How to Maintain Upholstered Furniture: A Guide from Sarah Zubowski

As someone who has grown up in the furniture business, it’s often that I am asked by people how to maintain upholstered furniture. The key to a clean living space is to keep your home free from dust, allergens, dirt, and other messes. When choosing fabrics for your upholstered living room furniture, don’t settle for bland or boring fabrics that hide dirt or pet hair well — choose fabrics that both represent your style and can help maintain your furniture. Follow this simple guide on how to maintain upholstered furniture.

1. Start with your furniture design

When designing your furniture, consider what kind of fabric is used for upholstery and which goes best with your lifestyle. If you’re furnishing a space that will often be used for entertaining guests, family movie nights, or perhaps your dog’s favorite place to sleep, I would suggest using a performance fabric. 

Performance fabric is a fabric that has been fortified to resist stains and liquid. Many times these fabrics are mainly hollow, allowing for air to travel through, keeping them breathable and odorless. Manufacturers of performance fabrics like the brand Crypton have revolutionized the upholstery industry and now the days of stubborn stains are history. If you have the chance to customize your furniture, performance fabric is definitely the way to keep your space clean and stress-free.

2. Dry pat first!

Perhaps you are reading this now, with a giant dirt stain on your white couch, frantically scanning for the paragraph where I help you with your next move, this is it.

• First things first, dry pat the stain. Using your hand or a dry cloth, hit the spot and try to separate the dirt particles from the actual fibers with force, brushing off the furniture as you pat repeatedly.
• Vacuum with the brush extension to further separate the dirt and extract it from the fabric.
• Third, get a wet washcloth (not a paper towel), if you have Resolve Carpet cleaner or Natures Miracle, spray it upon the wet cloth and rub the spot up and down and side to side along the weave of the fabric.

3. Keep it clean

The best way to ensure your home is clean is to keep it that way. Instead of wondering “how often should upholstered furniture be cleaned?” or “how do you maintain a fabric sofa?” just vacuum regularly and keep dust and dirt at bay. After all, the hygiene of your home is what determines the health of your family. 

Want to learn more about how to maintain upholstered furniture? The Living Designs Furniture experts are here to help!

If these tips for how to maintain upholstered furniture can seem overwhelming, they are easier than they appear. The good news is that most fabrics are polyester blends and polyester is extremely easy to clean. Elegant fabrics like silk or velvet may sound like a good idea until you host your first Thanksgiving and realize it was a very expensive mistake. Many people will purchase their furniture in “specialty” fabrics and quickly wonder, “Is it worth reupholstering furniture?” The short answer is no, it’s not. 

Essentially, the goal of maintaining your upholstered furniture is to consider your lifestyle from the beginning. Having the option to customize your furniture really makes this process easier than ever. This is one of the many reasons I love working at Living Designs Furniture. 

Visit our Living Designs Furniture showroom today for quality upholstered furniture

We are a custom furniture manufacturing company in Houston Texas. We design custom upholstered living room furniture and build it on-site in our factory. I love getting the opportunity to help customers design their furniture with functionality, design, purpose, and lifestyle in mind. Being an expert on furniture design allows my customers to feel at ease when designing pieces for their home! After all, it’s their job to know what they like and it is my job to help them navigate the best way to apply their style and needs. 

If you’re in the Houston area, don’t worry about how to maintain your upholstered furniture, come visit our showroom and we will show you the best fabrics or leather to choose from so that maintenance isn’t a worry at all!

More Helpful Articles by Living Designs Furniture:

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• Create Custom Sized Furniture to Fit Any Space
• Your Guide to Designing Accent Chairs in Houston
• Find the Best Modern Furniture in Houston
• How to Design the Right Chaise Sofa for Your Home