Klippan help plz

May 10, 2008 11:22 AM

The Ikea Klippan sofa is a popular model according to Google and is comfy enough to sit on at the store, but does anyone have any ideas regarding its total lack of head support? I'm thinking I need to add some kind of head rest, like a body pillow held in place with a giant piece of fabric wrapping around it and stapled in the back. This seems like one of those things that somebody somewhere must have figured out already (besides get rid of it). Any ideas?
posted by amethysts to home & garden (8 comments total)

Will the couch be standing against a wall or apart from a wall? I always keep my couches against a wall, and I was considering the Klippan recently. I would get a large pillow and affix it to the wall, rather than to the couch... Keep in mind I haven't tried this, but I would use velcro; sew one half of the velcro to the pillow and attach the other half to the wall with some carpentry nails or a glue of some kind.

That way the pillow itself has some mobility and versatility, but you'll still be able to position it stably relative to the couch when so desired.
posted by chudmonkey at 11:29 AM on May 10

My idea regarding the total lack of head support is that I've never owned a sofa with head rests. They've all kinda had the profile of a Klippan, in fact. They are not La-Z-Boys.

Ikea Hacker does not feature any headrest mods for Klippans. Look at this as an opportunity to document your body-pillow-and-staple-gun-fabric-wrap-technique for others.
posted by mumkin at 11:32 AM on May 10

Amethysts: There are sofas with head support? Could you link us to an example of one, so we can better understand your question?

At least on all the sofas I am familiar with, the head is on its own.
posted by jayder at 12:39 PM on May 10

I found this sofa kept me from slouching as a result of its design. Never had a problem with it!
posted by sunshinesky at 1:10 PM on May 10

You could always screw some plywood to the back of the sofa that will stick up and give you a place to lean a pillow, or put the sofa against a wall. I'm assuming here that you want the back to come up higher, so you can lean against it, perhaps to take a nap or something.

My idea regarding the lack of head support is that this sofa is designed for people who prefer to sit rather than slouch, perhaps it would make more sense to buy a different sofa. Some of the futon types come up fairly high in the back, while being sloped in a way that makes it impossible to sit up straight. If cost is an object, it should be easy to find someone who hates this style of sofa and will happily give you theirs.
posted by yohko at 1:17 PM on May 10

OK, maybe I should have said mid-back support. I would like just a tiny bit more. I didn't realize this couch is designed to make you sit like a Buddhist monk.. which could be a feature rather than a bug, but takes alot of getting used to I guess. It's against a wall now, but my makeshift pillows look really poor and sloppy and don't work great either. Otherwise, I love the way it looks and it fits perfectly where it needs to fit, which is why I want to keep it. I just want it to act right as well as look right.
posted by amethysts at 1:27 PM on May 10

We have two Klippans in our student house, in leather. They take a good beating, and considering we use them alot they have held up well. There is absolutely no upper back or head/neck support, as a result we always end up slumped down into the couch to rest our heads on the back. If you don't plan on spending many hours at a time on the sofa, they are fine but it can get a bit uncomfortable after a while.
Another thing to bear in mind is the harshness of the arms, I'm quite tall and they are only just below my shoulder height when sitting this means there is no way you could sleep/nap on these sofas comfortably.
posted by sliderjc at 2:27 PM on May 10

I couldn't find any instructions for this online, and I forgot where I first saw it (perhaps Threads magazine?), but what you need is a little pillow for the small of your back, with something to keep it in place. A body pillow is a bit large for this.

Basically, the project I saw called for you to sew a small pillow (which you could also buy), add a "tail" to it, put something in the end of the tail to provide a weight about equal to that of the pillow, and sew a bit of rubberized mesh shelf liner material to the underside of the tail. You then put the pillow at the place on the back of a chair/sofa/carseat where you need more lumbar support, run the tail up the seat and let it hang down behind, and the whole thing would stay in place. This is one of my many future projects, it seems like it would work -- the shelf liner is great at keeping things from sliding.

If you really want a body pillow back there, your first idea is just fine, although I would do something that covers the entire pillow instead of leaving you with a pillow that looks like a pig-in-a-blanket. Make a large pillowcase oriented 90 degrees to how they usually are, with a lot of extra room, and velcro it to the back of the sofa. Velcro so you can take it off and wash if needed, and so that you won't permanantly attach the removable sofa cover to the sofa. I suggest you remove the cover before sewing on the velcro, it will be much easier than trying to stich it while it's on the sofa.
posted by yohko at 12:25 PM on May 11