PSA: You can order an IKEA sofa without the cover – Here’s how

If you’ve been prowling IKEA in search of your next couch, you’ve already experienced the lack of colour choices.

True to their Scandinavian roots, you can find IKEA couches in white, grey, brown and black. 

If you’re lucky, you’ll find some available in other pastel hues of blues and green. But even those are limited to select models.

Needless to say this would leave anyone’s inner creative screaming for justice. Which is a pity considering IKEA couches have the potential to look stunning (read: boujee) in a more daring get-up:

Faced with the choice of wasting the cover that came with the couch or forever living with a couch that doesn’t quite “fit”, you may have found yourself asking “can I buy an IKEA sofa without the cover?” 

That’s what I’m here to answer today, and as you’re about to find out – it’s very easy!

Method 1: Request for a custom order in store

I’m something of a master when it comes to Google “search-fu” but finding a concrete answer to the simple question proved impossible. 

Online sources hint that you can get the IKEA sofa minus the cover, but there was never any proof.

After waiting 2 days without an answer from the IKEA Facebook chat I decided to find out the old fashioned way. 

I went into the nearest store and asked. 

What do you know? Getting an answer that way was the easiest thing ever.

I approached the store assistant and enquired. As if he had heard it a bazillion times, I was immediately asked which couch I wanted cover-less. “IKEA Kivik 2 seater”, I blurted, not expecting how accustomed the staff would be to the query.

No idea why that one, I’m not a fan of it – but he said it can be done. Hooray!

To clarify, all other IKEA couches can also be bought separate from their sofa cover, as long as they aren’t upholstered.

Of course I didn’t buy the Kivik as I was still “checking out other options” but there you have it. To get a IKEA sofa separate from the sofa cover, you can simply walk in and ask the IKEA staff to hook you up.

But wait! It gets easier.

Method 2: Do it all online

I went to IKEA, I saw, I asked, and got my answer. But little did I know that I didn’t actually have to – and neither do you!

With the lack of answers on Google, I didn’t know it was possible to order the naked sofa online, from the comfort of my home.

In my research before giving up and heading into IKEA, I discovered that you can place orders by using the “product number”. Although this only works in some IKEAs around the world e.g IKEA US.

It’s like a cheat code to order individual components from IKEA. The only issue was that I could never find the article numbers for every part of the sofa minus the cover.

After searching for hours, I discovered how to get the frame and slipcover separately. Great! But who wants a couch without any seat or back cushions?

Anyway, while I was at IKEA I remembered this little issue and decided to ask, which led to a wonderful discovery. Lo and behold the “frame” actually means frame plus back and seat cushions.

I managed to confirm this after IKEA responded to my messages on Facebook.

This. Changes. Everything! With that knowledge in hand, one can now order your sofa without the cover like so:

1)  Add the sofa you want cover-less to the shopping bag

2)  Go to your sofa in the shopping bag and expand the “show parts” menu

3)  List down the article numbers for the components that make up your sofa. You won’t know which is which until you add them back into the cart with the product number.

4)  Expand the Shopping Bag menu (the triple dots “…” menu) right next to “Shopping bag” and use the “add an item by product number” option to add each component back. From there, simply remove the slipcover.

Voila! After removing the cover you are ready to check out and have your sofa delivered to you cover-less. If you’ve done it correctly, the total cost of all the product numbers combined (including the slipcover before removing it) will tally with the price of the original. 

Notice that before I removed the covers, the price of the Kivik with all the article numbers in step 4 was $499. That’s exactly the same as the price of the pre-packaged Kivik as seen in step 1.

This is important to remember because not all IKEA couches are only made up of the frame and slipcover, so be sure to add in all the product numbers and confirm that the price matches before removing the cover. 

Coincidentally, this also means there is no discount for ordering the frame and slipcovers as a package – which makes it even more enticing to dress your IKEA sofa up in a custom slipcover 🙂

And that’s it! Everything needed to get your sofa without the cover can be accomplished online in less than 15 minutes. No driving in to find it out of stock, and no battling the hoards of IKEA shoppers in the midst of a pandemic. 

Now that you know it’s possible, you can expand your living room horizons with a wider variety of exciting colours. Happy hunting!

Looking for a slipcover for your IKEA couch?

If you’re interested in designing your own slipcover for your upcoming IKEA sofa, consider checking us out on our main website! From colour, to fabrics, to styling options, we have everything you need to craft your own dream sofa. 

This IKEA Nockeby and Stocksund armchair have been brought to life!

But even if cotton candy pink is not your cup of tea, consider checking us out on our website or Instagram to view more of our work and what can be done for your upcoming sofa. Hopefully, you’ll be left feeling like an artist inspired 🙂

Take a look at the video below of how Youtuber, Emily Faith, purchased her naked IKEA sofa and beautified it with Comfort Works slipcover:

Rediscover your couch