Upholstery Maintenance / Stain Removal Tips

General Advice and stain removal Vacuum Twice a Week
To keep your sofas in tip top condition, regular vacuuming at least twice a week is a must – this removes the tiny particles of dust that can cause premature wear. Also giving your cushions a regular plump up helps them keep their shape.  

Someone Got Mud on your Cushions?
If someone accidently gets mud onto your sofas or cushions, don’t try and carry out stain removal until the mud is dry. In most cases once the mud is dry you won’t even need an upholstery stain remover, you just need to use a clean soft brush to loosen the dry mud and then your own vacuum should remove it.

Liquid Spills*
Spilt red wine, tea or coffee? Many people make the mistake of panicking and immediately throwing everything from under the kitchen sink at it! All this is likely to do is spread the stain further and possibly damage any colour in the fabric. First of all, take clean, dry white cloths or paper towels (don’t use anything with colour on it or you’re in danger of putting colour into the fabric too!) and blot as much liquid up as you can. DO NOT RUB! Treat any remaining staining with small amounts of luke warm water preferably misted onto the fabric from a garden sprayer type bottle, blotting in between applications. Where possible, spray the entire panel to make it uniformly wet – this will lessen the chances of water stains as it dries. Only then should any residual staining be treated with a reputable upholstery stain remover. We can recommend you try our own Professional Strength Carpet & Upholstery Stain Remover – click here to order a bottle (suggest this links to the contact form). Please be aware many of the shop bought stain removers have artificial brighteners that can adversely affect the colours and even set stains – our own A Brighter Home spot remover has none of these.

Blood*
If you’re unfortunate enough to get blood on your upholstery, follow the above advice regarding liquid spills but use only COLD water or you can set the stain.

Vomit*
Scrape up solids first with a spoon or blunt edged tool, working inwards to the middle of the stain to avoid spreading it further, then follow advice as above for spills.

*Please note this is of course intended as a guide only and A Brighter Home cannot be held responsible in any way for any damage that may occur. In all cases before attempting any cleaning yourself, always pre-test an inconspicuous area of the fabric to ensure colour fastness and that no other damage occurs. If you are at all unsure we would always recommend that use a professional such as ourselves. We are always happy to give free phone advice. In most cases, by following the above advice and/or using our ‘Professional Carpet & Upholstery Stain Remover’ most stains and spills can be successfully dealt with yourself.  

Still need help with an emergency and don’t have any of our Professional Carpet & Upholstery Stain Remover? Call us on 0845 658 8276 and we will aim to be with you as soon as possible.