The Way to Spot Clean Old or Set-In Upholstery Stains
By this point I am reasonably certain that the majority of furniture owners understand that spills and stains on upholstery should be cleaned promptly, together with all due haste. It is the right thing to do, and stands the best chance of stain removal. But, let’s consider for a moment the times when it is simply impossible to immediately deal with a blot.
Upholstery Cleaning in San Anselmo — A search of the internet might lead you to believe that no one at the history of the planet has failed to blot and treat a spill in a way that is timely. That you and your upholstery will be completely doomed because your spots possess set-in and nothing — at least nothing short of inventing a time machine, crashing the vibrant spaghetti and red wine celebration that marred the vintage set of dining chairs you just scored at the flea market, and cleaning these spills when they happen — will be of any use in taking away the stains. All kidding aside, and to the contrary regardless of many Google search result pages, there are things you can do in order to revive a stained piece of upholstery, even when staining took place long ago.
In unfortunate true stories from my life, a couple of years ago (unbeknownst to me) a mover cut himself and bled on all of my living room furniture while loading it into storage for 3 months (I know) and I only found the well-set-in stains upon moving into my new flat. I was blown away. I really wish this person had spoken up and make the most of the abundant first aid kit that I bag during motions with me, but he didn’t. So, as well as being concerned about the mover when he is afraid to mention being wounded on the job, and what his job situation must be like, I had a lot of stains to deal with. Really, a great deal.
Here Is What I learned along the way about getting stains out of upholstery:
First: Vacuum
Upholstery should be vacuumed regularly protect against crumbs and dust from settling into the body of their furniture and to keep the cloth in great form. It’s surprising how much a simple vacuuming will help the fade the blot. It should be the first step in dealing with this type of harm, you don’t really know what you are dealing with, or just how awful the blot truly is until each the loose particles have been sucked away by the vacuum.
Assess for Cleaning Instructions
Check your furniture for its cleaning codes. This puts you on the path of how to best handle your stain. Some pieces can be cleaned with plain water, others will demand moving into various solvents. If your furniture lacks a cleaning code, which is often do a simple spot test on a piece of upholstery. I like to test water, vodka and vinegar since they’re always my first options for cleaning, before getting into the more compound stuff.
Try Some Steam
If your furniture can be cleaned with water, hitting the stain with a bit of steam loosens up it and leaves the blot receptive to treatment. I typically catch my iron and and use the steam for this application, I don’t find it necessary to drag out the steamer to deal with small areas.
Clean, Stage 1
This is the stage where you cross your fingers and hope that a very simple solution is all that is needed. If your furniture can be cleaned with water, then mix a little dish soap and, with a wrung out sponge, blot the stain with the soap mix. Take care not to rub at the stain — at this point it’s improbable that the stain will place in deeper, but that your fabric cans weaken and pill. Next, wash the sponge and then use just water to blot out some of the soap mix. Press dry with a paper or cloth towels. If your furniture can’t be cleaned with water, then consider using vinegar or vodka onto a cloth to stain the stains. The smell of the the vodka will evaporate when the area is dry.
Rinse and Repeat
If your blot has survived this entire cleaning process, you are dealing with one stubborn stain. As exhausting–and possibly irritating–as the process can be, doing it all over again may provide you for. The mentioned wine white chairs situation took two passes that were complete before the stains came out. Perseverance paid off and the stains disappeared, although I truly thought when I entered Phase 2 that there was no way all these stains were moving anywhere!
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March 24, 2025
