OLD FURNITURE CAN FIT IN NEW COLOR SCHEME WITH SLIPCOVER MAKEOVER.

Byline: Victor Panichkul Fort Worth Star-Telegram

Slipcovers are all the rage these days. They're practical as well as pretty.

If you get bored with the look of a room, you can have sofas and chairs slipcovered and change out a few accessories in the room. A Persian rug might be replaced by a sisal rug, for instance. And throw pillows, which are inexpensive, can be changed.

Slipcovers also give you the flexibility to move furniture from one room to another with a different color or decorative scheme. You just have a slipcover made to go with the new setting, which is more cost-effective than new furniture.

One interior designer gave the example of a bedroom she designed for a showhouse a few years ago. She found a wicker chair she wanted to use in the room but the cushions on the chair were red. The room she designed was being painted yellow, so she had the chair cushion covered in a fabric that matched.

On the other hand, while slipcovers extend the life of an older sofa, good ones including the cost of fabric will cost up to 80 percent of the cost of a new sofa. The question is, what shape is your old sofa in? If it's sagging and squeaking, don't spend the money to slipcover it.

If you can't afford a new sofa, one suggestion is to buy a used but well-made sofa, then get it slipcovered. Just make sure you like the lines of the sofa. A well-made sofa will last 20 to 25 years, she said. The normal life of fabric is eight to 10 years. A good sofa could be recovered two or three times.

When calling upholsterers for quotes, be sure you have the dimensions of the piece ready. They can give you an idea of how much fabric you'll need. Before making a decision, make sure you see their work.

Another alternative to custom-made slipcovers is a ready-made variety offered by mail-order catalogs such as Pottery Barn. Generally these baggy slipcovers are made to fit sofas of varying sizes and use elastic seams to gather the fabric around the furniture. They don't provide the same soft, tailored look of custom-made slipcovers but they're an option for those on a tight budget.