Five simple blanket hacks that will help transform an old sofa

If you're looking to give your sofa a new lease of life, we've put together five simple hacks using wool throws that will help to extend its life and save you valuable time and money.

How to revive an old sofa using a wool blanket

Whether you want to refresh a colour scheme or hide an unwanted blemish, wool blankets provide an affordable solution, allowing you to easily add colours, patterns and texture without going through the hassle and expense of replacing your sofa.

In these examples, we've used our much loved old white sofa to demonstrate five simple techniques.

The sofa in these pictures was our first sofa, which we purchased at great expense more than 10 years ago. During that period, the cushion covers and sofa cover have been machine washed and dry cleaned several times and endured the arrival of children into our family and many guests into our house, both invited and uninvited!

1. Blanket folded over the arm rest

As you can see, by simply folding a blue herringbone blanket over the armrest we've been able to hide one of the areas of the sofa that has been subjected to the most wear and tear. The armrests were easily the most thread bear part of this sofa.

Navy herringbone wool blanket folded over the armrest of a sofa

2. Draped over the back of the sofa

By unfolding the blanket to cover a much larger area, we have once again been able to cover an area of this sofa that was becoming worn while at the same time adding a significant area of colour. Against the white sofa, the blue and white herringbone pattern creates an impressive and striking contrast, drawing the eye away from the off-white areas.

Navy Herringbone Wool Blanket Draped over the back of the sofa

3. Blanket thrown 'au naturel' into one of the corners

In our busy household, this is the most commonly used technique. Fast, easy and effective, tossing the blanket nonchalantly over one corner of the sofa has an immediate impact on both the sofa and the room. A more natural look, this is perhaps the best method in a busy household where you actually want people to feel as though they can use the blanket. Of course, to get the desired effect every time, takes practice and repetition...In these photos, we've used a duck egg wool herringbone blanket and a navy blue herringbone wool blanket.

Duck Egg Herringbone and Navy Wool Blanket thrown over a sofa

4. Tucked over the seat cushions to hide the scuff marks

Do you have guests who insist on wearing highly polished knee high black boots? If you do, then the fringe around the bottom of your sofa is likely to have been tainted over time by various tints of shoe polish. Notoriously difficult to remove, especially on a white or cream sofa, these types of stain can be avoided, or covered over, by folding a blanket in half under the back of the seat cushions and draping it over the skirting. This way of folding a blanket is also an effective way of adding different colours to worn out or faded seat cushions.

Navy Herringbone Blanket Covering Scuff Marks around the base of a sofa

5. Covering the seat cushions

This is the most striking use of a blanket to cover both the front and back cushions on a sofa. Rather than investing time and money in replacing your sofa, a relatively inexpensive but high quality wool blanket can cover the worn out and stained cushions on a fabric sofa. They also allow you to experiment with the use of colour and pattern to find the best colours to suit your room. Herringbone wool blankets, beehive pattern or checked and plaid patterns can all be used effectively to complement an existing or developing interior design scheme.

Duck Egg and Navy Herringbone Wool Blanket Covering the seat cushions on an old white sofa

Wool blankets have the added advantage of allowing you to introduce texture to a room, particularly if you are focusing on neutral colours such as greys and browns.

It's often difficult to plan a colour scheme when you are designing a new interior as various items compete with each other in the order of priority and ultimately much is decided by cost and budget. For most living rooms, the sofa is a major focal point and can make a considerable dent in the budget.

So why note ease the transition by extending the life of your existing sofa as you complete the design and gather together the items you need to transform the room.

Quality wool blankets are extremely versatile, allowing you to experiment with a range of different colours, patterns and textures. If your design and colour preferences change over time, wool blankets can be moved, rearranged or stored for another day.

One of the major advantages of using wool blankets and throws is that they allow you the opportunity to experiment until you achieve the desired effect, whether that is by design or by accident.

We hope you've enjoyed reading this article and have fun trying out some of the techniques we've described. If any of the wool blankets we've used have caught your eye, please take a closer look at these and the rest of our range on our product pages. We're currently offering a 10% discount on first time purchases using the code Berko20.

If you have come across another way of using blankets to improve a sofa, please let us know in the comments below - we'd love to hear from you.