on how to make these gable topped Billy bookcases:

They were built from IKEA Billy shelves (40x200cm and 60x200cm sizes). For the doors we had the hardware store cut MDF panels in the correct width. In our case it was 6 pieces at 40cm wide and 230cm high. For the roof tops, the shape was designed in free-hand with a pen. My husband Martin then cut with a jigsaw. For the color palette, we brought one of Ella's dresses to the hardware store and they matched the colors. The doors were painted twice using a roller. For the windows, I made a template of cardboard which I then used to cut decorative plastic in white and black. After we adhered the windows, the doors were then hung by hinges. This was a bit tricky to get right, but Martin and his dad decided it relatively painless. Only a few grey hairs later. ; )

By the way - that light shade on the ceiling is a converted fruit bowl. Clever! 

And if that weren't enough, they then went on and refurbished Isabella's old doll's house to mirror the interior of their own home.

Kudos Isabella! 

If you like this idea and would like to see more, then check out this link.

New style of cover from Bemz for the urban lifestyle

There's something exciting happening today at Bemz: the Inspiration Store is closed for business as we are hosting a by invitation only press event and spilling the beans on some pretty exciting and cutting edge news. Bemz has created yet another unique and exclusive look for slipcovers for Ikea furniture. Today's press announcement is that we are adding a completely new look to the Loose Fit range: an Urban inspired loose fitting slipcover made from 100% washed linen.

Originally launched as a Shabby Chic-inspired style in May of last year, these new 100% washed linen slipcovers are an extension of the Loose Fit collection.

The Loose Fit - Urban look is characterized by an edgier, more metropolitan influence in contrast to his kinder rural counterpart. The look is taken from the latest in interior design trends: subdued and elegantly worn with a sophisticated, slightly looser fit. Seams are purposely apparent, with every aspect of the cover cut and sewn by hand with extreme precision.

"The Loose Fit collection allows us to transform an IKEA sofa using both colour and form in an exciting way. It will be great to see how our customers adopt this new urban look and make it their own", says Lesley Pennington, CEO and founder of Bemz.

Both the Urban and Country Loose Fit collections are manufactured using an exclusive linen from Belgium, a country with a centuries-old tradition of flax cultivation and processing. The fabric, Rosendal Pure Washed Linen, is pre-washed to give it a beautifully soft and vintage-like look, and comes in Absolute White, Soft White, Unbleached, Medium Grey, Sage Brown and Lavender.

Loose Fit - Urban covers will be available from early 2012 for a selection of models within the Karlanda, Karlstad, Klippan, Henriksdal, Nils, Klappsta and Kivik furniture ranges and as bedskirts.

Long skirts for winter - for Karlstad and Karlanda

Are you feeling the chill? Some parts of the US have already seen snow and even though many of us experienced one of the mildest October's in years, November pretty much always spells cold.

Is this the reason behind the latest new product from Bemz? The Karlstad and Karlanda ranges are stepping out this winter in a new style: in slipcovers with a long skirt. This slipcover is great for those looking to hide those (dare I say it: ugly) IKEA legs or for those who want to bring their furniture 'closer' to the floor, giving the room a cosier feel while not sacrificing on the contemporary look.

Perfect timing now that those chilly winds are nipping at our legs!

Visit the Bemz Inspiration Store

With our total website revamp and our very exciting entry into a new room in the home - the bedroom - the Inspiration Store was transformed to reflect our recent changes. As Bemz is a global company and more importantly perhaps, an online company, we realise that many of you are not able to visit our Inspiration Store in person. For that reason we are bringing it to you here.

That's the street view into the store.

A Stockholm sofa in Tegner Melange Ink Blue with cushions in Designers Guild's Coconut Grove and Castellar Indigo.

Another designer fabric - Salamander by Bantie - adorns the sofa in the forefront here on the left, and another from their collection - Kokeshi - can just be seen at the back. The store has various sections displaying different colour palettes as we have found that that is generally the way our customers shop. Here we are looking at the reds.

More by Bantie. That is a stunning cushion in Flamingo Park Fuchsia by Designers Guild on the Henriskdal barstool in the back in the photo on the left.

There's a bedcover from our new bedroom collection. 

If you would like to see more there was an interview with Bemz founder and CEO Lesley from the Inspiration Store launch, or stop in for a quick tour here, or why not enjoy its various facelifts here, here and here.

Designer sofa at better than half price?

Do you know Heals? This British department store has long been established as the go-to place for modern designer and contemporary furniture, lighting and accessories. It has its finger firmly pressed on the decor trend pulse. No surprise then to see them collaborating with Marimekko on the eve of their 60th anniversary.

I recently noticed that they introduced a sleek and contemporary sofa with a Marimekko cover to its collection, pictured above. It is stunning, no doubt about it. Unfortunately, so is the £2200+ price tag attached. Sigh. Wouldn't it be wonderful to be able to bring that kind of designer wow into your home at a slightly more affordable price?

