I have not...but being a custom furniture builder I tend to steer well away from mass produced particle board "disposable" stuff.

I have two Ektorps in my living room, as well as the footstool. We bought ours from the As-Is section, so I think they'd been softened for us a bit -- I don't think they're hard at all. As for the covers, as long as you DO NOT DRY THEM EVEN FOR A SECOND they're fine. We have two sets, one on the couches and one in the wash because we have small children and pets and accidents happen. I'm really happy with them overall -- we're a young family on a budget and they work perfectly for our home and our current lifestyle. Hope that helps!