Sensational slipcovers

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It's the malady of the malcontent. You just put the finishing touch' — at considerable time, expense and gnashing of teeth — on your color scheme of red and Wedgwood blue when you decide you'd really like a charcoal-and-silver room.

Is it a pathological inability to commit? No, let's not call it that. Let's call it a love of home married to a certain wanderlust.

Fortunately, you can visit the land of slipcovers, the land of design derring-do.

Those in the fabric and furniture business agree that certain trends are conspiring to ‘‘give us the slip.''

Those trends include a renewed taste for shabby chic, the green and thrift movements, and a focus on family life as it really is lived — family movie-and-pizza night included.

Generally speaking, you have two choices in slipcovers: Buy them off the rack or have them custom designed.

In the former case, you'll get a more slouchy effect and may spend a bit of time tucking and re-tucking. In the latter, you'll spend more money but get a result that's less shabby chic than shabby cheek or even shabby sleek. (Either way, you have the option to, figuratively speaking, throw the couch in the washing machine rather than in the dumpster.)

Specifically speaking, you have a third choice that's a hybrid of off-the-rack and custom — assuming that you own furniture from Ikea. That's because a Sweden-based design company called Bemz has introduced slipcovers designed specifically for Ikea sofas and chairs.

“What we do is mass customization,” says Bemz CEO Lesley Pennington. “We customize slipcovers to particular pieces of furniture that a lot of people have. One-size-fits-all doesn't fit well and can look ‘stuffed in.' Our slip, covers are fitted, not loose. They're all done with Velcro and zippers.”

Bemz's collection includes offerings from hot European designers and the world-famous, punch-of-color-in-the-eye Marimekko. The covers fit most Ikea sofas and chairs, even discontinued models. You can order free fabric samples at the Bemz website, www.bemz.com.

Professional upholsterer Jeannie Hutchins of Natural Slipcovers in Durham, N.C., which specializes in Earth-friendly, organic fabrics, recommends slipcovers when:

— You're trying to achieve a particular style — shabby chic or Old English country — and don't want to spend about twice the money to reupholster.

— You want a different look for each season or social occasion.

— You have children and/or pets and need the option of ‘‘washing'' your furniture.

— Allergies are an issue.

— You're undecided about keeping a piece of furniture but do need to update it. You can always reupholster it later.

— You want to keep new or recently reupholstered furniture looking nice.