Picture this: you bring home your new green sofa and you settle into its seat cushions perfectly. Before you can even take a deep breath, your child comes running over to the sofa with a glass of kool-aid, and spills it on the couch.
Not fun to picture that, is it?
When you have children or pets, however, sometimes your furniture can be dirtied quite easily. Whether you’re removing a stain or cleaning up food crumbs, understanding how to clean a fabric sofa is important.
This article will walk you through how to clean fabric furniture.
Key Takeaways
- Blotting with a wet cloth or using a vacuum are common ways to clean fabric furniture
- Using a steam cleaner kills off 99% of germs, bacteria, and viruses
- Fabric sprays eliminate odors effectively
This article was written by Ryan Podnar, furniture expert at La-Z-Boy South Texas
Ways to Clean Fabric Furniture
Depending on what the incident was that dirtied your fabric furniture, there are several different methods in which you can use. Let’s walk through all the different methods of cleaning fabric furniture, and when you should use them.
Using a Vacuum
Whether you have a blue sectional sofa or a dark green recliner chair, using a vacuum is an effective way to clean fabric furniture. A vacuum cleaner is the best way to pick up dust and dirt off your furniture, and it’s important to do it when you notice it because dust and dirt can cause your fabric to wear quicker.
We at La-Z-Boy South Texas recommend using an upholstery attachment to vacuum the dust or dirt. This is because many vacuum cleaner attachments can cause damage to the fabric material.
Blotting Fabric With a Cloth
Blotting fabric with a cloth is not always effective. If you have a low-quality fabric couch or chair, you will likely need a deeper clean.
Blotting is effective if you have performance fabric. For example, if you have a performance fabric sofa or iClean fabric, that fabric is durable and does not let the fabric get soiled as quickly as low quality fabric.
You can use a cloth or a towel to blot a spill to performance fabric. If the spill or stain is tougher to clean, we recommend using a mild soap and distilled water mixture.
How to Clean Pilling Fabric
Pilling fabric is a common problem with any furniture brand. While high-quality fabric material takes longer to start pilling than lower quality ones, most fabric starts to eventually.
Fabric pilling is properly addressed with a battery-operated pill shaver. It is important to apply force gently onto a pill shaver as too much force can cause further damage to the material.
This fabric shaver on Amazon is a good, cost effective option if you are looking for a pill shaver.
Steam Cleaner
If your fabric power recliner, sofa, or reclining loveseat needs a good deep cleaning, there is nothing more effective for you to use than a steam cleaner!
Steam cleaners are highly effective at disinfecting your furniture without the use of chemicals. These machines turn ordinary tap water into superheated steam that will kill 99% of germs, bacteria, and viruses.
Not only is a steam cleaner good to run after using a vacuum or cleaning up dirt, but it can be used frequently to ensure your favorite chair and a half recliner is always clean and rid of germs.
Fabric Sanitizing Spray
After using a vacuum or blotting with a cloth, you can also ensure that your fabric is free of bacteria by using a fabric sanitizing spray. We primarily recommend using a steam cleaner to eliminate bacteria, but it is worth noting that certain sprays are effective at fighting lingering odors.
Tide’s Antibacterial Fabric Spray is a good product to rid your fabric of persisting odors.
Bonus Tips!
Now that you know the methods, formulas, and products that are best for cleaning fabric furniture, read on to see a couple extra bonus tips.
Spot Clean Stains
If you or your children have spilled something on your lift recliner chair, it is ill-advised to do a broad cleaning of the entire area. The most effective way to treat a stain is to use water and a cloth to blot a stain from outside in.
To ensure that you’re not getting any water on other parts of your furniture, it is best practice to remove other cushions.
Test Solution on a Hidden Spot
If you are using a soap solution to clean a stain on your furniture, we at La-Z-Boy South Texas encourage you to test that solution on a hidden spot before applying it to the visible stain.
By testing a hidden area, you’ll see if the solution works effectively without causing the stain to become worse. We recommend testing it on either side or the back of your seat cushion.
Clean Armrests and Headrests More Often
When you sit in a recliner, loveseat, or sofa, the armrests and headrests are touch points that are most likely to pick up body oil and sweat naturally. Since these touch points are more likely to get worn faster than your back cushion, we recommend cleaning your armrests and headrest more often than the other areas.
You can use a steam cleaner to clean these areas.
Is Fabric Furniture Worth It?
Based on this article, it’s likely that you realized there are several effective ways of cleaning fabric furniture. It is also a fair assessment that fabric furniture can easily pick up dirt, dust, and other germs, and therefore wears faster.
It is true that fabric wears faster than leather does. While leather furniture does last longer than fabric furniture, each type of furniture has their own set of pros and cons.
To learn more about those pros and cons, this article will break down the differences between fabric furniture vs. leather furniture.
Topics:
