When you get new furniture, it looks so beautiful – the perfect style, colour and upholstery you picked over thousands of others. But if you don’t take proper care of your soft furnishings, they can quickly start looking dull and worn out for less than a year! Luckily, our upholstery cleaning specialists decided to share a few tips on how to maintain the furniture to prolong its lifespan and keep their as-new look.
Preserving the Cushions’ Shape
When we sit on soft furnishings, we press the cushions, and over time they begin to lose their shape. This reflects poorly not only on the comfort provided by the furniture but also on the condition of the upholstery. The sofa literally starts changing its shape, and the fabric begins to stretch. However, there is a way to keep the cushions in good condition and add time to the furniture’s lifespan.
How to Take Care of Furniture’s Cushions?
Fluff up and flip the removable parts every time you vacuum the sofa. Rotate the cushions and change their places if possible. It will take less than a few minutes, but this action will help you prevent the stuffing and upholstery from uneven wear and tear. Taking care of the cushions guarantees that your furniture will wear more evenly and slowly, keeping its good overall condition longer.
Regular and Thorough Vacuuming of the Upholstery
Upholstered items accumulate as much dirt, dust, and microbes as carpets and rugs. If you want to preserve the good condition of your furniture, you must include careful vacuuming of the upholstery in your weekly cleaning routine. This will prevent the fabric from looking dirty and worn out. Keeping the upholstery clean from dust and dirt also protects the material from tearing.
How to Vacuum Soft Furniture?
Replace the carpet and floor head on your vacuum with the upholstery attachment and run it thoroughly over the whole surface of your sofa or armchair. This attachment’s bristles are designed to extract the dirt and dust particles stuck in the fabric and to brush the furniture’s fibres. Don’t forget to lift the cushions and all removable parts and to vacuum underneath too. Don’t exclude the small, hard to reach places of your furniture like corners or folds. This step is essential because if there is dirt or dust settled in these spots, they will slowly but surely deteriorate the fabric, and over time – shorten the lifespan of the upholstery. Some people think that they don’t have to vacuum leather and faux leather furniture, but this is not true. Leather upholstery also needs to be vacuumed regularly. Dust and dirt make the material to age faster and contribute to the deterioration of the furniture.
Taking Care of Spills and Stains on Upholstered Furniture
Spots on the upholstery are not just a cosmetic problem. If you leave the spills unattended, they will set in and can turn into stubborn stains and damage the fabric. Old stains are more difficult to clean because it is hard to determine their type after time.
How to Deal with Stains on Your Furniture?
The best way to prevent stains from setting in is to deal with them immediately. This advice may seem obvious, but when we are called for upholstery cleaning job a lot of people admit they often delay cleaning the spills from their sofa or armchair. We know that working a stain is the last thing you want to do on a workday. Nevertheless, it is worth the effort. The only case when it’s safe to postpone treating a spot is if you don’t know what the stain is, or if you don’t have the right cleaning product to remove it.
Safety Tips on Sofa Stain Removal Cleaning
Some people opt for store-bought stain removal products, while others are using their own homemade cleaners. No matter which approach you prefer, it is wise to take some precautions when treating stains by yourself. Here is what you can do to avoid deterioration when cleaning upholstered furnishings at home:
1. Always check the label of the furniture for cleaning instructions, or at least – to see what type of fabric or blend you are dealing with.
2. Always try the cleaner you intend to use on a small hidden area of your sofa or armchair. You can test the stain removal product on some of the following spots: in the corner near the armrest and the back of the furniture, behind the cushions, or on a small area near the legs. This step is crucial to determine if the cleaner is safe for use on your upholstery.
3. If you have any doubts that the cleaner might not be suitable, or if you don’t know what the stain is, it is better to call upholstery cleaning service. Professionals use a wide range of specialised products and tools that can safely remove any stain from various types of finishing fabrics and materials.
Deep Cleaning of Upholstered Furniture
To keep the soft furniture in your home in perfect condition, you should deep clean the upholstery at least twice a year. This will remove all the deeply settled dirt and dust that ordinary vacuums fail to clean. Deep cleaning also eliminates bacteria and dust mites in upholstered items.
What is the Best Way to Do Deep Upholstery Cleaning?
There are different upholstery treatment methods, but the hot water extraction, widely known as steam cleaning is considered to be the best procedure by the majority of the manufacturers and expert cleaners. Outsource this job to a professional upholstery cleaning service. You can always hire equipment and try to tackle the task by yourself, but even the smallest mistake with temperature settings or choosing a wrong product can cause irreversible damage to your furniture.
Removing Pet Hair From Soft Furniture
Only pet owners know how exhausting can it be to clean all the fur from the soft furniture, especially if the four-legged roommates have chosen to spend most of their time on the sofa. Even vacuuming of the upholstery doesn’t always manage to extract the pet hair from the fabric.
How to Efficiently Remove Pet Hair from the Upholstery?
Always vacuum the upholstery when you begin cleaning pet hair. No matter what tool you will use after this step, make sure there is no dirt and dust left before you start removing the fur. The best tool to deal with pet hair is an upholstery brush with medium to firm bristles. Lint rollers are also appropriate, but mostly if you need to remove just a few hairs on the surface. If you have to extract thick short fur, stuck into the upholstery fabric, you can wipe the surface of your furniture with a hand wearing a dry rubber glove.
Prevention is Vital to Keeping Your Upholstery As New
Spot cleaning and regular vacuuming will undoubtedly help you prolong your upholstery’s lifespan. However, the best way to keep the beautiful look of your sofa or armchair is to take preventive measures (within reason, of course!).
What Can You Do to Prevent Spills, Wear, and Tear?
Avoid smoking in the areas where you have placed your upholstered furnishings. Tobacco fumes leave a yellowish tinge on all fabrics and upholstery materials, including leather. Always use napkins and trays when eating or drinking on your sofa to prevent spills and greasy fingerprints on the fabric. Avoid sitting on the upholstered furnishings with dirty or dusty clothes, as the grime will transfer to the furniture.
Follow the tips above, and your upholstered furniture will look as new and keep its shape for a long time.
