Interiors: Changing the Colour of an IKEA Stocksund with Dylon dye.

I remember the day my Stocksund was delivered. It was 2016 and I had not longed moved house. Monty was getting bigger and the two seater I owned previously wasn't cutting it anymore for both of us. I’d never owned a ‘proper’ sofa before, it was always make dos.

I settled on the Stocksund because the covers come off and so I could wash out the life of a Labrador - the joy of having him on the sofa with me far outweighed the need to have a pristine sofa. And at the time I loved the blue, blue sofas were having a moment and I was living in a rental where the walls were yellow so decided to lean into it and have a colourful room.

But fast forward to 2023 and in the 7 years I’d had the sofa it’s seen many a dog sit on it and many a bottle of wine shared with friends (pre 2022 when I went sober). The covers had been washed almost monthly and the colour was tired. Add to that that I was planning on repainting and the blue just didn't seem to sit right with anything anymore.

First I pondered buying a new sofa, thinking dark green would be perfect for masking a mutiltude of dog on the sofa sins but then quickly thought to my deposit saving budget and the wastefulness of replacing a perfectly decent sofa and decided against it. Then I remembered Ikea did new covers but none screamed buy me. Next I was ordering samples from Comfort Works only for them to come and realise it was still out of my financial reach at the moment.

Then an idea started forming: I wonder. I have a Hobbycraft near me so I popped in when I was running some errands and grabbed a Dylon Forest Green machine pod and when I got home I popped one of the sofa arm covers in the washing machine with it not expecting much - the covers have a good amount of polyester in them so wasn't really expecting the colour to take at all. 50 minutes later I was astounded to pull it out the washing machine to find it was now a gorgeous deep, velvety dark green. The whole process was so easy it was kind of worrying but nonetheless…

So back I went and bought 5 more pods. I used 2 in one load for the two back seat cushions, another 2 for the seat cushions and one for the main body cover. The second arm cover went in with one of the cushion covers. I mean, the worst that could happen is the colour is patchy and I just buy new covers, right? Eeek.

But I was pleased to find that the dye took and it was even and deep all over. I was delighted. And it was so easy to do. I assumed perhaps I’d see a lot of colour fade the next time I washed them but these photos show the sofa after the second wash after dying so it seems to be holding fast.

If you have a sofa that needs a refresh, before you cover with throws or replace perhaps give this a go? You’ll need to check there is some natural fibre in your covers - mine were a poly cotton mix hence the dye taking. Also, make sure you wash your covers first before you start the dyeing process to make sure dirt and oils don’t affect how even your dye is.

I didn't love that I had 6 plastic pods left over that are hard to recycle but I out them on a Facebook group and a teacher took them for crafts projects. They could also be made into papermache vases.

What do you think? Have you dyed your sofa covers and had a different experience? Tell us in the comments!

Sharing is caring, pin me!

---