I can remember very clearly how unattractive couch covers, aka slipcovers, used to be because I owned one way back when. They are such a good idea, but for so long they just looked sloppy, and as though you were totally trying to conceal some past sins committed upon furniture. I might as well have put a large neon sign saying 'sit on this sofa at your peril' and it would have been more attractive, or perhaps left luxury lingerie strewn across the surface, this would have validated that wariness that visitors felt anyway. There was no way that there could have been many better solutions in updating a worn out sofa without getting complicated. No matter what trendy art you hung above the covered sofa, or what interesting fashion magazines you displayed on the table in front of it, your guests could not overlook the obvious. You were definitely trying to hide something under there, and it was positively not high fashion. However, I am happy to announce that the slipcover market has improved leaps and bounds. No more of that one size fits all crap, or shrink beyond recognition upon the first wash tendency. Nope, the good idea of creating an inexpensive way to update the style of your couch has been salvaged. Fabrics, patterns, materials have all been upgraded. In fact it is as if they actually listened to complaints of the past and from those created new fashions for our over the hill couches. They look so much better that the first thought when approaching the seat is not whether to cringe over the thought of what might be lurking underneath. Instead, no one needs to know the cover did not accompany the sofa from the very start.