Living with Ikea Chairs (Real Life Review)

I think it's probably clear from our many references to Ikea on this blog that we are huge fans of the store.  We love that we can customize their items to give them our own personal touch (Kitchen Island, Mudroom, Coffee Table), all while staying within our limited home design budget.  Today I want to talk about something I get asked about frequently, the Ikea chairs we have in our home.  Our very first Ikea chair purchase was the Ektorp chair, about 8 years ago.  Truth be told, we didn't have high expectations for the chair.  We had just moved into our current house and we needed an affordable chair for our small family room.

Eight years later, that chair is still in our home.  It currently resides in our master bedroom.  Through the years, it started in our family room with a beige cover and made its way upstairs, stopping in both our living room and bedroom.  This chair is comfortable, especially with the ottoman.  When we renovated our master bedroom last year, we purchased a white slipcover for it.  We do need to bleach the white cover often.  It is definitely not easy to keep clean and I learned that I could never live with the bright white Ikea slipcovers in any other part of my house other than the master bedroom.  This chair is my favorite spot to read in our bedroom and my dog's favorite place to sleep at night.

With 3 boys and 2 dogs, I would be washing slipcovers weekly.  No thanks.  The beige slipcover was much easier to keep clean.  Overall, I would recommend this chair, just not the white slipcover for  a busy area.  Fortunately, there are many other options for slipcovers at Ikea.  Our next Ikea chair purchase was the Jennylund chair.

About 4 years ago, I wanted a chair for our living room that was smaller and the Jennylund is definitely a great choice for its size in smaller spaces.  Unfortunately, it is the least comfortable chair in our home.  However, I do still like the look of it and the price can't be beat.  If you need a chair for a room that not a lot of lounging is done, then this chair is great.  I wouldn't recommend it for, say, curling up with a book or napping.  As extra seating for guests, it is perfect.  I love how affordable the slipcovers are for this chair.  We have the white (not easy to keep clean as I discussed above) and the gray check fabric.

Last fall, I spotted the Stocksund chair online, and had high hopes that we could replace our living room Jennylund with it.  After sitting on the chair in store, we knew this chair would be more comfortable than either the Ektorp or Jennylund.  It came home with us that day (which is probably my favorite part of buying furniture at Ikea!).  We put it in the same spot that the Jennylund has been.  It definitely takes up a good bit more space, but the open bottom makes if feel less heavy in the room.

We chose the lightest color cover, which is more of a linen look.  It has been incredibly easy to keep clean.  For some reason with Ikea slipcovers, not getting the bright white cotton slipcovers makes a world of difference in keeping them looking good.  We simply machine wash them.  I have also found that if you remove them from the dryer slightly damp, it makes it much easier to put the slipcover back on.

This has become my favorite spot in the house.  This is, by far, our favorite Ikea chair.  That being said, all of the Ikea chairs we have purchased over the years still have a place in our home.  The simplicity of being able to head over to Ikea and purchase a new slipcover makes them such a great choice for someone who likes to change things as often as I do.