More likely than not, you have upholstered furniture sitting inside your home. They can help make your house look cosier, as well as provide comfort because you’re not sitting on a stiff and hard surface. However, owning one needs proper maintenance to extend its lifespan.
Upholstered furniture might require additional maintenance as you’ll need to care for their cushioning and cleanliness. Since they’re generally made from fabric, they can easily accumulate dust, affecting their quality. To save costs from prematurely buying a new piece, below are some ways you can extend your upholstered furniture’s lifespan:
Clean Your Upholstered Furniture Regularly
Cleaning your upholstered furniture on a regular basis will keep them safe from dust accumulation, which can cause damage and, therefore, decrease the quality of your furniture.
You need to stick to a cleaning schedule. You can begin by vacuuming your fabric upholstery and wiping your leather furniture at least once a week. However, for a deep cleaning process, you might want to hire carpet & upholstery cleaners. They use high-grade tools to get the job done successfully. Ideally, you should deep-clean your entire home at least once a month to keep it functional for an extended period of time.
Remove Snags
Upholstered furniture is more prone to developing snags as they’re made from fabric. Once you start seeing them, you should immediately shave them off using a razor blade. Neglecting this issue would lead to the furniture having more loose threads over time, damaging their surface and keeping them less intact. Removing snags should help keep your upholstered furniture to stay in their best shape for longer.
Flip Your Cushions
Upholstered furniture won’t be complete without any cushion. Since you’ll be sitting on them, this might flatten their shape and form a curve in the seating area. This can make the furniture look worn down and, thus, less attractive. To prevent this from happening and extend their cushions’ bounciness, the flip and fluff method should work perfectly.
To begin, you should flip your cushions to their opposite sides and allow them to be exposed and available for use. On the one hand, this can allow the previously visible sides to rest, as well as keep them from being overused. As you flip your cushions, you can gently fluff them until you achieve their original shape. However, this might not be applicable to all types of cushions, as some are affixed to the furniture.
Create A Safe Environment
The environment can also greatly affect the appearance and condition of your upholstered furniture. No matter how much you try to vacuum and wipe them clean, if they’re not in the most ideal of settings, their natural colour and quality might slowly fade.
Ideally, you should keep your upholstery away from direct sunlight. UV exposure can cause the prints on your furniture, for instance, to fade. That said, you may consider hanging blackout curtains to prevent any light from touching your furniture, especially if you can’t rearrange them.
Read The Cleaning Instructions
Apart from vacuuming your upholstery every week, you might also want to consider washing them. In most cases, you’ll find cleaning instructions on your upholstery. So, even if you swear by a particular cleaning method, you should always follow the specific directions as they’re usually customized for a particular fabric or cushion type. Moreover, use gentle cleaning products as much as possible to avoid damaging your furniture. ‘
Decide Who Can Sit On The Furniture
While this is quite a stringent rule, you need to decide as to who can sit on the furniture. While, in general, everyone should be allowed to sit on them, you might want to consider limiting babies, toddlers, and pets from doing so.
Babies and toddlers, for one, are at high risk of wetting their pants. Additionally, things can get messy when they’re handling liquids, as they still don’t have much control over their hands. Such instances may include them spilling their milk or water onto the sofa. Liquids on cushions may cause moulds, which can affect your own and your family’s health.
In terms of pets, their shedding fur might squeeze into the gaps of your furniture. Moreover, they might also tend to scratch or dig into the pieces, damaging their material.
Keep Foods And Beverages Away
For your fabric upholstery furniture, you can just imagine the horror you’ll have to go through once you accidentally spilled your food or drink on them. Apart from the stains they might leave, they might penetrate the layers of your furniture, which can cause the development of mould and bacteria.
To prevent such things from happening and prolong the lifespan of your upholstered furniture, you should never go near them whenever you eat chips, popcorn, or pizza, or drink soda or even water. Even if water seems safe, its moisture will never benefit your furniture.
Apply Upholstery Protectors
Another effective way of protecting your upholstery is by using upholstery protectors. With their help, you can prevent small accidental spills from turning into permanent stains. Moreover, they can add a protective layer to your furniture, preventing any liquids from permeating their material, just allowing them to sit on top until you can wipe them off.
Repair Any Damages Immediately
Once you notice any damage to your upholstery, no matter how small it is, you should repair it immediately. Such seemingly minor issues include snags, holes, and stains. The quicker you can address them, the more you can save your furniture.
Takeaway
Upholstery can help improve your home’s appearance, while also giving you a place to sit comfortably. As you maintain your upholstered furniture, there are plenty of things you need to do to keep them in its best shape. These include using a protector, regular cleaning, and setting rules about what you can bring and who can sit. While these require additional effort on your end, the benefits such practices can bring to your home would be worth it. Plus, you can save money in the long run as you won’t need to prematurely replace any of your upholstered furniture pieces.
