Monthly Article - August, 2008

How do I care for my upholstery?

GENERAL UPHOLSTERY CARE GUIDELINES

Follow the simple guidelines below to keep all your upholstered living room, dining room, and bedroom furniture looking like new.

• To avoid fading, keep upholstered home furniture away from direct sunlight.
• Vacuum upholstered furniture as often as possible. Even if your home furniture has seen little use, the abrasive action of dirt and dust particles can wear the fibres of your upholstery fabric. For high-use furniture, it's a good idea to frequently beat the cushions and then vacuum and rotate them.
• Damp-dust arms and headrest areas with a cleaning solution to prevent body oil accumulation on the upholstery fabric. Be sure to follow the manufacturer's recommendation as to the type of upholstery cleaning solution to use.
• Avoid placing newspapers directly on home furniture upholstery fabric, since ink will accumulate and is difficult to remove.
• Never cover your upholstered home furniture with dark-coloured blankets, sheets, etc., because the dyes can rub off onto fabric when dry or bleed when wet.
• Avoid the use of dyes, paints, inks, nail polishes, and Mercurochrome around your upholstery fabric, since these substances alter color and will stain.
• Never remove cushion covers for dry cleaning or machine washing, even though they have zippers. This will cause inconsistent results when you decide to have the remaining body of the furniture professionally cleaned.  There is also a good chance that the upholstery will shrink or tighten slightly and make it difficult to put back properly.  This results in a 'pinched' look or curling of the cushion.
  
• Periodic professional cleaning will keep soil accumulation from marring the beauty of the upholstery of your home living room, dining room, and bedroom furniture.  Depending on the use of furniture, heavily used furniture should be cleaned approximately once a year and lightly used furniture could be cleaned as late as three years.

Cleaning furniture is more challenging then carpet. It is important to use a professional firm to care for your upholstery as there are many varieties of fabric with specific methods of care.  Improper cleaning can lead to chemical damage, shrinkage, fugitive dyes or fading, rust, curled skirts at the base or other problems that an untrained technician could cause.

            Jason Selkirk; General Manager