Maybe a year or more ago, ikea rolled out their stocksund line and I started screaming. It was the best sofa I have seen ikea design and one of the rarer pieces from them that lends to a more traditional aesthetic. With children, I had made a mental resolve to only allow either slip covered or leather onto the sofas in our main family living area. I want very cleanable materials. Often brands that carry a piece with completely removable slip covered upholstery are pretty expensive, save for ikea. So if the great Swedish superstore ever made a really good sofa I would totally nab it. And then a beautiful, classic, english roll arm sofa with removable covers was available from ikea for $599. Like what? But of course it was too good to be true because they were not offering any colors that would work for my house.
THAT IS OKAY. I told myself. Ikea has bequeathed to us their loveliest sofa to date and I will not turn my nose up at it, but patiently wait for them to release some more colors.
I checked back at their website every several months to see if they had more colors. I always imagined myself buying a solid color couch because a pattern felt too not versatile. As more time passed and I wanted the couch more, I started trying to see the blue and white ticking stripe option with an open mind. We have a similar pattern on the duvet in our bedroom and so I hauled it downstairs and threw it over our old couch to simulate and I instantly loved it.
I drove to ikea. I got my sofa. I ate a cinnamon roll.
What I love about it functionally is how deep it is. So good for snuggling (not pictured). And that every single piece of fabric on this thing is removable and machine washable.
Like a good little buyer, I checked my measurements before we purchased, but it does still feel a little low once in the room. Maybe it is not that it is too low, but it just feels off right now because it is a touch lower than the old one? There are some neat websites out there that sell interchangeable legs for ikea furniture, so if I do not get used to it I may swap in some taller legs. (Update: we got used to it; it was fine.)
We still have our brown loveseat in the room, but its presence is minimized when it is the only one rather than having a matching sofa AND loveseat that are not my favorite. Also this one in particular does not bother me much because what I will one day replace it with is a leather loveseat, so it is accurately representing a warm brown tone in the room, so I can still decorate with it for an accurate picture of how the finished space will feel.
With this purchase I saw just how much the room feels different having such a lighter sofa. Like it really rattled me. Going forward I have different priorities for where I place art or accessories because this side of the room is a lot less heavy. A good reminder to myself to not decorate or make decisions on how things feel with temporary pieces.
Above is a little photoshop rendering of where this side of the room is headed. I will continue the gallery style art around the room. Right now I have about four pieces, and in total I want nine that circle around the whole living room, in a single row. I am about to buy three more prints, some of them pictured here. As for pillows, I am a no fuss person, so on both beds and sofas my favorite thing to do is a single long lumbar or bolster pillow. With just one pillow the whole couch feels styled and chic!
I am thankful ikea did not have a solid color option I liked because I would have bought hastily and not pushed myself to do something a little more daring with a print. This is still a timeless and relatively subtle pattern, so the cautious part of me is appeased. But I love what a little extra pattern does against the rug. I have mentioned before this room will have mostly only blue-green tones for the palette so mixed patterns is exactly what we want to go for.
