Adding a Custom Detail to the Basic IKEA Ektorp Sofa & and the Easiest Oversized Ottoman, Ever!

After several months of absence, I now find myself, as half of our planet’s population, at home. I hope you are staying safe and healthy and trying to make the most out of this incredible situation.

Many things have changed since my last blog post, which include additional work commitments, a move to a new home (still in Houston, Texas) and travels, all which have kept me busier than before.

My love for interiors, easy do-it-yourself projects and decorating expensively but in an inexpensive way has not changed a bit. In fact, there are many projects that I’ve done over the course of these past months, but unless you’re a blogger, you wouldn’t imagine the time it takes to prepare a blog post (photo shooting, photo editing, writing & editing). Now that I have plenty of time I would love to share with you some of these projects.

A few months before we moved out of our old house, we had to re-arrange the guest bedroom and we found ourselves with an extra twin size bed. I stored the wooden headboard and the bed frame in the garage, but not the box spring or the mattress ~ if you’ve ever lived in the Houston, Texas area, then you would know that because of the humidity, any fabric surface left outdoors (even in the garage) accumulates an odor and gets destroyed over time.

So, I came up with the idea of converting the box spring and the mattress into an oversized ottoman to use in the family/tv room: I just placed the box spring directly on the floor and the mattress on top! I positioned it in parallel with our IKEA Ektorp sofa and that was the best idea ever! It could now be used as a sitting spot for many (up to 4 people in a row – boys, I mean) playing video games at a closer distance to the tv; it served as a leg extension when sitting on the sofa; it became a “table” for various projects and family games; and it could always be used as a bed, if needed!

I covered the box spring & mattress with a custom made cover which is basically a simple bed skirt (or a fitted table skirt) with the addition of a black trim detail all around. I had it made in Greece last summer while we were there because it was less expensive ($25 for the fabric, $25 for professional sewing), but now that I look at it, I think I would be able to make one myself even with my limited sewing skills.

When the oversized ottoman was in place, there was a slight problem…. the IKEA Ektorp sofa was suddenly too low compared to the ottoman, so I ordered furniture risers to elevate the sofa and make it proportionally right in height. To cover the gap that was now between the floor and the bottom part of the slipcover, I came up with one more incredible idea: I simply sewed on a 3-inch black grosgrain ribbon!

{Of course, I had a plan all along and I had measured everything in advance, but I like to dramatize, and make a short story longer!}

So, what do you think?

I’ve never loved my IKEA Ektorp sofa more! This custom detail really elevates the sofa (literally and figuratively) and the entire room. The sofa cover looks like it’s custom upholstery and far from being one of the most popular IKEA sofas!

You too can customize any slipcovered sofa using a ribbon in a color that matches the decor of you room; you don’t necessarily need to elevate your sofa, instead you can sew the ribbon on top of the cover. You can also use narrower ribbon (one inch), or a double band with space in between. I recommend using grosgrain ribbon which is thicker and not shiny.

Here is what the furniture risers look like. The IKEA Ektorp sofa is not too high, nor too deep so the additional 3 inches in height do not create any sitting issues. The extra room created under the sofa gives new additional storage space (I purchase the furniture risers, here).

As I was describing above, this new oversized ottoman became a favorite for us all. It provides extra sitting, it works as a leg rest, or as a table, and it looks like it’s an extension of the sofa as the color and the fabric are very similar to the IKEA Ektorp sofa. A very large tray provides a solid surface to keep books, magazines, remote controls etc. in place.

This family/tv room was located on the second floor, outside of the kids’ bedrooms and it was slightly elevated with two steps. We really enjoyed our time in this cozy space!