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Furniture Covers = Home for Mice

6 years ago
last modified: 6 years ago

This winter, I placed furniture covers over two lounge chairs and an ottoman by West Elm. The chairs look like the (stock) photo I'll show here:



Yesterday since the weather has been quite nice it was time to take off the covers and I discovered that mice had made a home underneath the chairs all winter (the poop was the clearest clue), and destroyed the chairs by gnawing at the “strings” and breaking them. The mice didn’t seem to bother with the ottoman, which doesn’t have a cushion on it.


Have any of you seen this kind of thing before? I can replace the chairs, but how do I prevent this from happening next winter? The only thing I can think of is that perhaps I need to bring the cushions indoors for the winter because it’s the cushions that provided a nice platform for the mice. Then again, the mice could easily make a “bed” from leaves (as they seemed to anyway; there were many leaves in the webbing). They obviously enjoyed having a dry place in which to shelter. Help!

Comments (11)

  • 6 years ago

    Put the chairs inside or in the basement. Definitely bring the cushions in as that will certainly help with. Or shrink/heat wrap them like they would a boat.

  • 6 years ago

    Oh, those are nice chairs. You have my deepest sympathy. I've had mice chew through plastic tarps--just crazy! I store the cushions inside the house. I have put mouse poison around the attic when I store things up there with good results.

  • 6 years ago

    Sadly, I don't have room for these chairs inside during the winter (hence... the covers). I could definitely put the cushions in the attic, where we have mouse traps already. But would that save the chairs (left outside) from the same fate? My pest company has "bait stations" on the outside of our house, but just having an additional bait station next to the chairs wouldn't help... or would it? Perhaps worth a call to the exterminator.

  • PRO
    6 years ago

    Bring the cushions inside... flip the chairs over so there isn't a nesting site available. Make sure you clean your chairs of debris before you store/cover them.

  • 6 years ago

    Hmmm.... if I flip the chairs, am I now negating the need for those beautiful furniture covers I paid so much for (but only come to the base of the legs? :) Interesting idea. Maybe the furniture covers are still useful to some extent, since the chairs would basically be diagonally balanced if we flipped them over. Anybody done this?

  • PRO
    6 years ago

    I would get a couple large Christmas tree bags and zip the chairs up in them so they are encased. No entrance unless the little suckers chew through the bags!

    Nancy Trainer thanked Design Interior South
  • 6 years ago

    Good idea about the Christmas tree bags, but these chairs are way too wide for the bags I've seen. In addition, I would be concerned about mold if I had the chairs entirely encased. (That's why the furniture covers normally have venting of some kind... the covers get wet and the water will soak through, but with venting at least the water vapor can get out.) Sigh.

  • PRO
    6 years ago

    I live in the south (humidity) and have used the Christmas tree bags with no issue with mold.

    Nancy Trainer thanked Design Interior South
  • 6 years ago

    You might be right, Patricia... you don't think the "webbing" (for lack of a better word) would have the same problem? I can play devil's advocate on my own question, since the ottoman did NOT sustain damage. Just asking if you have experience with this kind of thing.

  • 6 years ago

    "you don't think the "webbing" (for lack of a better word) would have the same problem? "


    Potentially but much less likely.

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