How To Clean Sofa At Home

Your ultimate guide on how to dry clean and deep clean sofas at home. The sofa is the centrepiece of our living rooms. Besides the dining table, it’s ...

Your ultimate guide on how to dry clean and deep clean sofas at home.

The sofa is the centrepiece of our living rooms. Besides the dining table, it’s the one piece of furniture around which the entire family congregates. Whether to watch a movie or a cricket match, to have a family meeting, or to chill out with your friends, the sofa is the go-to place, isn’t it?

Why should you clean sofa at home?

The sofa is one of the most used pieces of furniture at home. This makes it susceptible to spills, stains, and dust and therefore requires regular cleaning. When you clean your sofa regularly:

You eliminate dust mites, allergens, and bacteria that pose health risks to you and your family. So, whether you’re catching a nap on the sofa or are playing with your infant, you can rest assured it will be a hygienic space.

When dirt accumulates and stains pile on, your sofa doesn’t just become an unhygienic space, it also begins to look worn out. This, in turn, kills the vibe of your living room. Worse, it reduces your sofa’s lifespan. Regular sofa cleaning will also ensure your sofa lasts long.

Whether from pets, or food spills, your sofa is a magnet for all kinds of odours, which it then begins to emanate. Cleaning your sofa at home ensures that your room doesn’t smell like a cheap bar or a boys’ hostel room. Now, that should be enough motivation to clean sofa at home, shouldn’t it?

But not all sofas are alike. Some have fabric, while others have leather covers. So, how do you clean these different types of sofas?

How to clean a fabric sofa (or a velvet sofa)

1. Vacuum the dust off your sofa

2. Pick off the lint

3. Spot clean

4. Go for a full clean

5. Rinse down the sofa fabric

6. Dry out your sofa

Cleaning a fabric sofa requires a gentle and thorough approach to avoid damaging the upholstery. The first step in cleaning any sofa is to check for the care label. If you’ve bought one from a store, it will have cleaning instructions. Follow them. If you’ve lost those instructions or if you’ve custom-made your sofa, here’s how to clean a fabric sofa at home.

Vacuum the dust off your sofa

Before you get down to wet cleaning, you would do well first to do a round of dry vacuuming. This is a good idea because it quickly cleans up the thin layer of dust that tends to gather on the sofa, the food crumbs that have snuck away into the gaps, or all that fur from your pets that casually refuse to follow your no-climbing-on- the-sofa rule.

Pick off the lint

Vacuum cleaners cannot get the lint that tends to gather on the sofa fabric over time. So you’d do well investing in a lint roller. Picking the lint off the sofa also gives it a fresh new look. And your lint roller will work equally well on dark clothes that tend to gather lint.

Spot clean

If you haven’t cleaned your sofa for a long time, chances are it would have gathered small stains or spills. In this case, blot the area with a damp cloth and a mild detergent. Make sure you don’t scrub the surface because that’s bound to spread the stain further. Remember, there’s only that much you can DIY your way out of some stains.

Go for a full clean

Use the same mixture you’ve made for the spot clean and dampen a microfibre cloth in it. Then gently wipe down the entire sofa. Ensure you don’t get the sofa fabric too wet because drying it will be challenging.

Rinse down the sofa fabric

Make sure to wipe down the sofa again, this time with a clean, damp cloth so as to remove any detergent residue.

Dry out your sofa

Turn on the fan in the room and leave the sofa out to dry. Make sure you don’t use it till the sofa fabric is completely dry before you start using the sofa again.

But if you’re looking to clean sofa at home, a full-deep clean session, complete with a shampoo wash could be a great option for a cleaner, better-looking sofa. Book your appointment with Urban Company here.

How to clean a leather sofa

Leather sofas require a slightly different approach to maintain their luxurious appearance and longevity. You can follow these steps to clean a leather sofa. Note that some of the steps will be common between how to clean a fabric sofa and how to clean a leather sofa.

Vacuum the dust off your sofa

While leather tends to gather less dust than fabric, it isn’t entirely immune to it. Like any other surface, a leather sofa will also gather dust. So it’s always advisable to vacuum off the dust, the food crumbs that have snuck away into the gaps and the fur your pets have left behind on it.

Go for a full clean

Leather doesn’t tend to gather a lot of lint, nor does it stain as much as fabric sofas. So, if you have a leather sofa, you likely don’t have to do a lot of spot-cleaning. If you have stains on a leather sofa, a conditioner should do the trick. But you can clean the sofa by gently wiping it down with a microfibre cloth dampened in a mixture of lukewarm water and mild detergent. Again, as with cleaning a fabric sofa, make sure you don’t get the leather sofa too wet because water isn’t suitable for leather.

Rinse down the leather sofa and wipe it dry

Like you would with a fabric sofa, rinse down the leather with a damp cloth so as to remove and detergent residue. Instead of letting it dry on its own (as you would with a fabric sofa), wipe down the leather sofa with a dry cloth. This will prevent excessive moisture on the leather.

Condition the leather

Leather sofas can easily lose their lustre over time because leather dries out. The best way to maintain the suppleness of the leather is to use a leather conditioner. Check the instructions to make sure you’re using the right conditioner.

Buff the leather

Using a clean, dry cloth, gently buff the leather to give your sofa a polished look.

For a deeper, shampoo cleaning, you could book a deep cleaning appointment with Urban Company whose experts will ensure the right products are used on the right sofa and make it look as good as new.