IKEA hacking – Poäng Armchair

So! I don’t even know where to start…

This is a lovely challenge that I’m sharing with you here. It started with a simple idea but ended with a pretty cool result.

It’s the story of the Poäng armchair from Ikea, which visually didn’t quite fit into the living room that adopted it. The idea was to make it the king of the room…

It all began with a challenge to decorate a brand-new interior, as a new apartment had just been delivered. The goal was to give this apartment a warm, cool, and bright interior. The chosen color scheme: grey and yellow. A trip to the Swedish giant resulted in a variety of furniture, including a grey corner sofa and a lovely yellow lacquered unit. So far, so good. Except that once all the boxes were unpacked and assembled, there was this Poäng armchair that didn’t seem to belong because of its color. At first, I thought about painting it with special textile paint, but I quickly abandoned that idea. Then, the idea of sewing a replacement cover for the original one seemed the most appropriate. But was it doable? I had the choice between sewing a cover identical to the original (meaning with two compartments, two zippers, and the small headrest), or sewing a large “cover-up” style slipcover that would nicely hide everything.

The first option was obviously the most ideal, but the choice would depend precisely on the level of difficulty. Let’s take a closer look:

ENG – So where do I even start?
This is a beautiful challenge that I am presenting here. It all started from a simple idea but ended in a cool result.

This is the story of the Poäng couch purchased at Ikea, but which did not look ok in the living room that adopted it. I gave a little help here to turn this couch into the king of the area…

All started with this home staging challenge. Actually this is a brand new apartment that had just been purchased, so the place was empty with basic white walls. The idea was to redesign and decorate. We are focusing here on the living room with color Grey and Yellow chosen for the interior. We head to the Swedish mega-store and come back with different furniture including a grey angle chair and a yellow TV furniture. Till now all is well. Only that once all the furniture had be unwrapped and assembled, we find ourselves with this cream-ish chair, that does not really have anything to do with the rest. That is when I told myself that something had to be done. In the beginning I thought of painting the cushion cover, but I ended up not wanting to go through all that hassle. Then I thought of sewing a different cushion that could replace the original one. But could this be easily done? I told myself that if it was too difficult I would just sew a basic cover with no zip or anything, and just smuggle the cushion in it.

The first option was the most ideal. However all depended on the level of difficulty. Let’s look at this closely:

I noted: the presence of foam padding, batting, 2 compartments, 2 zippers, and bias tape. A side A made of a single piece, and a side B made of three pieces. There was also Velcro to hold the cover and its padding to the wooden frame.
In truth, once I understood how it was all assembled, I realized it was actually like sewing a large pouch with two compartments. Which leads me to say: “If you can sew a pouch… you can sew this cover!”

Are you still with me?
Ok. So now that I was more or less sure of my plan, my imaginative streak—which, let’s face it, had completely stepped aside during the serious calculations and decisions—slowly started to resurface, resuming its role as artistic director, especially when it came time to: CHOOSE THE FABRIC!

Choosing the fabric: This is the moment I love most in any textile-related project. Remember the common thread: A grey and yellow living room. The armchair had to follow this rhythm, BUT I wanted to give it a touch of pep, joy, creativity, style, and modernity. A quick look at the IKEA website to see the range of upholstery fabrics available, and BINGO! A name: Färgkulla. A quick trip to Ikea. Back with only one desire —> to test the compatibility…

ENG – I took note of the following: foam cushioning, batting, 2 compartments, 2 zips, bias binding. Side A. formed with only 1 piece, side B. formed with 3 pieces. I also noted the presence of velcro that maintained the cushion to the wooden structure.
Honestly once I understood how everything was assembled, I realized that it was like sewing a big pencil case with two compartments. And this makes me say the following: “who can sew a pencil case, can sew this cushion cover”

Are you still with me?
Ok. So now that I was more or less sure, my imaginative craziness that had till now found a hiding place, started stepping out slowly. It started taking its responsibilities of artistic director, especially when came the moment to CHOOSE THE FABRIC!

Choosing the fabric: This is the moment I like the most in any fabric based project. You remember the main idea? A grey and yellow living room. The chair should also follow this theme however I wanted it to be pepsy, joyful, creative, and modern. A quick tour on the idea website, and bingo! Färgkulla was it’s name. Let’s see how the colors match…

The test looked okay. We could now start the bulk of the work, which meant painting the furniture and sewing the cover.

Regarding painting the armchair, I had to sand it with sandpaper before applying two coats of paint. Here I’m using Ripolin’s Metallic Effect Chrome Grey paint. I had already used it to customize the coffee table in this same living room.
The result is smooth, shiny, and satin-like, exactly what was needed to stay within the grey tones while adding a different texture.

ENG – The test seemed ok. I could now start painting the wooden structure and sewing the cover.
Regarding the paint, the reference is Ripolin’s Gris chrome effet métallisé. I had already used it to paint the sturdy table. I sanded the wood before applying 2 coats of paint.
The result is sleek and smooth, and is an appropriate color that stays in the color scheme, but at the same time brings its own bright touch.