Slipcover for My Room & Board Jasper Sofa from Comfortworks

This post is about my new Comfortworks slipcover for my 86-inch Jasper sofa from Room & Board. The slipcover was a gift from Comfortworks but all the opinions below are my own.

Back in 2010, I bought my first major piece of furniture: A Jasper sofa from Room & Board. At the time, this was a big investment for me (heck it still would be!), but I had been down the road of cheap couches, including an IKEA sofa that literally split in two. This time, I wanted something that would last for years, if not a lifetime. 

And last it has! Our sofa is in its eleventh year, and it is still in great shape. I am really impressed by the quality of the Room & Board construction—even the pillows have held their shape pretty well. The slipcover, however, has seen better days (blame me and my kid, not Room & Board), and strangely, the base layer upholstery has also faded in weird ways (though the fabric is in mint condition otherwise). It looked fine from a distance and in photos (see below), but was time for a new slipcover. 

So, when Comfortworks reached out to ask if I would be interested in trying out their slipcovers, I eagerly said yes. Comfortworks is an Australian-based, family-owned manufacturer of slipcovers, whose motto is "Give your sofa another chance" (love that!). They started out specializing in covers for popular couches, from IKEA, Pottery Barn, and Muji, but Comfortworks has recently expanded to include many more brands, including, you guessed it, Room & Board’s Jasper. They can also create custom slipcovers for almost any type of sofa.

I love slipcovers because they let you give an old piece a new life and they can completely transform the look of a room in the process. However, living in New York City, commissioning a custom slipcover would have cost much more than the $519 Comfortworks charges for a slipcover for the 86-inch Jasper (fabric alone could have eaten up a $500 budget!). We were also ready for a new look in our living room, which made working with Comfortworks appealing, since Room & Board only offers the Jasper slipcover in various shades of taupe, ivory, and gray, which are all similar to what we already had. 

When I worked with Comforworks earlier this year, Jasper was not yet an off-the-shelf offering, so my slipcover was technically a custom cover. (I suspect I was their Jasper guinea pig.) Here's what the process of ordering a custom slipcover looked like:

First, I ordered various shades of blue fabric samples from Comfortworks to test out in our space, including (Kino Denim, Kino Navy, Claw-proof Velvet Blue, Performance Velvet Indigo, Cotton Canvas Navy, and Cotton Canvas Madison Coal). When the samples finally arrived, the Cotton Canvas Navy was the clear winner. I preferred the natural-fiber fabric for the feel of the fabric. (I know many experts will recommend a performance fabric for life with kids, but I find cotton cleans up remarkably well, if you take the time to spot-treat stains.)

Next, I sent Comforworks a ton of photos of my sofa from various angles and measured all the lengths they needed. After sending in my photos and measurements, they came back and asked for additional measurements to make sure they had everything accurately measure. I felt a little nervous taking the measurements, but their forms and guidelines made it really easy to do.

None of the options in the Comfortworks’ Style Guide exactly matched Jasper's style (the Comfortworks Modern is closest, but it has a piped finish on the seams). When I asked about plains seams and boxed cushions Comforworks was able to style the slipcover as I requested—hurray!

After we finalized the order the slipcover took about a month to arrive. When it did, I was full of anticipation taking it out of the box: Would it fit? I was thrilled to find it fit the sofa as well as the original cover from Room & Board. It was amazing to me that Comfortworks could get this level of tailored fit for a sofa via measurements and digital photos, especially on the Jasper which is a fairly firm sofa with lots of boxed corners (aka very unforgiving). 

The Cotton Canvas fabric feels very durable, and the stitching is straight and strong. All the zippers open and close easily and the box seams line up with the frame very well. One tiny detail that was different from our original Jasper is that the bottom hem of the Comforworks cover has velcro, so you can adhere it to the underside of the sofa for a more tailored look, but I left the hem hanging down because I prefer it that way. 

The navy color gives our apartment a whole new look, which I love: It also really makes our throw pillow pop! And the dark color will (hopefully!) hide fingerprints and other marks from life with a young kid at home. You can see that the swatch and the cover match perfectly!

Comfortworks bills their covers as washable, which is important to me as a mom. I am going to wait to launder it until it needs it, since every washing wears fabric, but once I do, I will update the post about how it fared (FYI, the original Room & Board slipcovers did not do so well in the laundry because the seams were not double sewn and they began to fray after the first wash.)

Overall, I am incredibly pleased with my experience with Comfortworks, and I have already recommended their service to several friends. If you have a tired sofa, consider a new slipcover instead of a new piece of furniture: It’ll save you money and keep your couch out of the landfill. If you have any questions about the slipcover, please ask! I would love to see more couches getting a new life instead of being thrown away. Hopefully, ours will last another decade before it needs another refresh!