It is important to to know how to clean upholstery in your home, if you want it to stay looking clean, beautiful and well cared for. This is because no matter how carefully you take care of your upholstered furniture, accidents do happen.
A spill can happen quickly, and when it does time is of the essence. Besides, even if you are lucky enough not to actually spill something, general dirt and dust can accumulate as part of normal use.
So, bellow I explore upholstery cleaning tips, home-made and commercial upholstery cleaners, and even give you a chance to give your own tips for cleaning upholstery. On this article, I am focusing mainly on fabric upholstery. Leather or suede upholstery has different cleaning and care requirements.
First, vacuum your upholstery, before you start cleaning it. If your upholstery starts to look dingy, or has developed lots of stains and spots, before you do anything else it is important to vacuum it. This will remove the dirt and dust which, when wet, can further dirty your couch if it is not removed first. Use an upholstery attachment to get in a all the cracks and crevices, and to thoroughly clean all the cushions. Its very important to remove as much pet hair as possible. If a vacuum itself does not seem to get it all, try a pet hair remover.
Harrow cleaners recommended the most important tip for how to clean upholstery:
If you don’t just have a general dirt, or old stains, but instead a fresh spill, you don’t want that spill to soak into the furniture stuffing, into the wood, or to set into upholstery fabric.
Therefore, the first ting to do when any spill occurs is to blot (not scrub or rub) the spill up with a white cloth as quickly as possible to lessen the spread of the stain, and to keep it from setting in a larger area.
Blotting is perhaps the most crucial, and also common sense part of how to clean upholstery.
The type of fabric the upholstery is made of.Next, you need to know what types of upholstery cleaner should be used on your furniture. This is dependent on two things:
- The type of spill or stain on the upholstery.
Each will be addressed in turn.
Upholstery fabrics can be mystery sometimes, because the fabrics used for upholstery can be varied, such as cotton, wool, silk, acetate, linen, olefin, rayon, and acrylic just to name a few, including blends of these fabrics.
In addition, different upholstery fabrics have been dyed with different colours, in different ways, and the age of the upholstery, or antique or very valuable, I would suggest calling in a professional.