 

Enter Bemz. This very same fabric is available through the Bemz Designer Collection: Pienet Kivet Black/White by Marimekko. Choose a contemporary number from our favourite Swedish furniture giant, say a Karlstad, which will set you back about £250, if you're buying brand new. Order your designer cover from Bemz - that'll be another £500 (including shipping), replace the plain wood feet with aluminum ones for an extra £20 and presto! You've created a look-a-like for under £800. Happy shopping!

By the way, did you know you can buy sofas and chairs at IKEA without a slipcover? 

Design-it-Yourself: Ikea Rast dresser

I thought a post showing the endless number of possibilities for transforming the lowly Rast dresser from IKEA would be a good follow-up to my recent post on our fave IKEA hacks. 

Photo c/o IKEA

The Rast dresser is a real budget option: it is made of untreated solid pine (easy to paint) with the backs and bottoms of the drawers made from fibreboard. It wouldn't be Ikea if there wasn't a little bit of fibreboard in there, eh? It seems to be used as a a night stand just as often as a bureau.

When I started looking into it, I seemed to come across an endless number of possibilities - too many to describe individually, however trust me when I say there is something here for everyone! I'll let the photos do the talking and if you like what you see and want to find out more, just click on the source link for further details. Happy DIY:ing!

Via Design Manifest

Via Ikea Hackers

Via IKEA Live (Swedish)

Thanks A Charming Nest

Via Canadian hodge:podge

Via Me, you and a wiener

Thanks to Marcus Design

Via Ikea Hackers

Via Ikea Hackers

Via Design Manifest

Thanks Design*Sponge

Via For Me For You

Via Ikea Hackers

Via Ikea Hackers

Via Double Mommy

Thank you Sarah Rodgers via Apartment Terapy

Phew! The Rast dresser must be a favourite for DIY:ers. If you like the idea of personalising a set of drawers but don't have a Rast dresser, fear not! We've done a few posts on transforming a chest of drawers: here and here.

Top ten IKEA hacks

With the latest IKEA catalogue pushed through my front door, I was reminded of how very clever this Swedish giant is. They have solutions for small spaces, for small budgets, for small people and they always inspire. But it's hard to mass produce and still keep individual taste in focus. Enter IKEA hacks. Here are our top ten favourites, in no particular order. You may see a recurring theme with them, hinting at just why they would be faves chez Bemz:

This one ticks so many boxes: upcycled, stylish, personalised, durable, inexpensive. Alex of the US transformed a plasticky Emmabo deck chair into the modern take on the traditional Adirondack. Kudos.

Personalise a Gyllene lamp (original from IKEA, below left), with your own image as Damian of London did (below right). Artistic and practical. Personal and beautiful. Cute kids too!

Marianne of the Netherlands transformed run-of-the-mill into country cottage chic when she re-did this Bonde cabinet. All she needed to create a completely unique piece was a little elbow grease, chicken wire and good old gingham. Like!

That's how it started out...

And this is the end result. What a transformation!

A close up to really appreciate it.

Felicia of the US took a perfectly normal Hemnes bed frame and really upped the wow factor by adding a seagrass blind to the headboard and voila! A vintage bed frame that looks like no other.

This one doesn't really fit into our personalisation theme like the other examples do, as it is more of a classic hack (in the sense of taking something intended for one thing and making it work for something else) but I couldn't resist! What lucky lady wouldn't want her very own shoe room? Philip built this shoe room for his fiancee Cat out of Billy bookshelves. *Swoon*

Anna in Sweden must have made her little boy Filip very happy with this hack. Nice floors too!

Or how about a budget lamp that is totally on-trend? Sounds too good to be true? Well clever Charles dreamed up this little number out of a Lack table leg! (Just ignore that bare electrical socket please!)

The final product for this hack is meant to be dress boys (those things you hang your clothes on!) which is a clever solution for those living in close quarters, but I immediately thought of art when I saw it. It's like your own little installation! I loved that: contemporary art out of a couple of painted Bertil chairs from IKEA. And investing in art for your home is a big trend for interiors in 2011.

Lydia of Germany transformed a plain Egeby rug into a unique, filigree inspired focal point using paint, paintbrush, a stencil and her own creativity!

And last but by all means not least - although we may not be terribly objective - is this one. A Henriksdal bar stool turned into a moving and grooving designer chair thanks to some casters and a new slipcover in Marimekko's Unikko - Black (from Bemz, natch!).

All ideas and photos are originally on one of our fave sites: Ikea Hacker. The links will take you to the original hack, along with detailed instructions on how you too can transform your IKEA drab into personal fab! 

Design-It-Yourself: Ikea Frosta stool

The whole premise behind the Bemz business is personalisation and here at It's a Cover Up our ambition is to provide tips and inspiration on how you can bring your personal touch, taste, design into your home.

This one comes directly from Apartment Therapy's interior tips genius Maxwell Gillingham-Ryan who demonstrates several ways you can personalise the budget Frosta stool from Ikea into a side table, a nightstand or simply your own version of a stool - and, it's a video! Doesn't get much easier than that. 

How To Hack an Ikea Frosta Stool from maxwell gillingham-ryan on Vimeo.

For more tips and ideas like this one, check out our Design-It-Yourself series.