My sofa cushions need more friction

September 12, 2005 8:10 AM

Help me stop the cushions on my IKEA Ektorp sofa from sliding forward.

My sofa has removable seat cushions and back cushions, and a fold-out sofa bed. The area underneath the seat cushions is a very smooth vinyl; consequently, the cushions "creep" forward whenever you sit down, stand up, or squirm around, leaving you with several inches of unsupported cushion just hanging there stupidly. Pushing them back into place every night, sometimes multiple times a night, is getting quite frustrating.

I want to put something on this vinyl surface or on the forward edge to cause more friction and prevent the cushions from sliding. It should be affordable, it should last at least 6mos-1year, and it should not damage the underside of my seat cushions. I'm wondering if some kind of double-sided rug tape might work, but that stuff never struck me as being very effective. Better ideas?

posted by junkbox to home & garden (11 comments total)

What about a rug pad like this, that you can cut to size easily. They're available all over the place.
posted by dness2 at 8:18 AM on September 12, 2005

Heavy duty velcro with adhesive on one side?
posted by cushie at 8:21 AM on September 12, 2005

I bought a couple of metres of rubbery matting from WalMart's material section. Not sure what the name of it is but it's a blue "fabric" with a rubbery texture and little holes in it. I put a layer of that between my couch's wooden frame and the futon and it's stayed put ever since.

On preview, what dness2 said. Non-slip rug pads.
posted by KathyK at 8:21 AM on September 12, 2005

We had a serious problem with this on a $400 couch we bought, which looked very similar to yours. Velcro didn't work worth a hoot, and eventually we were so tired of the disarrayed cushions that we just sold it.
posted by rolypolyman at 8:35 AM on September 12, 2005

Yeah, rubber matting is the standard solution for this. It's super cheap. It's gonna look like this, and you cut it to shape with scissors. You can buy it anywhere like Fred Meyer, Target, etc.
posted by Hildago at 8:36 AM on September 12, 2005

I second everyone's suggestion for no slip rug pads, but I'd take it step further and buy tool box liner material. It's essentially the same stuff, but it's thicker. A roll sufficent to handle most any sofa can be bought at Harbor Freight for just a few bucks.
posted by friezer at 8:58 AM on September 12, 2005

I tried wide self-stick Velcro on some upholstered cushions that crept. Results were not good: the Velcro rolled up, and its adhesive gummed up the upholstery. Might work better on vinyl, but I'd go with the tool-box drawer liner if I had to do it again.
posted by Kirth Gerson at 9:08 AM on September 12, 2005

When did you buy this sofa from IKEA? I have the exact same one (just got it a month ago) and the cushions never slide forward. The cushions have some sort of strange, non-slip fabric on the bottom. Perhaps IKEA has made some design improvements that they'd like to share with you?

You can always call the ever-helpful IKEA customer service folks and ask them for suggestions, but I'd recommend calling or going back to the store you purchased it in and going directly to the furniture floor and asking them for suggestions.
posted by MeetMegan at 9:16 AM on September 12, 2005

we bought this same couch about 3 months ago and definitely have the coushion-sliding problem. it's actually driving us insane, so i'm glad i saw this thread.
posted by subclub at 10:29 AM on September 12, 2005

I have this same sofa(bed), and the same problem. The rug liner--or drawer liner, also available at places like Target--seems to be the best solution, not least because it doesn't actually affect the structure of your sofa.

I'd recommend NOT going with Velcro, because whatever you attach to the cushion itself will make it unsightly to flip when a guest spills red wine on the top.
posted by CiaoMela at 10:55 AM on September 12, 2005

A cheap solution is to look in the storage area of your local everything store (Fred meyers, Meijers, Target, etc) and get cupboard paper. It's rubbery and meant to create a distance between glasses and the cupboard for sanitary reasons. It is also ideal for putting between cushions in order to prevent slippage. Rug pads are good to, but often too large and a lot is wasted after trimming.
posted by elwoodwiles at 11:44 AM on September 12, 2005