The super flexible Soderhamn corner sofa

Imagine, what can you do with a Soderhamn Corner? More than you’d think; this is how we ‘hacked’ the Soderhamn Corner piece! Turns out, it’s a transformer in disguise :)

Take a minute here, the Soderhamn corner piece looks pretty much like this:

Square and sturdy, it comes with 2 lumbar cushions, 1 throw pillow, a side rest and a back rest. Unfortunately, the side rest and back rest are not quite symmetrical as IKEA believes the corner piece will only be used in the corner of a sectional. Little do they know.

1. One-seat section

Versatile? Not really, this piece isn’t so much a hack as a simple step of logic – a corner piece and 1 seat section share the same dimensions. The corner piece is $200, and the 1 seat is $229. The covers for the 1 seat section are $29. Simply purchase a single corner piece and the cover for the 1 seat section. Replace the frame cover of the corner piece with the frame cover from the 1 seat section, and do not attach side rest. You now have a 1-seat section. With spare side rest, and bonus back pillow!

2. Soderhamn Chair

Easy! Remember the previous one-seat section? Let’s say you want a chair to go with this. Purchase another corner piece for $200, and attach the spare side rest to this new corner piece. You will have to poke holes through the frame slipcover to do this, though, but it’s pretty easy as the frame comes with pre-drilled holes. Now you have an easy armchair as well as a one-seat section! And another bonus back pillow for you too :)

*the normal Soderhamn armrests will not cover the full length of the armchair like the side rests do, so if you’re after the same look, it would cost another US$100 for 1 pair of armrests.

3. Three-seat section

Right, just take 2 Soderhamn corner pieces. Press them together. Rotate the one on the right clockwise 90 degrees. Attach side and backrests appropriately. Clamp in the centre. Alternatively, you could simply swap the side rest from the middle to the right side. You may have to pierce through the fabric in this case. The only difference in approaches is how you would like the side rests to work, and where you’d like the gap between side rest and backrest to be.

Yes, this is what we did for the Herringbone Pebble slipcovered IKEA Soderhamn sofa pictured here:

4. A Soderhamn Sectional!

Don’t panic! Yes, you could make a whole sectional out of the corner piece if you wanted to. I ran the numbers on the 4 seat corner sectional, and the hacked together corner pieces would total $1000, compared to $1198 from IKEA. And you’d get all the extra back pillows as well :)

Anyway, this is but a small hint of the possibilities you could explore. Plus, if you like the modular sectional, you could finish your hack with a custom slipcover by Comfort Works! Long skirt Soderhamn, anyone?

Imagine that! Who on earth would do such a thing, that’s rubbish. Only some madman would play God like that, a madman by the name of Felicia perhaps ;)