Isn’t buying a full futon cover for your futon mattresses kind of like keeping the plastic on your couch after buying it? Sure, it’ll keep the stains off… but isn’t it a little redundant?

I will grant you that keeping the plastic on a sofa indefinitely is, well, ridiculous, but when it comes to futon beds and futon frames, a futon cover is a welcome addition to the party.

Here are some reasons you want to consider adding a full futon cover over any futon mattresses in your home.

1. A Futon Slip Cover Protects Your Futon Mattress From Stains, Spills, and Other Accidents.

Did you just spill your dinner on your futon? Wait, why aren’t you eating at the dinner table? I regress…

Anyhow, no worries: that queen sized microsuede futon cover you just fit over your queen futon mattress sofa bed is now paying off. Instead of having to deal with “How the heck do I clean a freakin’ futon mattress?, you now need only to wash the futon cover (and go get a second helping of dinner – and this time, eat at the table!).

Seriously though, futon slip covers are going to protect your investment of buying a futon sofa bed in the first place. You can even buy futon covers that are designed to resist stains, such as a waterproof futon cover or vinyl futon cover. Just make sure you buy an easily washable futon cover and you’ll be set.

2. A Futon Cover Will Cover Up Existing Stains, Spills, and Other Accidents On the Actual Futon Mattress.

Futon mattresses get dirty. They seem to get dirtier than normal sofas or a normal bed. This is especially true for a black futon (and on that note, black futon covers have the same faults – they show dirt and cat hair and other icky things much easier than say, a light green futon cover or a nice blue futon cover.)

Since futon beds are a popular item amongst the youth, buying one used means.. you don’t want to know what’s actually on it. (Beer would be the least of our concerns.)

It’s much easier just to slap on a nice cotton futon cover or one of those fancy chenille futon covers and keep any spills and stains on the mattress itself out of sight and out of mind!

3. A Futon Cover Can Definitely Be Part of Your Homes Design and Decor Theme.

This is one of the coolest reasons to add a cover or slip to your futon: to make the futon add something to the overall design theme of your room or home.

For instance, say you’re a huge NC State football fan (for what reason, I do not know, but that’s for a different conversation). This means you like the color red. You want everything in your home to be red. But that stupid blue futon in the living room makes people think you like UNC instead! Show your true colors (pun intended) by buying a red futon cover!

Another example is something I saw at a beach house recently. You can imagine the theme going on here – shell decorations, sand art, beach photos on the walls, plants and greens around the house. And then I noticed that the two futon mattresses in the living room were decked out with the ever popular tropical futon cover theme.

These two examples are only the tip of the iceburg. You can pretty much get a futon cover that will add to the flair of your design goals, no matter if you’re going for a rustic futon cover to match the antique, country feel of your home, or a black futon cover to match the death metal posters in your dorm room.

4. A New Futon Cover Means You (Almost) Have a New Futon

Just because you bought a plain black futon doesn’t mean you have to always have a black futon! Applying a cover will basically give you a “new” piece of furniture without having to really buy a whole new futon. This is what puts the “cheap” in “cheap futon covers” since it’s far less expensive than buying a futon with a matching design.

Anytime you want a “new” futon, just change the cover. Simple as that!

Now I wish I had a 5th reason to buy a futon cover so I could title this article something like “5 Reasons To Use a Futon Cover”, because “4 Reasons To Use A Futon Cover” just doesn’t sound right. But let me turn the tables on you here – if you’ve read this far, you’ve probably thought this article was interesting (I hope), and I also hope it’s given you some realistic ideas on how and why to use a slipcover on your futon at home.

But what didn’t I cover?

I invite you to give me the 5th reason in the comments section below!

Ikea is one of the most hip, popular brands in the world.

And…so is Target, right?

Well, not exactly, but it’s no secret that anyone who has an eye (and a wallet) for high quality products is going to be hip to both Ikea and Target, although Ikea certainly has the edge for being cooler.

Either way, what I want to look at in this article is reasons for buying either an Ikea futon cover or a Target futon cover.

First of all, Targets are everywhere. I mean everywhere. And how many Targets are there? According to Wiki Answers, there’s 1724 Target stores. Not sure if that’s in the USA or everywhere, or if it includes Super Targets. To tell you the truth, this number actually seems small to me, as just my area has something like 5 Targets that are all within a 15 minute drive of one another. Either way though, nearly 2,000 Target stores – holy cow batman, that’s a lot of Target stores! For someone shopping, that makes things easy. Yes, sure, websites are wonderful to look at but for lots of things – especially home decor style type items – don’t you want to hold them in your hands and look at them? What about the benefit of being able to look at multiple items at once in person and do on the spot comparisons to decide which is best? This is going to be one of the biggest perks that Target has over Ikea – it’s everywhere, and people know it, and this means you can easily go into the store, take a look at the futon covers for sale, and decide what futon cover suits you and your sofa bed the best. You can likely even touch the actual fabric and get an idea of how it’s going to feel to sit on your new covered sofa bed futon with a brand new futon cover.

Compare this to Ikea, which has, according to the Ikea wikipedia entry, a comparatively measly 301 stores globally, in 37 countries total. In the US, there’s only 35 IKEA stores to choose from in all 50 states. So unless you happen to live in one of the few places that have an Ikea, your only option is to look at the different futon cover types online or in a print catalogue (Ikea make fantastic print catalogs still!) and order it without seeing it or touching it in person. That would be my only option, unless I want to drive 3 hours to get the nearest IKEA (which recently opened and amazingly, I hear about many people who do just that!).

Blah blah blah – you might be saying. This is just shennanigans. It’s no big deal to buy online versus in store.

Okay – we’ll give that one up for now, but Target secretly gets a +1 so far if you’re keeping score.

Now onto maybe what you’re really looking for: What about the actual products for sale? As in, what is different about the futon covers at Target or Ikea? Are they cheaper in one store versus the other? Are they nicer at one store versus the other? Does one store have a better selection than the other? Because that’s what it all comes down to really… price, quality, and selection. Soooo…. let’s go through these three questions in regards to Ikea futon covers and Target futon covers.

Are the futon covers nicer at one store versus the other?
I’m gonna have to go with Ikea on this one. Ikea has nicer futon covers than Target. Your intuition already told you that though, right? T’is is true. Ikea sells lots of slick looking, artsy, hip furniture, and this includes the sofa covers, futon covers, sofa beds, and so on too.

Can you get a cheaper futon cover at one store versus the other?
Yep. Ding, ding, ding – Target wins this round. Target has a futon cover selection that comes at a cheaper price that Ikea. You can find good deals for futon covers at both places, but by and large, Target is going to have more competitive prices for their futon cover products than Ikea will. This is usually for any product when it comes to Target versus any store, thus the reason they have nearly 2,000 stores and growing, right!

Does one store have a better selection of futon cover products over the other store?
You would think that Ikea wins this round, you would think that Ikea would have a really rocking selection of futon cover and soda slip products but… actually, they don’t. Not compared to Target at least. Target has more of a selection if you looking to buy a futon cover than Ikea.

The Results: Buy your futon cover at Target if you want to find a better price and a better selection of different futon covers to choose from, and you can easily size this purchase up in person. Buy your futon cover from Ikea if you want to spend a little bit more money on a select futon furniture and futon cover types, probably though mail order