Upkeep cleaning for upholstery increases the life of the fabrics, and so extends the life of your furniture. Here, I outline the basic straightforward steps for routine cleaning and then chase up with some ecologically friendly approaches to cleaning upholstery that has been stained.

You should be vacumming your upholstery at least one time a month. To do so, remove loose cushions first, then use the correct attachment on your vacuum to comb off dust. After the dust is removed, cleaning upholstery is a straightforward matter of vacuuming all of the surfaces of the furniture (including the wood platform and legs). Be sure to get both sides of all of the cushions. A caution: if you’re vacuuming a piece of furniture that is full of down, note whether any feathers are being sucked out by the vacuum and if they are, go back to brushing instead.

When you have the time to invest for a deeper clean, you can do so by mixing one part liquid dish detergent to 4 parts water — but be sure to test for fading first. If your upholstery doesn’t fade, you can use the cleaning solution over the entire furniture piece by rubbing it onto the fabric surface with a rag until suds form. Then, scrape off the suds, go over the fabric once more with a fabric material material that has only clean warm water, and let the furniture air dry. Keep in mind that you don’t wish to get the fabric too wet in this process, so apply the solutions and water gently, brush or scrape comprehensively and consider using a fan to help the drying process when you are done cleaning upholstery.

While I advocate vinegar as a part of cleaning solutions for many parts of your house, don’t use vinegar when cleaning upholstery because it is too acidic and will damage the fiber. A nice non-acidic alternative cleaner for a stain that you may not have considered are baby wipes, which are exceptionally light but can remove arange of stains. Baby shampoo ( or any mild shampoo, truly ) combined with water as an alternative choice to substitute for liquid detergent also works surprisingly well.

There are lots of cutting edge solutions for upholstery cleaning that can help to save you a bundle. For more cleaning articles, visit www.cleaningsecretsinfo.com and enroll in Pam’s free e-mail course.
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